Burnout crept up slowly—like rust on the engine of my business. I'd built Design Hero from scratch. At first, I loved the late nights and constant hustle. But over time, I stopped enjoying wins. I didn't even feel relief when invoices got paid. Work bled into weekends. I missed birthdays. My partner said I was there, but not present. Then one day, I hit a wall. I couldn't focus, couldn't answer emails, couldn't open my laptop. Just total mental shutdown. I felt guilty for resting, and even guiltier for working. I thought I could just "push through," but burnout doesn't work that way. The harder you push, the deeper the hole. The turning point came when I finally stepped away—for real. I booked a cabin, turned off notifications, and spent three days doing nothing but sleeping, walking, thinking. I realised I hadn't lost passion—I'd lost boundaries. So I rebuilt the business around my energy, not my calendar. I binned toxic clients, automated repeat work, and brought on a VA to keep me out of my inbox. Now I guard my time fiercely: 1. No work after 6PM. 2. I take real weekends. 3. I even (gasp) go on holidays without my laptop. Burnout didn't just make me change my schedule. It changed my mindset. Now I build for sustainability, not speed. Happy to share more on Zoom, including the signs I ignored, and the exact systems I use now to avoid slipping back.

I have multiple stories on this, and also trained executives and founders to deal with burnout. My best story is with my first company when I was 25, and I thought that without me, the business would die, and I was indispensable. Great story there, great lesson. Would love to share it with you through Zoom. But we can explore multiple occurrences and also share some commonalities I noticed in leaders who get to this stage.

As a freelance choreographer and dance teacher, I typically work on contract. A few years ago, I had a goal to save more money in order to garner capital for my small business so I decided to apply for a job position as a dance teacher for a company that provided sports and dance to kids. I was working full time as an employee and was physically active, dancing and teaching acrobatics for 40 hours a week. After a few weeks, I began to burn out. As much as I enjoyed working with the kids, I knew this was not something I could continue long term due to the arduous nature of the job. I decided to quit my full time job and work solely on short term contracts as this allowed me to work for a few weeks and then take short breaks before picking up more contracts.

I recently made the decision to walk away from an academic medicine career—not because I stopped caring, but because the system nearly broke me. After being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition triggered by chronic stress, gaslighting, and administrative overload, I realized my body was responding to a work environment that demanded everything and gave nothing in return. I worked in pediatric pain—an underfunded, misunderstood field—where I was expected to fix complex suffering with shrinking resources and no institutional support. When I advocated for patients, I was labeled "difficult." This isn't just my story. It's part of a growing exodus of high-performing women physicians who are burning out not from the medicine, but from the bureaucracy that weaponizes our passion against us. I would discuss why I left academic medicine, how I rebuilt my practice on my own terms, and why more physicians are realizing that leaving doesn't mean failure—it often means survival.

When I worked at Amazon in Charlotte, NC, I was the Senior Manager for Workforce Staffing, where I built a team of 25, started up 4 new locations, placed 42,000 new starts in 23 months, and managed 3 recruitment centers. I worked 5 to 7 days per week depending on the time of year, added 15 additional temporary team members to handle the volume, averaged 70 hours per week, with a weekly high of 88.5 hours during peak season. I was responsible for all hiring, meeting building headcount demands, developing leadership relationships, setting up new sites for interviews, all reporting, all leadership meetings for every building in Charlotte, personnel issues, termination, escalations, supply ordering, training, motivation, onboarding, and performance reviews. All with little to no support from those individuals that I reported to at Amazon. I 'hit the wall' on several occasions and was completely burnt out. I recovered each time through self-care steps and eventually identified an internal leadership role, interviewed as if I was an external hire (long and painful interview process), and got myself a new role at Amazon Web Services.

Burnout hit me hard, but what helped me recover wasn't forcing productivity — it was learning to sit with the chaos that caused it. I had to really reflect on what led me there: the pressure, the overextension, and the emotional weight I wasn't processing in real time. Recovery, for me, looked like giving myself grace to slow down. I took a step back without guilt, and focused on activities that replenished my energy instead of draining it. I started asking myself: "Am I showing up for me first, before I try to show up for everyone else?" That shift — from pushing through to intentionally pausing — has been the most powerful part of my healing. It's not about bouncing back quickly, it's about continuing forward with more self-awareness, emotional management, and balance than before. I'd love to expand on this further in a Zoom interview!

