I think a lot of us aren’t burned out from work. We’re burned out from pretending

Lately I’ve been wondering if what we call “burnout” is actually something slightly different.

I can handle the workload. I can handle deadlines. I can even handle stress.

What drains me is the constant performance.

Acting fully confident when I’m still thinking.

Acting fully aligned when I have doubts.

Acting fully energized when I’m just… normal.

It’s not the tasks. It’s the subtle, daily self editing.

And the weird part is, everyone seems to be doing it. We’re all performing competence for each other.

I don’t know if that’s just adulthood or modern work culture, but sometimes I wonder how much lighter things would feel if we could drop the act a little.

Does anyone else feel like this?