Confessions of a Burnt Out Over-Achiever

Saying that you don’t have time for something is really just another way of saying it’s not important. When we make time for work and little else, what we’re saying is that our health, our bodies, our partners, our families, our happiness, our creativity are not important.

The point is, when you’ve been conducting your working life at the speed of a freight train, it takes quite a long time to roll to a stop and/or point yourself in a new direction—toward a new way of being, living, and working.

In short, I was mentally, emotionally, and physically burnout. But it took me a long time to figure it out because I wasn’t listless or unproductive or disengaged from my work. The problem was: All I was engaged with was my work. And that was causing me to work in a way that was utterly unsustainable.

I had no energy left for building meaningful relationships. I had friends and I had a girlfriend, but I was so consumed by my work anxiety that it made me selfish. I didn’t have the bandwidth to truly engage with other people and be a supportive partner.