The 4 surprising benefits of burnout

Hiking in the Sierra Nevada is always a good idea.

This might sound counter-intuitive, but burnout can be a gift.

Burnout creates space for bold decisions and positive change — and as grittily painful as burning out is, it comes with some upsides. Let me explain.

Benefit 1: Burnout forces your hand

As someone who was a people pleaser and needed strict orders from an authority figure like a doctor to put myself first, burnout helped me finally look after myself first. Burnout was a boss that outranked every partner at the law firm where I worked, the expectations others held of me, and even all the pushy voices in my head.

When I finally reached a point of being undeniably burnt out, everything else took a back seat. I had hit a wall, which forced me to confront the fact that I was miserable and that something major needed to change.

Benefit 2: You have to reassess your priorities

When your body sends you messages as strongly as those it conveys during a burnout, you have no option but to listen…

• What really matters to me?

• Is it worth compromising my mental and physical health for this job?

• Is this really how I want to spend my time?

• What are my goals? What are my values and priorities?

Burnt out, with literally no fuel left, there is no energy to tolerate what doesn’t serve you. You start seeing things more clearly. You have no option but to reassess your values and priorities and live in accordance with them, every day.

Anything else will ultimately lead back to burnout.

Benefit 3: You get insight into what makes you happy (and what definitely doesn’t)

Burnout shows that something is wrong — it might be:

• The work you are doing (like, the whole industry)

• The way you are working (e.g. right field, wrong job)

• The amount you’re working (perhaps it’s exactly the right role for you — but you need to rein the hours)

• The system itself (I’ll save this for another article — or you can read Malcolm Harris’ awesome Kids These Days right now for more on this)

If you’re an entrepreneur, involved in a start-up or work freelance, it can be hard to know how and where to scale back. And different companies offer different levels of support for issues like burnout. Still, burnout is a crucial sign that you need to find a way to get some perspective and insight.

These are moments when reaching out to a life coach or a therapist can be super helpful. And if you really care about your business, your career and your happiness, you have to look after yourself first before you can look after anyone else.

Benefit 4: It will only get better

When I was finally forced to acknowledge that I was suffering from a burnout? That was the low point. I’d been suffering from burnout for months — years, if I’m honest. But admitting I was burnt out was the nadir of the entire experience.

I had been so terrified of admitting I was burnt out that when there was simply no holding it back any longer, I felt sheer relief. My muscles started to unwind and relax, and my gaze lifted for the first time in years.

It took time and effort to get from that point to full recovery, and everyone I’ve interviewed so far for my book on burnout has said the same. But the process of healing only started the moment I conceded I was not okay. The journey continued onwards and upwards from there.

It’s scary to concede you need to change when you’ve been running on adrenalin and avoiding the truth for a long time.

Perhaps it’s ironic, that admitting burnout usually occurs when we have the least energy to cope with it — because we have finally burned through all that fuel, and lost our precious spark.

But there is hope. I’ll say it again: there. Is. Hope.

Because the process of burning out and its recovery can be a transformative experience: it helps you let go of what holds you back, reframe what matters to you and shape the life you want to live.

Originally published on Medium in 2020.