Burnout Isn’t a Personal Failure—It’s a Symptom of a Broken System
You're sitting at your desk staring at your screen, but the words aren't making sense anymore. You've been working for hours—or is it days? Time has become a blur of tasks, emails, meetings, and obligations. Your coffee has gone cold. Again.
Your partner asks what you want for dinner and you snap at them. Not because you're angry at them, but because the question feels like one more thing someone needs from you. One more decision. One more piece of your energy you don't have left to give.
You can't remember the last time you felt truly rested. The last time you did something just because you wanted to, not because it was productive or necessary. The last time you weren't exhausted.
You tell yourself you just need to try harder, be more organized, have better boundaries, practice more self-care.
But here's the truth you need to hear: If you feel like you're constantly running on empty, barely keeping up, and somehow still not doing enough—it's not just you.
We're taught to believe that burnout is a personal problem, something we should fix with better time management, another planner, or a stronger mindset. But the truth is, burnout isn't an individual failing. It's a symptom of a system designed to extract as much as possible from us.
What Burnout Really Is (And Isn't)
Burnout is more than just being tired.
Burnout isn't simply exhaustion that a good night's sleep can fix. It's a state of chronic physical, emotional, and mental depletion caused by prolonged stress and overwork. It's what happens when you've been giving more than you have for too long.
The World Health Organization recognizes burnout as an occupational phenomenon characterized by:
Energy depletion or exhaustion
Increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism
Reduced professional efficacy
But burnout goes beyond the workplace. It shows up in relationships, parenting, activism, and every area of life where we're expected to give endlessly without adequate support or rest.
Signs you might be experiencing burnout.
You might be burnt out if you're experiencing:
Chronic exhaustion that doesn't improve with sleep
Emotional numbness or feeling disconnected from things that used to matter
Cynicism or detachment from work, relationships, or causes you care about
Decreased performance despite working harder than ever
Physical symptoms like headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension, or frequent illness
Irritability or emotional outbursts that seem disproportionate
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Loss of motivation or feeling like nothing you do matters
Escapist behaviors like excessive scrolling, binge-watching, or substance use
Feeling trapped with no way out or ability to change things
If several of these resonate, you're not broken or weak. You're responding normally to unsustainable conditions.
Why Are We All So Exhausted? Understanding the Systemic Roots
Burnout isn't just about working too hard.
Burnout isn't just about working too hard—though that's certainly part of it. It's about the constant pressure to perform, produce, and be available at all times. And that pressure isn't random or accidental. It's built into the systems we live under.
Let's break down how these systems create burnout:
Capitalism rewards overwork and punishes rest.
Capitalism values you based on your productivity, not your humanity. In this system:
Rest is seen as unproductive or wasteful
"Laziness" is demonized and moralized
Your worth is tied to your economic output
Even hobbies are turned into "side hustles" that must be monetized
Time off is a luxury, not a human need
Healthcare, housing, and basic security are tied to constant work
You're not a person in this system—you're a resource to be extracted from.
When the economy depends on endless growth and consumption, your exhaustion is a feature, not a bug. Burnt-out people don't have the energy to question the system, demand better conditions, or organize for change.
Your burnout serves capitalism. It keeps you compliant, desperate, and too tired to resist.
Patriarchy exploits unpaid labor.
Women, especially women of color, carry the weight of invisible, unpaid labor that keeps households, workplaces, and communities functioning:
Emotional labor: managing everyone's feelings, conflicts, and needs
Mental load: remembering, planning, coordinating, anticipating
Care work: children, elderly parents, sick family members
Domestic labor: cooking, cleaning, organizing
Relationship maintenance: birthdays, holidays, social connections
Workplace emotional support: being the team therapist, mediator, or culture-keeper
This labor is expected, undervalued, and endless. You're supposed to do it all while also working a full-time job, maintaining your appearance, never complaining, and making it all look effortless.
The patriarchy depends on this free labor and punishes women who refuse to provide it or demand recognition for it.
White supremacy deepens exhaustion for marginalized communities.
If you hold marginalized identities, burnout carries additional layers:
For people of color:
Navigating workplace discrimination and microaggressions
Code-switching to be "palatable" in white-dominated spaces
Bearing the burden of educating others about racism
Lacking access to resources, healthcare, and economic security
Facing systemic barriers at every turn
Living under constant scrutiny and having to work twice as hard for half the recognition
For LGBTQIA+ people:
Fighting for basic rights and dignity
Managing the stress of discrimination and violence
Navigating healthcare systems that may not understand or respect your identity
Coming out repeatedly in new contexts
For disabled people:
Navigating inaccessible systems built for able-bodied people
Fighting for accommodations that should be standard
Managing chronic pain or illness while being expected to perform at the same level as everyone else
The constant need to navigate these injustices—whether through self-advocacy, simply existing under heightened scrutiny, or processing ongoing trauma—takes an enormous toll. This isn't just about work. It's about survival.
When a system is built on extraction and inequality, burnout isn't a personal shortcoming—it's an intentional outcome.
Why Self-Care Isn't Enough (And What Actually Helps)
The limits of individual solutions to systemic problems.
