[paulwilsonn]

I hit deep burnout after ~3 years of nonstop startup grind. What helped wasn’t small fixes — it was stepping away completely for a few weeks. It took time just to stop thinking in “crisis mode.” I stopped feeling guilty about rest, reconnected with things outside work (walking, cooking, reading), and talked with other founders who’d been there. Almost all had the same story. When I came back, I rebuilt around sustainability - fewer hero sprints, clearer boundaries. Burnout wasn’t failure; it was feedback that the way I was working wasn’t sustainable.