As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough.
I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my trauma history, impact of world events, etc.
One thing I do know for sure: research like this is so encouraging. Normalizing the conversation about mental health is so important.
Jonny (one of the report co-authors) here, thanks for sharing this—I entirely agree that normalising this conversation around mental health is essential, yet often requires courage to do so, especially in a work context. Yet, as our research illustrated, you are very much not alone in experiencing pre-existing mental health challenges that were amplified by the events of 2020.
re: 'telling the difference between work burnout vs. residual issues from a traumatic history', this is a nuanced topic but from the perspective of your nervous system, there really isn't a difference—the emotional debt (which could also be labelled as 'micro-trauma') that accumulates doesn't neatly distinguish between work + life as we have a tendency to do (the RED framework in the report was our attempt to describe this process in more detail).
Taking an initial 4-week break is really important step—I would encourage you not to commit (at this point) with a date for when you will return but see how the coming weeks unfold. It's also critical to seek help during the recovery process, ideally from someone trained in a form of therapy that addresses the body (Somatic Experiencing Therapy being a good example). Did you notice the [Resilience Wiki](http://resilient.wiki/) that we've started towards the end of the report? Hopefully some of those resources are useful. Also, please feel free to get in touch directly: jonnymiller[at]mac.com
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. I had not noticed the Resilience Wiki. This looks excellent, and I will be exploring it thoroughly.
> I entirely agree that normalising this conversation around mental health is essential, yet often requires courage to do so, especially in a work context
Broaching this topic and some of the reasons behind the extended break were terrifying in the work context. I've grown into a leadership role after many successful years with the company, and the thought of "admitting" to my mental health issues was daunting at first. Like it would somehow undo my years of professional progress. I'm grateful that my upper leadership was actually quite receptive, and others have shared that they feel more empowered to address their own issues when they see other people willing to share more about their own struggles.
But even with that, there's still incredible pressure to rise above it and lead the product.
I've been working with a trauma-aware therapist for a few years now (amazingly helpful), and they provided input as I planned the 4 week break. I do plan to explore some of these topics more explicitly in upcoming sessions.
> "Like it would somehow undo my years of professional progress. I'm grateful that my upper leadership was actually quite receptive, and others have shared that they feel more empowered to address their own issues when they see other people willing to share more about their own struggles."
This is a powerful reflection. Vulnerability often feels like weakness to us but looks like courage to others. IMO real change is contingent on a deeper cultural shift that begins with leaders like yourself being willing to step into honest conversations about their inner + outer struggles.
And really great to hear that you have someone experienced working with you to help navigate the coming weeks. Please do reach out if you have curiosities or further questions about any of the emotional regulation activities listed in the wiki (or wish to contribute suggestions of your own).
I have had burnout in the past, and I’m sorry to say 4 weeks is likely not enough.
For me it was about 1 year to recover.
Sure I could have returned to work after a month or two, because I would no longer have been “exhausted” physically, but going straight back into it would have burnt off that top layer of rest, and still revealed the ruined core within, to truly heal it took a year, then my excitement for programming came back, the excitement about not being able to sleep because there’s so much to enjoy, and the pure joy of creation
I hate that it took a year to come back, being hyper industrious this long period killed me. But I am grateful that it came back.
I appreciate not everyone has the financial ability to take a year off. I didn’t either, but I was lucky that I could adapt a simple, frugal existence to survive. I support UBI or whatever form of support anyone can give people who burnout because it’s real and it’s painful.
I wish you all the best in your recovery, and wrote this to tell you there is light at the end of the tunnel
I took 6 months off after a bad case of burnout and I think you are spot on at 1 year. About 6 months after going back to work (and clearing my plate of a lot of superfluous BS) I finally felt like I was beginning to hit my stride again. It was a big financial hit, but in the grand scheme of things it would have been far worse on my long term career prospects had I not taken that time away. Six months was, in my opinion, the bare minimum for the kind of burnout I was experiencing.
I've also burnt out, a couple times really deeply, in the last decade or so. Everything broke down then, and I ended up taking about a year off, with occasional part-time work to sustain me.
Emotional and psychological trauma have a way of affecting you "forever", skewing who you are inside. I believe it's a life-long practice to learn your own physical and mental limits, to develop a habit of continuous improvement and awareness.
Fortunately, after I came back to the workforce, I eventually found a situation where I can pace myself, take a step or two back as needed, to keep an eye on my mental condition and ensure a smooth, consistent productivity.
Your mention of UBI was surprising in the context of burnout, but it totally makes sense. Not everyone can afford to take time off work, especially for mental health, which is not widely understood, as a "taboo" subject in some cultures.
