“Burnout is sneaky because you don’t realize you’re borrowing from tomorrow to push through today.”
Emily Leahy, Twitter
And when you borrow too much from tomorrow (or from too many tomorrows), you’ll eventually have nothing left to give in the current day.
And when that happens—when you’ve reached your “credit limit”—your body cuts you off from future energy supplies and shuts down.
Hence why burnout often feels like life in a vegetative state.
And hence why burnout often looks like an absurd number of hours spent sushi rolled up in your fuzziest of blankets while Netflix plays reruns of shows you’ve already seen as you fill yourself up with the emptiest of calories you have stored in the darkest of corners in your kitchen as emotional music plays softly in the background of your dimly lit rooms.
It’s not because you’re lazy, a failure, or because you suck at life—it’s because the energy from each of those “absurd hours” has already been spent.
And until you get current again with your “energy payments” it’s likely that “sushi-ed up” is how you’ll remain.
Until eventually, you become current, have a renewed source of life energy and get another chance to start spending again.
Except this time, hopefully you’ll only spend what’s within the limits of your current day—one day at a time.