The Burnout That Saved Me

Let me start off by saying what this article is not about. It’s not a piece to make light of burnout. It’s a debilitating condition, often misunderstood and mistreated.

It’s also not about “awareness”; people know about it already. Even if the general public doesn’t truly understand what happens when you suffer from burnout, the problem is not that they’ve never heard of it.

This is a story of hope. I know from experience that it can feel hopeless when you’re in the middle of burnout. I’m here to tell you that once you’re recovered -this takes time and effort, but luckily mostly time- you can look at life in an entirely different light.

What is it?

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place. Burnout isn’t the same as “a lot of stress”.

The ways in which Stress and Burnout differ

Burnout reduces productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless…