The shape of burnout. What would burnout look like if it had a shape?
Gosh - to choose one shape would be almost impossible.
For some, it’s a quiet defeat - as if burnout somehow signifies a failure upon themselves. For others, the blame is on everyone else. It morphs into sleepless nights, anxiety meds and lack of appetite. It fucks with your mentality. A constant inner battle between “I can’t do this anymore” to “There’s no other way.”
It’s the dissociation of dreaming every Monday morning of being in a totally different place away from it all. An escape.
It’s the glaring need and deepest desire to FINALLY make that healthy meal in your kitchen for your family, but instead ordering a pizza and crumbling inside with guilt yet again.
It’s the feeling being at work, the place that is draining your soul, but painting on a smile and saying, “Sure I can do it” when you question if it will be your last straw.
It bounces between rage, panic, frustration, desperation to apathy. Knowing with every ounce of your being that something needs to change, but giving up hope because it takes too much of your already empty energy.
The shape of burnout morphs.
It waxes and wanes.
It crescendos and sometimes seems illusive.
And it’s never the same on the next person.
About the Author:
Taylor Short is the CEO of Harmonious Return. As a ‘Job Reset’ Coach, she helps her clients move from feeling exhausted and overwhelmed to energized and fulfilled, without leaving their job.