[zackmorris]

Just in case this is an XY problem, maybe looking at the question in a different light could help. Instead of asking why we are burned out, maybe we could ask why we feel burned out.

For me, the opportunity cost of being burned out is that I can't summon the energy to work on my side projects and hobbies. It really kills me that every day I come home and have hours that I could spend coding or building something, but instead I just watch TV over a beer.

A couple of people closest to me say to just do all the things. So they are advocating discipline which is great and something I could probably find again if I was more disciplined.

My gut feeling though is that the issue might be more complicated than that. From prior experience, I know my odds of failure at any side project I attempt are somewhere around 90% if I measure them in terms of monetary gain. So I'm subconsciously multiplying the cost/benefit analysis by 10 and getting discouraged. But if I remove risk from the equation, maybe by working on something low-risk like an open source project or learning a skill I don't know (like playing music), then maybe I could get closer to feeling rewarded by tinkering instead of drained. Then I could build on that and add more ambitious projects over time (in theory).