09/11/2026
I wore it like a badge of honour for many years.
Working professionally as a chef in kitchens. The long hours, the extreme heat and physical conditions, the mental stress and pressure.
I’d find myself feeling proud and accomplished that I could endure something many other people couldn’t. That I could work long than most, harder than most.
Fast forward some years to when the burnout hit. Crying on my way to work every day, my body getting sick and shutting down on me.
I still remember the night I looked out at a full restaurant of happy people enjoying themselves on a Saturday night and I no longer felt proud of my endurance, I felt jealous of their ability to enjoy their lives.
That was in 2018. Here we are in 2026, and I’m still learning how to slow down. How to detach my feelings of being worthy and enough from how much or how hard I work.
Some changes where big and sudden yes, but a lot of the work has been in the slow, small, consistent steps day by day, year by year.
Social media really glamorizes the overnight stories, the massive shifts and big changes, and something that’s how it happens, but often a nervous system that’s been running on survival, overachieving and people pleasing its whole life needs a different approach.
The one that asks, “What is one small step that I feel confident in making today, even if it stretches me a little?”
Maybe today that’s not answering the phone when someone who drains you calls. Maybe it’s leaving the dishes in the sink, or calling into work.
You don’t have to quit your life to recover from burnout. You just have to start somewhere 🤍
