Afterburnout

I've always struggled to feel like the workweek is actually over.When my commute is walking out of my office downstairs into the kitchen, there's not much time to disconnect. I don't have a drive home, a walk to the train, or even a few minutes sitting in

It's 6:30 AM. Your watch is vibrating, telling you it's time to wake up. You stop the silent alarm. You're feeling well-rested after a good night's sleep."Good morning!" your watch reads.You swipe up to see your sleep score.51. Huh, you feel like you slep

I've been doing a lot of reading on AI lately, and not the kind you might expect. I'm not talking about how to use AI to increase my efficiency or supercharge my output. What I'm actually thinking about is what AI is doing to us as a culture, as a society

I stumbled over my intro on an interview panel this week.I wasn't the candidate. I was one of the interviewers, and it was the very beginning when we were going around introducing ourselves. I started talking and could feel, in real time, that I wasn't as

I'm 12 days post-op from the first of three surgeries I'm having this year. Each one comes with close to two weeks of recovery, which in practice means about eight days of sick leave at a time.I've done the math more than once. Three surgeries. Roughly 24

I have no idea what day it is. I had to check my phone to confirm it's Saturday afternoon.That feels like the defining feature of the week between Christmas and New Year's. Time loosens. Calendars stop mattering. Work is technically open but socially clos

I have a favorite late-December ritual. I take myself to a coffee shop, order something I don't normally drink, and spend a few hours looking back before I look ahead.I review the goals I set the year before. I notice what I stuck with, what I abandoned,

One of the most exhausting beliefs I carried before burnout was that success was almost entirely a function of effort.If I worked harder, I'd get better outcomes. If I stalled, I just hadn't pushed enough. If something didn't work, that was a signal to tr

Lately I've been thinking about how much pressure we put on ourselves to only do things we're already good at. Somewhere along the way, "trying something new" stopped sounding fun and started feeling like a reputational risk. Like if you can't perform at

Every new role, routine, or even city starts with the same uncomfortable truth: you'll be shaky before you're steady.Right now I'm in France, typing this from a little Airbnb with laundry drying across the room. I feel it here - the disorientation of bein