What Burnout Actually Is
Burnout is not a productivity problem. It's not laziness, weakness, or a lack of discipline. It's what happens when your body and mind have been running on empty for so long that they simply stop cooperating.
The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon characterized by three things: exhaustion, cynicism (or detachment), and reduced professional efficacy. But burnout doesn't stay in the office. It seeps into your relationships, your sense of identity, your ability to feel joy in things that used to matter.
For women — especially Black women and women of color — burnout is compounded by the additional labor of navigating systemic inequities, managing others' perceptions, and often being the person everyone else leans on. The result is a kind of depletion that goes bone-deep.
The first step to recovering from burnout is understanding that it wasn't a personal failure. It was a structural one — a mismatch between what was demanded of you and what you were given in return.
“Burnout is not the price of ambition. It's the cost of a system that takes more than it gives.”
Reflection
When did you first notice something was wrong? What were the early signs you might have dismissed?
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