A poem on MY burnout

I never thought I'd be writing this!

Jun 16, 2025

Welcome to the 15th edition of Perplexed by Jaga.

I built this digital garden to share everything that has perplexed me about AI, marketing & the future of work with AI. If it’s your first time here, you can find older posts here and read more about me here.

This is a special series about burnout and how I overcame it as a high performer.

This is episode 1 of my experience with burnout.

I never thought I would be writing this, but here we are.

Three months back, I took an unplanned & sudden break from work, not because I wanted to, but because I had to.

I’ve always loved what I've done for work.

While I saw friends and family treat it as an afterthought, work was my number one priority.

Work was never random to me.

Work was redemption, as every word, every campaign and every career move was fulfilled with intention.

Still, I had to take a complete break from doing what I loved.

All because of one simple reason: I was burned out!

I was burned out…

I was burnt out to the point where ideas did not flow.

I was burnt out to the point where I hated what I loved doing.

I was burnt out to the point where work, something that I enjoyed, became a chore.

I was burnt out to the point where days felt the same and weeks passed while seeming like hours.

I was burned out to the point where major career and personal wins seemed like little more than an achievement worth celebrating.

I was burnt out to the point where I had zero energy to speak to a friend or even my partner.

I was burnt out to the point where nothing made sense.

I struggled to get out of my bed every morning, and I struggled to sleep.

I was burnt out to the point where I was living from one weekend to the next without any joy for the present I had been blessed with.

I was burnt out to the point where life had no meaning, creativity was non-existent, and there WAS NO HOPE.

I was burnt out to the point where even small things like making my coffee, which used to bring me a lot of joy every morning, didn't matter to me.

Speaking about coffee, it used to wake me up and get me in the zone, but suddenly, this little joy in life also stopped working. For me, coffee was no more than a hot cup of SOMETHING hot and bitter to drink mindlessly!

I was burnt out to the point where reading, which brought me a lot of joy, became a lost habit.

I was burnt out to the point where working out, which also brought me a lot of joy, was no more than a chore.

I didn't work out.

I did not go to the gym.

I did not take care of my health.

I started losing weight and it just didn't matter anymore.

I was burnt out to the point where I could not open a notepad, pick up a pen, and just start writing.

I mean, what do I write when everything feels meaningless, and writing, which brought me infinite joy, no longer brings me any anything?

I was burnt out to the point where life just seemed like a black hole.

Achievement, joy, and or even any small high did not make a difference.

Trust me, when you are burnt out, even alcohol, which can make you forget things, stops working. If any, consumption of any alcohol or substance only tends to make it worse.

I was burnt out to the point where I didn't want to wake up.

I just wanted the day to end even before it started.

So here we are, three months later, and I'm writing this post to explain what I felt when I was burned out.

It's been three months.

I don't want to say that I'm entirely okay yet, but I think this break has allowed me to reflect, understand, and learn more about burnout, as well as myself as a person.

Importantly, it pushed me to go deeper into two questions

Why did I burn out in the first place? What led me to the point of no return?
What I would have done differently to prevent myself from burning out in the first place?

So I figured I'd write this series of eight posts explaining my journey

What is burnout, and what are the biological reasons behind it?
What are the different stages of burnout?
Why did I get burnt out to start with?
Did our parents also get burnout, or have we just become too soft as a generation?
How to prevent & manage burnout in a world that wants every piece of your attention?
What did I do when I knew I was burned out?
How did I heal to get my creativity & joy for life back again?
What am I doing to live a life where I don't get burnt out again?

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Here’s what to do if you are burnt out

Rremember it's okay if you're burnt out or feel on the verge of being burnt out.

It means that you are also human and all humans are flawed by design.

It's happened to everyone—from founders to leaders to operators.

Burnout just means that you've worked hard and toiled away at something while exceeding all your limits.

If you burned out doing something meaningful, then you should be grateful for it because:

It shows that you have pushed yourself for something worthwhile
It shows that you made a mistake in not knowing your limits
It shows that you still haven't learned to manage your stress.

Even if you're burnt out for a reason that’s not meaningful, it's still okay!

It's a life lesson, and maybe now you can learn how to conquer your burnout and prevent it from happening ever again.

You’ll have the same body & mind for a lifetime.

Perhaps this can be your chance to look inward and heal. This is your opportunity to become a better person, a stronger individual in both mind and spirit.

I don't think anyone should take a break from work, especially if they love what they do. You should take a break because you want to, not because you have to.

That is not a good place to be, and I hope this series of posts will help anyone trying to navigate exactly this.