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Burnout Isn’t a Badge of Honor — Here’s What I Did Instead
Why I stopped glorifying exhaustion and started reclaiming my life
I used to wear my exhaustion like a trophy.
Late nights. Overflowing to-do lists. Constant notifications. My calendar looked like a war zone, and my mind wasn’t far off. I thought being busy meant being important. I thought burning out meant I was giving my all. And when people asked how I was doing, I proudly replied, “Tired, but grinding.”
That was my identity. Until it broke me.
The Crash I Didn’t See Coming
It wasn’t a dramatic collapse. No ambulance. No tears in the shower. Just a quiet unraveling. I couldn’t concentrate. I was irritable over the smallest things. I began to dread everything — work, people, even hobbies I once loved.
It took a close friend saying, “You haven’t laughed in months,” for it to hit me. I wasn’t living — I was surviving. And worse, I was convincing myself this was success.
So, I decided to try something radical: I stopped treating burnout like a badge of honor.
