depending on your long term objectives taking a sabbatical might have been the worst thing to recover from burnout. You want to reassociate effort with reward, and the best way to do that is to work on small things related to what caused your burnout that will "guarantee wins with low expectations".

1. I am not my thoughts or feelings. It’s surprising how far this one will take you2. If work is your support system, your life exists on shaky ground3. Personal struggles become work struggles and vice versa. You can’t draw a clean box around grief and loss, or pretend that work stress can stay at work4. There were major gaps in my life in terms of social connections, time spent in nature, finding artistic outlets, etc.5. Focusing on real self-care/improvement as one’s primary purpose in life open doors internally and externally

I must emphasize that burnout isn’t just the result of a particularly taxing day or week at work. It’s not just the feeling of needing a good night’s sleep or a mini-vacation. No, burnout is a specialized, clinical syndrome, recognized and categorized by very distinct symptoms. It’s a chronic state of being, a silent whisper of desperation that builds up over time, often unrecognized until it becomes a deafening roar that one can no longer ignore.

You might feel like you’re hanging by a thread, with one small tug capable of bringing the entire house of cards crashing down. Even after what should be a rejuvenating rest or holiday, you might find yourself still shackled by this relentless sense of emotional fatigue.

You might feel like there are structural constraints holding you back, preventing you from doing what you value in your work. Your job may have lost its meaning, its purpose, leaving you feeling disheartened and dissatisfied. Even when you’re executing your tasks well, you might feel like it’s all in vain. The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that used to come with doing your job well may no longer be present.

Stress is a response to the challenges and pressures we face, which eases with rest and relaxation. Burnout, on the other hand, is a persistent state of physical and emotional depletion that doesn’t abate with regular rest.

You might have entered your job with a certain idea of what you would be doing, only to find the reality far different. The tension between your personal values and the actual tasks and roles can lead to disillusionment and ultimately, burnout.

Imagine you’re an engineer who loves to innovate and create. You took your current job because it promised opportunities for innovation. Yet, as months pass, you find yourself stuck in a cycle of mundane maintenance tasks, with no room for creativity. The disparity between your personal value of innovation and the reality of your job can result in a loss of motivation, a decrease in job satisfaction, and eventually, burnout.

Picture this scenario: You’ve been working tirelessly on a project, going above and beyond your assigned duties. However, when the project is successful, your colleague who contributed significantly less receives equal credit or even more recognition.

In another scenario, suppose you and your colleagues have been voicing concerns about certain company policies, but those concerns are constantly brushed under the rug or addressed inconsistently. This sense of being unheard or feeling that the decision-making processes are opaque can lead to disillusionment and a growing sense of unfairness, further fanning the flames of burnout.

Do you feel like your work is no longer meaningful or effective, perhaps because of the structures of what you’re asked to do or due to perceived unfairness?

The perceived ‘self’ is an amalgamation shaped by quasi-independent personalities influenced by genetics, upbringing, memories, and trauma. Much of our behavior is driven by animalistic passions and irrepressible emotions.And I think that’s what we hate: We hate not being the boss of our own heads. We hate not being in control. The puppet wishes to overpower the strings—parts of her own body—that keep her upright and sensible.

Girard told us that imitation is the texture of the human experience, that we are constantly orchestrated by desires, and that we are fluid beings who are always becoming more like who we look up to. So, in this light, trying to become the best version of yourself creates an impossible loop: You need the best version of yourself to exist so you know what to strive for in order to become it, but the best version of you can not exist if you do not become it first. Chicken and egg.

the marionette can not be its own puppeteer; that would be a paradox. Trying to improve the self is like Narcissus staring at his reflection: Neither you nor your reflection—who you want to be—changes. You can not improve yourself by staring back at yourself in the same way that a mirror can not become a portrait.1 Self-deficiency implies that external help is needed. You are imperfect at best. You can not produce something from nothing, multiply without a multiplier, or draw straight with crooked lines.

Instead of self-fulfillment or self-actualization, perhaps we are meant to self-deny so we can make room for a Savior. The reason is in its name: Christ-ian, meaning Christ-like, suggests that we shouldn’t be imitating or striving to be some imaginative best-version-of-myself, but rather, someone completely external and objectively Good to the perfect degree.

I'm not sure I agree with *everything* you wrote above, but as I've gotten older, I find myself turning less to self-help books, articles, etc., and more to just hanging out with friends and family.