Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, often linked to work, study, or caregiving. It develops gradually and can severely affect wellbeing.
Priya was the dependable one, top grades, first in/last out. She collected projects like badges and ignored the creeping Sunday dread. Sleep got choppy, patience got thin, and tiny tasks felt weirdly heavy. She wasn’t failing, she was fraying.
An occupational health review and a few therapy sessions helped her spot the pattern: chronic stress + zero off-switch. She shrank her to-do list, blocked deep-work time, and learned to say “not this quarter.” Performative late nights went; real recovery came in, walks, friends, hobbies with no KPI. Energy returned in layers. She still aimed high, but now her ambition had boundaries. Funny thing: the work got better because she did less at once.
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