Burnout Series: Part 1

Burnout in Today’s Times: When Hustle Stops Feeling Healthy

Burnout is no longer limited to doctors, founders, or people with “high-pressure jobs.” Today, it affects corporate employees, freelancers, students, homemakers, and even teenagers. In a world that glorifies hustle and productivity, exhaustion has quietly become normalised.

Long work hours, constant notifications, job insecurity, performance pressure, and the need to always “be available” have blurred the lines between work aan rest. Add social media comparison and rising living costs, and many people find themselves emotionally drained before the week even begins.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is defined as “a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It is characterised by emotional exhaustion, reduced professional efficacy, and mental distancing from work.

Psychologically, burnout isn’t just tiredness. It’s a state where your nervous system remains stuck in stress mode for too long. When the brain doesn’t get enough recovery time, cortisol stays elevated. Over time, motivation drops, focus declines, and even simple tasks feel overwhelming.

The scary part is that burnout often starts quietly. You may feel:

• Constant fatigue even after rest

• Irritability or emotional numbness

• Lack of motivation for things you once enjoyed

• Brain fog and poor concentration
  

Because burnout builds slowly, people often ignore it, pushing harder instead of pausing. In Indian work culture, especially, rest is often seen as laziness and overwork as commitment.

But burnout is not a personal failure. It’s a systemic response to prolonged stress.

Recognising burnout early matters because untreated burnout can lead to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, digestive issues, and long-term health problems. It doesn’t just affect work performance. It affects relationships, self-esteem, and overall quality of life.

Burnout is serious. And it deserves to be talked about without shame.

In the next part of this series, we’ll explore how burnout affects the body and mind, and why ignoring it can do more damage than we realise.

Keep up with us!