At some point, burnout as grief stopped being a diagnosis and became a cover story.
Burnout as grief explains why rest doesn’t fix it. Burnout sounds professional, while grief sounds dramatic. Burnout implies effort. Loss sits underneath it either way.
Most people aren’t exhausted from doing too much. Instead, they’re worn down from doing things that no longer matter to them.
Burnout says a vacation will solve it. Grief says the wound runs deeper than the calendar.
That’s why long weekends don’t work. Likewise, spa solutions and soft language do not create real change. You come back rested and still misaligned.
The exhaustion isn’t physical. It’s existential.
Burnout as Grief Changes the Question
Grief asks what you lost.
It also asks what you tolerated for too long.
Finally, it asks whether the life you’re living matches the one you thought you were building.
Grief shows up when you realize how much energy you’ve given to systems, roles, and expectations that do not give anything back.
Calling it burnout lets us avoid mourning the mismatch. However, naming it grief gives us permission to change.
Grief doesn’t ask for productivity. It asks for honesty.
Until we tell the truth about what we’ve lost, no amount of rest will feel restorative. So we keep calling it burnout, keep scheduling breaks that don’t work, and keep wondering why the weight never lifts.
And yes.
That’s still us.
Further Groundwork