We've been sold the idea that burnout can be solved with self-care. Wellness culture tells us that if we just meditate more, journal daily, take bubble baths, practice gratitude, eat better, exercise regularly, and maintain proper work-life balance, we'll be fine.
And while these practices can be helpful, they don't change the fact that we're living in a system that makes exhaustion inevitable.
Here's why self-care alone isn't enough:
If your job is draining you but healthcare is tied to employment, quitting isn't always an option.
If you're the family caretaker with no support, a face mask won't lighten your load.
If hustle culture tells you to monetize every skill and passion, how do you just rest?
If you're navigating systemic oppression daily, a yoga class doesn't dismantle those systems.
If you can't afford childcare, therapy, or time off, self-care becomes another thing you're failing at.
Self-care is important, but it was never meant to be a substitute for systemic change. It's a band-aid on a wound that needs surgery.
Individual self-care under capitalism becomes another commodity.
The wellness industry has turned self-care into a billion-dollar market. Now you need:
Expensive organic products
Boutique fitness memberships
Meditation apps
Therapy
Retreats and getaways
The "right" skincare routine
Designer athleisure
Superfood supplements
Self-care has been commodified, turning rest into something else you have to buy and achieve. This isn't liberation—it's capitalism finding a new way to profit from your exhaustion.
Rest as Resistance: Collective Care and Systemic Change
If burnout is built into the system, healing must be collective.
If burnout is built into the system, then healing can't just be an individual pursuit. It has to be collective. We can't self-care our way out of systemic oppression.
Rest is a form of resistance.
Choosing to slow down, take breaks, and step away from grind culture is an act of defiance. When you rest, you're refusing to participate in your own exploitation.
Rest says:
My worth isn't tied to my productivity
I won't sacrifice my wellbeing for a system that doesn't value me
My humanity matters more than my output
I deserve ease, not just endless effort
You don't have to earn your rest. You deserve it because you're human, period.
Community care is the antidote to burnout.
Community care means we take care of each other instead of expecting everyone to figure it out alone. It looks like:
Practical support:
Meal trains for new parents, sick folks, or people going through hard times
Childcare swaps with trusted friends
Skill-sharing (someone good at taxes helps others, someone else does car maintenance)
Mutual aid networks for financial support
Emotional support:
Checking in on people regularly, not just when there's a crisis
Creating spaces where people can be honest about struggles
Witnessing each other's pain without trying to fix it
Celebrating wins together
Collective resistance:
Workplace organizing for better conditions
Advocating for policy changes together
Supporting each other in setting boundaries
Normalizing rest and pushing back on hustle culture
Instead of trying to push through exhaustion alone, we need to care for and support each other.
The real solution is systemic change.
Individual and community care are important, but the real solution requires dismantling the systems that create burnout in the first place.
We need to fight for:
Universal healthcare so your health isn't tied to employment
Paid family leave for all workers
Living wages so people aren't working multiple jobs just to survive
Affordable childcare and elder care
Housing as a human right, not a commodity
Workplace protections including reasonable hours, paid sick leave, and the right to disconnect
Strong social safety nets so losing a job isn't catastrophic
Accessible mental health services
Protections against discrimination in employment, housing, and healthcare
Fighting for these things isn't just political—it's about making rest and well-being possible for everyone.
Reclaiming Your Humanity in a System That Wants to Extract It
You are not a machine.
You are a human being with needs, limits, feelings, and inherent worth that has nothing to do with your productivity. The system wants you to forget that. Don't.
Your burnout is information.
If you're burnt out, it's your body and mind telling you that something is unsustainable. Listen to that message. It's not weakness—it's wisdom.
Ask yourself:
What boundaries do I need to set?
Where am I giving more than I have?
What support do I need that I'm not asking for?
What would have to change for me to feel sustainable?
Small acts of reclamation matter.
While we work toward systemic change, reclaim what you can:
Say no to things that deplete you unnecessarily
Rest without guilt or justification
Ask for help and accept it when offered
Connect with others who understand the struggle
Celebrate small wins and moments of ease
Protect your energy like the precious resource it is
These aren't selfish acts—they're survival strategies and small rebellions.
You Deserve Rest—No Strings Attached
You are not failing. You are tired because you were never meant to carry this much alone.
Your burnout isn't proof that you're not strong enough, organized enough, or resilient enough. It's proof that you're human, living in a system designed to extract everything from you while giving little in return.
You deserve rest. Not because you earned it through productivity. Not because you checked off all the tasks. Not because you've finally done enough.
You deserve rest because you're alive. Full stop.
If burnout has left you feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or unsure of how to move forward, you don't have to figure it out on your own. Therapy can help you unpack the pressures you've internalized, set boundaries that honor your needs, and reconnect with what truly matters to you—without the guilt.
You don't have to just survive. You can reclaim your time, energy, and rest.
Ready to Address Burnout and Reclaim Your Energy?
If you're struggling with burnout, chronic exhaustion, or feeling trapped by impossible expectations, therapy can help. I work with people learning to set boundaries, challenge internalized messages about productivity, and build lives that honor their humanity over their output.
Because a broken system doesn't get to decide how much you're worth.
