Burnout...What exactly is it?
When your heart says "I'm out" and your body follows...
What Exactly Is Burnout?
Not the cute kind where you're “just a little overwhelmed” and need a weekend in the woods, a yoga class, or maybe an oat milk latte to bounce back like a fully juiced Roomba. I’m talking about the real kind…deep, bone-weary, soul-numbing burnout. The kind where your to-do list makes you want to fake your own death and start a new life as a mushroom in the forest.
If you’ve ever Googled “is it normal to want to scream into a pillow every day at work?” or seriously fantasized about breaking your leg for the sweet relief of medical leave… congratulations, you’re not lazy. You’re probably just burnt out.
Burnout vs. Depression: Close Cousins, Different Monsters
Burnout and depression often wear the same hoodie and whisper the same question: what’s the point? But they’re not quite the same beast.
Burnout is a slow soul-leak caused by chronic stress, emotional labor, over-giving, lack of rest, and, everyone’s favorite, villain—capitalism. It’s what happens when your body finally rebels against your brain’s endless loop of “just push through it.”
Depression, while overlapping, tends to seep deeper into your baseline mood, even in the absence of stressors. Burnout, on the other hand, is more context-dependent. It’s not that you’ve lost your will to live, it’s that you’ve lost your will to do this bullshit anymore.
Signs You Might Be Burnt Out
You wake up tired. Like “deep in my bones, soul-level” tired.
You feel emotionally flat, irritable, numb, or weepy for no clear reason.
Sundays feel like a mourning for what’s ahead. Mondays feel like betrayal.
You’re faking everything: your energy, your smile, your give-a-damn.
Your coping mechanisms start looking like avoidance, and your food choices look like they were made by a toddler on a bender.
Your brain says “Just get it together,” and your body responds, “Absolutely not.”
Why Burnout Isn’t Solved by Vacation Days or Vinyasa
Burnout isn’t a you problem. It’s a system problem.
We live in a culture that tries to sell us “wellness” as a bandage for a deep wound. Take a bubble bath. Try hot yoga. Use your PTO. Eat more superfoods. As if any of that can cure the crushing weight of constant emails, unpaid emotional labor, gig work, toxic jobs, underfunded caregiving roles, and the moral injury of working in a system that doesn’t value your humanity.
Burnout is chronic. It’s systemic. And it’s not fixed by a sick day.
Because a day off doesn’t heal a culture that punishes rest.
Because yoga can’t undo years of being gaslit by productivity.
Because PTO doesn’t change the fact that you come back to a workplace that never stopped expecting your body to produce more than your soul can afford.
Modern burnout happens when your inner needs (rest, connection, creativity, spaciousness) are bulldozed by external demands (emails, bills, deadlines, perfectionism, and the pressure to be constantly “on”).
Especially if you're in a helping profession (healthcare, teaching, parenting, etc.), you’ve probably been taught that burnout is just part of the gig. That if you were strong enough, organized enough, mindful enough, you’d feel better. But that’s the lie, isn’t it?
Burnout isn’t that we’re doing too much—-it’s about doing too much of the wrong things, for too long, without meaning, support, or rest.
A Realistic Path Out of the Fog
Let’s not fix burnout with another “30-day hustle challenge.” Instead, here’s a way forward that starts with truth and tenderness.
Step 1: Admit You’re Fried
Name it. Burnout thrives in silence and shame. You’re not broken. You’re a human trying to function in a system that eats humans.
Step 2: Stop Doing All the Things
Be ruthless with your energy. Ask, “What actually has to get done? What can be dropped without the world ending?” Spoiler: Most things.
Step 3: Schedule Tiny Joys
Not the big “book a retreat” kind of joy, rather:
Five minutes of sunlight on your skin.
Saying “no” to a meeting you don’t need to be in.
Lying on the floor and doing nothing without apologizing.
Step 4: Reconnect With Meaning
Burnout severs us from our “why.” Ask:
What used to bring me joy?
What still sparks that joy, even faintly?
Who am I when I’m not performing usefulness?
Even just asking can crack something open.
Step 5: Seek Nourishing Support
Not just advice, but presence. A therapist, a friend, a group. Someone who says “you don’t have to earn your rest.”
Step 6: Redesign Slowly
Once you’ve caught your breath, ask:
What daily rhythms actually serve me?
Can I downsize, slow down, or opt out? Even a little?
What might it look like to live in a way that doesn’t betray my nervous system?
(Yes, we are talking late-stage capitalism resistance as a valid form of self-care.)
Step 7: Rest as a Practice, Not a Reward
Don’t wait until you’re collapsed. Rest before you need it. Protect it like it’s sacred—-because it is. It’s the foundation of all sustainable life.
Final Thoughts, From One Crispy Human to Another…
Burnout isn’t weakness. It’s your body waving a red flag. It’s your soul asking for a different way.
You are not lazy. You are not broken. You are tired of performing aliveness in a world that rarely gives permission to be.
But you’re allowed to stop. To rest. To imagine something gentler.
Burnout isn’t the end. It’s a message. A love letter from your deepest self, asking you to come back home.
You don’t need to earn rest. You just need to remember you’re worthy of it.