[haswell]

I’m about 10 months into a burnout break, and I’m only just starting to feel like I have my feet back under me.

Burnout is very real and very different from the notion of “worn out” described in the piece. I started to realize this more deeply when I noticed that there was just about nothing that I could interest myself in, even the most tantalizing personal project ideas (some might note this sounds like depression, and I agree. I’ve dealt with varying levels of depression for most of my life, but burnout became a multiplying factor).

I think if more folks realized how different they are, they would take burnout more seriously and take more steps to avoid it.

I know I would have.

[tarokun-io]

My 2c: I realized (quite late in life) that when there's just about nothing that I can interest myself in, it's because I actually _need to do nothing_.

Doing nothing is healthy and is a great way to regain health.

(Feeling guilty about it or worrying about "what I should be doing" will prevent it from restoring us, though. It only works if we accept our health needs.)

[haswell]

This is a really good point, and one that can be hard to realize.

The constant need to go go go is so deeply ingrained in so many of us, that the first instinct is to conclude “there’s something wrong with me”.

Burnout seems to be the body/mind’s way of enforcing that downtime, so that’s definitely a critical lesson to take from all of this.