Sometimes burnout doesn’t look like staying in bed all day.
It looks like answering emails with dead eyes.
It looks like ticking off your to-do list and feeling absolutely nothing.
It looks like showing up every single day, even after your soul has quietly walked out the door.
The worst part?
You’ve become so good at going through the motions that nobody notices.
Not your team.
Not your family.
Maybe not even yourself.
I felt it sneaking up on me.
After months of chasing impossible deadlines.
Fixing problems nobody else could see. Being the person everyone came to while I was secretly running on fumes.
It doesn’t matter if you’re running your own business or working for someone else, burnout hits everyone.
Sometimes it comes from taking on too much. Other times, it’s from carrying burdens that were never yours in the first place.
We keep telling ourselves the same lies:
“Just one more project.”
“Just until things calm down.”
“I just need to power through this.“
But “just” becomes your new normal.
Until one day, your body forces you to stop when your mind wouldn’t listen.
Here’s what I learned the hard way:
Burnout isn’t something to be proud of.
It’s your inner alarm system screaming at full volume.
You don’t achieve success by burning yourself out.
You’re basically trading pieces of who you are for it. And honestly? The cost is usually way too high.
So this time, I’m not pushing through. I’m hitting pause. Actually listening to what my body and mind are telling me.
Taking time to rebuild, but slower and kinder this time.
Because if we care about making things last :
our work, our relationships, our dreams – we need to make sure we last too.
