Have You Ever Burned Out?

I've had a few bouts of burnout. Usually, it comes after a long period of non-stop work where I've busted my ass and am so exhausted by the end of it, I need 2-3 days just to recover and start to feel normal again. This meant taking a long weekend, saying I won't have access to my phone for the majority of the day (I'll be available from X to Y and will only answer emails and phone calls during that period), and just clear my mind by doing things that kept me out of touch. I can think of a few stories like that. However, most people understand that after running hard and firing on all cylinders for weeks and months on end, a break is needed. Even if it's a weekend to just not look at work, it can be enough to physically recover from the shitty situation.

While I wouldn't call it physical burnout, I did have a bout of emotional burnout. Now, before anyone says emotional burnout is bullshit, you have to look at it from a productivity standpoint. Physical burnout is working to the point of exhaustion by burning the candle at both ends and forcing your body to endure without recovery. Emotional burnout is caused by working in an environment that taxes your emotional wellbeing (toxic culture, vindictive culture, abusive culture, the kind of place you have an existential dread to show up at) to the point of exhaustion despite being able to execute the work. I had one boss where the emotional burnout was real and it took about a month and a half after leaving the recover. The work environment was so toxic that I was so emotionally drained and burned out, I couldn't do anything. Basically, I woke up every day and felt like a zombie in the last few weeks of working, and that carried over into the first few weeks of leave. The biggest thing that helped me recover was hitting the gym regularly, trying to keep a normal sleep schedule, and just disconnecting from the world to regain some sense of normalcy in my life.