Burned

How Burnout Feels (It’s Not Just Being Tired) Yeouch. This hit me hard today as it perfectly describes how I’ve felt the past few months.

If you’ve never experienced burnout, it’s easy to think it’s just extreme tiredness.

You imagine someone working 16-hour days, living on coffee, surviving on four hours of sleep, desperately needing a vacation.

That’s the picture most of us have.

But that’s not what burnout actually feels like.

Burnout doesn’t make you want to sleep.

It makes you stop wanting things.

The project you were once obsessed with suddenly feels meaningless.

The hobby that made you lose track of time now feels like another item on your to-do list.

Friends invite you out, and instead of feeling excited, you immediately start calculating how much energy it will take to show up.

You don’t feel sad.

You don’t necessarily feel anxious.

You just… feel flat.