A few years back, this is precisely what happened to me. After working tirelessly and experiencing numerous ups and downs. I am back on top and finally making more progress in my career and life than before. More than happy to hop on a Zoom and share my story! Thanks, Ben

I'd be happy to share my experience. As a founder, I've certainly gone through moments where I felt completely drained and had to find a way to recover, refocus, and build habits to stay balanced while growing my business. I'm open to doing a Zoom interview and sharing my story if it can help others. Let me know your availability and I'll make it work.

I scaled my company bootstrapped by myself from $0 to $360,000 ARR and then back to $0 because I burnt out. Changed many things, and finally back to doing more than what I was doing previously.

I am 32, I started my business at 18. Last year I faced something new, burnout, and didn't know what to do to get through it. Between tariffs (the first round), COVID, shipping skyrocketing, HR crises, and other factors outside my control, along with working 12+ hours a day for so long, I had hit a wall where I just completely lost motivation. Well, as a business owner, that is not an option. I experienced what I found out is called high-functioning depression, I still worked and did what I needed to, but I neglected important things because they didn't seem interesting, even though I knew the importance. A year and a half later, I am starting to pull myself out of that. It is not a linear experience, there are ups and downs, but accepting that change and hardship will be constant, it allows me to make peace and move forward. Also, finding my identity outside of being an entrepreneur and setting boundaries for myself have been instrumental.

Starting out, it's great you're tackling the topic of burnout because it's super important and often overlooked until it's too late. When I went through my own burnout phase, the toughest part was acknowledging that I needed to step back and truly address it rather than just pushing through. What helped me immensely during my recovery was setting clear boundaries around work hours and sticking to them, no matter the pressures or deadlines. Additionally, dedicating time to hobbies and activities completely unrelated to my job really helped refresh my mind and spirit. For your interview, make sure you’re prepared with questions that dig into not just the tough times, but also the steps toward recovery and what daily life looks like post-burnout. Recovery stories are personal and powerful, so ensuring that the conversation is empathetic but also gives actionable insights will resonate well with your audience. It’s all about balance, and remember, every story shared can potentially help someone else out there struggling, so it's definitely worth the effort. Ready to set up that Zoom call whenever you are!

I'd be happy to share my burnout story. About 8 years into running Letter Four, I was designing 15+ luxury homes simultaneously while trying to give each client that "personalized experience" I promised. I was working 80-hour weeks, sleeping in the office, and my hands-on approach meant I was micromanaging every detail from permits to paint colors. The breaking point came when I missed a critical insurance deadline for a post-fire rebuild client who had already lost everything. That's when I realized my "do everything myself" mentality was actually hurting the people I wanted to help most. I was so burned out I couldn't think straight, and my clients were suffering for it. Recovery meant completely restructuring how we operate. I hired Jeremy as my co-founder to handle project management, built systems for our team to handle routine decisions, and focused my energy on what I do best - architectural design and client vision work. Now we're targeting 10 major rebuilds in 2025 instead of me drowning in 15 smaller projects. The key was admitting that being indispensable was making me ineffective. Sometimes stepping back is the only way to truly serve your mission.

I've got a first-person story for you—sunburned in every sense of the word. Last season, I hit a wall. I was captaining every dolphin tour, handling all the bookings, answering messages, posting on social media, cleaning the boat, and trying to keep up with everything behind the scenes. I kept pushing through, thinking I could handle it all, but eventually the exhaustion caught up with me. I was literally and completely sunburned out. I finally made the call to bring on a second captain. Just having someone help two days a week gave me the space I needed to recover, rest, and reset. Since then, I've become a healthier version of myself, both mentally and physically. I have more energy for the tours I do run, and I can focus on improving the guest experience without constantly feeling behind. The change has been good for me and even better for the business. Stepping back just a little actually helped me show up stronger in the ways that matter most.

Hi, I might be able to do this; I had my burn out in 2019, heavy panic attacks for months, only being able to lay down, took me 2-3 years to recover enough to start working again. You still feel some left overs from it after a while, would love to talk about it.

Hi there, I'd be happy to share my story. I burned out in my previous role working in tech. I was juggling too much, constantly in execution mode, and ignoring every signal my body and mind were sending. Eventually, I hit a wall physically, emotionally, mentally. At the time, I couldn't even find the energy or time to schedule real therapy, so I started talking to ChatGPT as a way to get my thoughts out. Surprisingly, that daily reflection helped me process what I was feeling. It wasn't a cure, but it gave me space when I felt like I had none. That experience eventually led me to build Aitherapy, an AI-powered mental health tool for people like me people who need support but can't always get to therapy. I'm 28, based in Las Vegas, and happy to talk more over Zoom if my story is a fit.