I barely made it financially through my burn-out recovery, and it would have saved a ton of grief if there was a safety net that ensured at least food and shelter, while I focused on rehabilitation.
Just a showerthought, could it be like everyone accumulate mental “age” at a constant rate from birth, such that people of same generation has roughly same mental age, and so burnout state is observed when those ages become mismatched?
I wish I could get four weeks off. I'm in a company that switched over to "unlimited vacation" which in practice means no vacation, and also working most weekends and some holidays.
Been thinking about leaving, but I can't. I have to pay medical bills for the family. But I'm not qualified for my current job -- I can't be a full time programmer and a part time manager too. All of the lying about progress I can't make is killing me. I've asked to change to a different job, but the CEO told me that I would not be considered for another job in front of the head of HR. By definition, I guess I'm stuck in a dead-end job.
I know I'm in burnout, burnoutindex.org gives me 5.6 out of 6. But there's nothing I can do to improve the situation.
Hey, I've gone through a very similar situation recently, and my history is similar to what you describe here, as well. My email is in my profile, and I'd love to chat with you about it -- just put something in the subject to identify that you're haswell@HN.
One thing that bothers me, is that research (as skeptical as I am of social sciences right now) seems to suggest that "ego resources" don't exist. However burn out does exist.
Therefore it's hard to reconcile and find a balance between "I can push myself a little more, I'm just unmotivated" and "I need to switch off right now or I'll burn out"
There is a delicate balance between what the author of Reboot Jerry Colonna describes as 'Foolish Grit' vs. 'Healthy Drive + Ambition'. In my own experience I find it helpful to enquire into the underlying motivations for the work.
i.e am I driving myself from a place of fear? How does my body feel when I begin working on this? What is the source of the resistance? Whilst fear can certainly be a powerful motivator in the short term, it is not a sustainable fuel source.
For me (who succumbed to some alcohol and amphetamine abuse to keep working), it took 3 years, and I still get anxiety when I code. But, I also have a history of trauma, so YMMV.
Ya I had burnout so bad 2 years ago that it cost me my job. Your comment about burnout spanning multiple causes and contexts resonates with me. I reached a point where everything felt like work (even recreation), and the news on my social media feed in these times just dragged me down further. Just to warn you, 4 weeks will probably not be enough time to climb out of burnout (it took me more like 6 months), but you can certainly hone your coping skills enough to have a healthy strategy in place going forward. Here's what worked for me:
* Finding and treating health problems you might not have known about (ADHD, sleep apnea, IBS, hypothyroidism from low iodine, low serotonin due to age or not eating enough meat/tryptophan)
* Using positive self-talk (see cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT)
* Separating planning from execution (keeping temporary todo lists and using https://www.depression-chat-rooms.org for tasking sessions with others)
* Eliminating technical debt outside of work (picking the low-hanging fruit of cleaning up your surroundings, your finances and your relationships)
My working theory right now for how burnout works is that it's about a rift between your subconscious and conscious mind. In my case, I had come to rely upon my subconscious to do most of the heavy lifting. So I'd think about a problem and sleep on it, then write the code that came to me in the morning. I took being a lazy programmer to the absolute limit and avoided consciously working through the crux of problems. Basically I mistook going with the flow for being in the zone.
My struggles started when my ADHD issues (which I thought I kicked as a teen) crept up and when I lost interest in my work, my subconscious mind refused to solve problems it wasn't passionate about. I found that tasks that previously happened through muscle memory had to be done by my conscious mind. So I started noticing every single little step. Not just brushing my teeth, but opening the drawer, getting out the toothbrush, opening the toothpaste, squeezing it out, and so on. Working through a day in my home life became almost insurmountable as I was faced with 10,000 grueling steps.
Anyway, that was the year before COVID-19. I survived on my savings and by donating plasma. Luckily I met someone who hired me to do handyman work, and the physical labor was a godsend since I haven't been able to go to the gym.
My health began recovering around Thanksgiving of last year, and I would say I was 85% recovered by around May. The last few months have been great, and I've been able to start programming again in recent weeks. Thankfully the brain circuits that had shut down have reawakened so I don't have to relearn how to code. My mood has risen from a 2-4 out of 10 last year, to a consistent 7-9 the last few months, without medication. When I start slipping down the road towards negative self-talk and darkness, I take time to breathe, slow down, and ask if I'm respecting myself in the situation. I've learned that a big part of my burnout was bad communication and spending too much time dwelling on other people's expectations and my own past mistakes.
Just wanted to thank you for sharing details about your personal experience.
