Burnout Isn’t Just Exhaustion - Sometimes It’s Stalled Growth
When I first hit burnout, I thought I was just tired.
I believed that if I could just rest more, sleep more, journal more — the fog would lift. But I was too busy.
Yes, I noticed myself having one wish only: I just want to rest! But I didn’t. Customers first, my own well-being second.
When the crash hit, I remember opening my inbox and dreading every message.
Even clients I used to enjoy started to feel like a weight on my chest. Their perfectly reasonable requests made my stomach drop. It wasn’t them — it was me. I had broken down.
Looking back, I realize it wasn’t about exhaustion at all. It was about stalled growth.
When I wasn’t seeing progress, every small task felt heavier.
A simple email reply drained me. Decisions that used to take seconds suddenly became impossible. It was like spinning my wheels in the mud, pressing harder and harder on the gas but going nowhere.
The truth is: progress fuels energy. When you grow, even small steps forward, you feel lighter.
But when growth stops, resentment sneaks in.
How I Noticed the Warning Signs
Inbox dread: The smallest ping sent me into stress mode.
Decision fatigue: Even choosing lunch felt overwhelming.
Resentment: Work that once excited me felt like a burden.
Fantasies of escape: I wasn’t dreaming of scaling higher, I was dreaming of quitting altogether.
These weren’t signs that I needed more rest. They were signals that I needed change.
What Actually Helped
1. Identifying drains
I listed the projects and clients that made me feel heavy. If I imagined never seeing their name again, I felt relief. That told me what had to go.
Ok, I wish it were that easy. The truth is, I was resenting everything so strongly that even four months of forced rest didn’t bring my passion back, and returning to where I once was turned out to be impossible.
I had to find a completely different path.
2. Rebuilding my environment
I stopped filling my calendar with things I thought I “should” do.
Instead, I started designing my days around what gave me energy.
Early morning walks. A lot of reading. Leisure time with my kids. Everything to let my brain relax and let my prefrontal cortex regain its flexibility.
3. Creating challenges that matter
Instead of just chasing money or “should-goals,” I asked: What would make me proud if I achieved it?
For me, that was starting the Mental Vacation Hub. A project that wasn’t about survival, but about meaning.
A project that covers all the gaps I saw in our society, where burnout is still shadowed with shame, and most of all, a complete lack of understanding.
4. Choosing my circle carefully
I realized how much my environment shaped me.
Spending time with people stuck in survival mode kept me stuck, too. Surrounding myself with ambitious, growth-minded people was crucial if I wanted to regain my energy.
The first thing I did was to cut all the incoming phone calls from my circle that were only about news-fishing but with no value for either party. I resented them.
Secondly, I embraced chats with people who had been through the same experience and who were really happy to help me understand what was going on with my confused mind.
Third, I gave my best to have around me a few always optimistic, light-hearted people. We could talk about anything, and it relaxed my mind, even if only for a day, but often for longer.
My Takeaway
Burnout isn’t cured by more naps, bubble baths, or yoga retreats.
Those things help for sure, but they don’t address the root cause. You must figure out what it is in your case.
If the root cause is stagnation, ask yourself:
Where has my growth stopped?
Which parts of my work feel like pushing rocks uphill?
What challenge would make me proud if I solved it?
When you reignite growth, energy follows.
This is why I created Mental Vacation Hub.
Not to give people another temporary escape, but to help us build an environment where growth, calm, and meaning can come back — gently, steadily, and without pressure.