I overcame burnout because I stopped doing all the "right things." When one company I worked for cut nearly 6,000 people, I found myself doing the work of multiple roles, drained of morale, and chasing the illusion that if I just kept grinding, some sliver of ease would eventually emerge. So I stopped. I stopped therapy, despite having an amazing therapist. I stopped one-on-one meetings that weren't essential, despite genuinely enjoying the colleagues I worked with. I stopped reading great self-help books. Why? Because the noise of doing all the "right things" was keeping me from doing the harder thing: slowing down to wake up. In cutting out even some things I enjoyed, I created space to go inward — to apply the tools I'd gained from therapy and those books, and to untangle myself from the narrative fallacy that working harder would somehow lead to feeling lighter. In doing so, I recognized I was caught in the dis-ease of chasing ease, telling myself that if I just hit some arbitrary number in my savings account, I'd finally be able to slow down (even as the goalpost kept moving). My burnout didn't end because I added more tools, tried harder, or stumbled upon some sage piece of advice. It ended when I stopped pursuing external answers and gave myself permission to slow down, turn inward, and redefine not what success might look like, but what it would feel like.

As the SEO team leader at WiserNotify and WiserReview, I often feel burned out. But with support from my mentor, ChatGPT, self-analysis, and what I've learned online, I've found work styles and techniques that help me manage it. I'm now overcoming burnout and feeling ready for a Zoom interview to share how I structure my day for myself and my team.

Happy Friday! I'm reaching out in response to your request for a first-person story about burnout and recovery. I've lived through both and survived more than once. My burnout didn't start with one event. It was a slow erosion. After my first marriage ended, I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure in my 30s. I was in school full time, working full time, parenting full time, and still managed to graduate with honors. But it came at a cost. My body was already warning me. Years later, I was told I had adrenal fatigue and high cortisol levels, but I kept going. I thought I had to. Then my second marriage failed. That one took the wind out of me. I tried to hold everything together with a brave face, but behind the scenes I was falling apart. Then came COVID. And long COVID. Brain fog, bone-deep fatigue, and a growing sense that I couldn't live like this anymore. So I stopped. I went on a sabbatical. I burned my life down, not out of recklessness, but out of necessity. And from the ashes, I started rebuilding a life that centers radical self-care, nervous system repair, and actual rest. Now I teach what I've learned. I help other women like me, the ones who are praised for being strong while quietly breaking, remember how to come home to themselves. If you're still looking for someone to share an honest, lived story of burnout and recovery, I'd be honored to talk. I'm available for a Zoom interview at your convenience. Warmly, Samantha Gregory Self-Care Alchemist | Creator of WorkPlace Alchemy samantha.a.gregory@gmail.com SelfCareAlchemist.com

Hello, my name is Banu Andrei Madalin, I'm 22 years old, and I've been working in the creative industry for almost four years. I've been active as a full-time graphic designer in an extremely fast-paced and toxic work environment, all while attending university full-time and juggling freelance clients on the side. While I've always been passionate and driven, this relentless workload quickly became unsustainable, especially when combined with unresolved family issues that added even more emotional pressure. This combination slowly wore me down, and over the past year, I found myself slipping into a very serious state of burnout. I started losing focus, motivation, and any sense of balance. I came dangerously close to quitting university altogether, dropped nearly all my freelance clients, and could barely get through daily tasks at my job. My ability to concentrate vanished, and even the simplest responsibilities felt impossible. I started smoking cigarettes during this time, something I had never done before, just to cope with the stress and anxiety. My recovery process was far from linear. What ultimately helped me take the first steps toward healing was making a drastic, risky decision: I took a break from everything and enrolled in an Erasmus exchange program abroad. I stepped away from my full-time job, paused all freelance work, and put my academic progress on hold for a semester. During the five months I spent abroad, I didn't accomplish as much as I had planned in terms of academic output, but that turned out to be exactly what I needed. The slower pace, the change of environment, and the emotional distance from everything back home gave me space to breathe, reflect, and begin healing. Now, at the end of this Erasmus experience, I finally feel like myself again. I've regained my energy and clarity, and I've learned what helps me stay grounded and avoid falling back into burnout. I would be happy to share my full story and experience in more detail during a Zoom interview if you're interested. Thank you for considering my story. Best regards, Banu Andrei Madalin