> So I started noticing every single little step. Not just brushing my teeth, but opening the drawer, getting out the toothbrush, opening the toothpaste, squeezing it out, and so on. Working through a day in my home life became almost insurmountable as I was faced with 10,000 grueling steps.
This really resonated with me. The 10,000 grueling steps thing hits close to home.
My difficulty dealing with such mundane things - things that I told myself should be trivial for a "functioning adult" (some negative self-judgement, but that's another topic) - was a big part of my realization that I had to take more active steps to address the issue.
Ya it's hard. Something that helped me was the realization that doing manual tasks for 2 weeks converts them into a habit.
The first thing I'd recommend doing is writing out everything on your todo list. This is just a flow state thing, I don't care if one of the tasks is "put pants on today" or "make my bed" or "remodel the bathroom". Just get at least a dozen (maybe even 100) tasks written. Stop reading here until you've done it :-)
Now go through and tag them as: Recurring, Soon, Tomorrow, This Week, This Month, This Year. Or whatever timescales you prefer to think about. Also give them a rough estimate like 5, 10, 15 minutes, N hours, etc. You can also rate each task on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 for how urgent they are to you. It might help to move them to the rows of a spreadsheet or use an app (I used Google spreadsheet).
Now you can sort your tasks by column in various ways, and SUM() the estimates to get an overall idea of how long they will take to complete. You can also begin breaking tasks up into subtasks. As a rule of thumb, each task can be separated into lower timescales. So days to hours, hours to minutes. If that's too nebulous, just mark unknowns as TODO.
It helps to reflect periodically on what you are dwelling on, and work to get it out of your head into the TODO list. If you're thinking about it, write it down. It's ok to let the list build up over a few days. This is your time to recuperate and heal from burnout.
At this point, I used the 3 second rule as motivation to do something. The idea being that the body can't perceive the difference between anxiety and excitement. If something caught my fancy, like I could at least gather the papers on my desk into a box, I just did it immediately. Cross that off the list. Sorting could be postponed till later.
So rather than dwelling on brushing my teeth for 2 hours after my girlfriend went to bed, I brushed them immediately after tucking her in. I basically assumed that I had no working memory, and that I was an automaton following a script.
Checking items off the list helped me move up through levels of abstraction. I kind of went from the seconds timescale, up to minutes, hours, and finally days. I realized I had been so knee-deep in my work over 4 years that I had put off like 1 year of chores around our property. The things that seemed so insurmountable (like brushing my teeth) gradually moved from my conscious mind back to the subconscious. It also helped that my girlfriend kept me on task but understood that it was a process.
You can also add in new recurring tasks that don't take effort, but might have been weighing on you for some reason. Things like: going on a 20 minute walk each day, meditating for 20 minutes a few times each week, remembering to eat every 3 hours, taking your B vitamins, etc etc etc. Control the things you can, so you can work up to things that feel outside your control. I strongly believe that as you get your recurring tasks back into your routine, you'll feel a lot better.
The term for all of this is "executive dysfunction". It's getting really common in young people because we're so saturated with multitasking and interruption that it's shortening our attention spans. And in my case, I was trying to hold these huge problem spaces in my head too for work. So my motivation was completely exhausted day in and day out, and I couldn't even manage to do something as minor as getting a letter in the mail (I'd put it off for weeks).
But ya, as I climbed out of my hole, I started realizing that much of my burnout revolved around an emotional issue. Cleaning my home office wasn't the problem, going through 10 years of old bills/paperwork and reliving some difficult times in my life was. I guess I had hoarded that baggage in my mind. You'll have your own insights though.
And it will absolutely get better, even though it feels rough right now. Just move at least 1 step forward each day and you WILL reach your destination.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I don't have to use my TODO lists anymore. I do use the iOS calendar app, or jot things down occasionally in Slack, but it's few and far between. So put aside any worries of lists coming to dominate your life :-)
I know a handful of people who needed time off to recover from burnout - it ranged between 8 weeks to 2 years - depending on if they could convince their Doctor to officially recognise it for government support.
This is key. I was all but completely blind, in bed 18 hours a day in extreme pain, recovering from stokes and various clots.
Doctor absolutely would not feel out any paperwork. Claimed that was for specialist. Specialist all claim that was a job for primary.
Disability straight up laughed at me.
Eventful worked through the worst of it, but wow, it’s shocking how bad doctors can be.
Taking this break isn't just about not doing anything, but is also about actively seeking new ways to handle my current situation. Had I not been on HN, I wouldn't have found this treasure trove of a document :)
I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my trauma history, impact of world events, etc.
One thing I do know for sure: research like this is so encouraging. Normalizing the conversation about mental health is so important.