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Let’s talk about a sneaky and surprising kind of burnout.
Not the kind that comes from overwork or running around all day (though that’s real too). I’m talking about the kind that happens when you’re doing all the right things—going to therapy, journaling, meditating, reading all the self-help books—and you still feel … exhausted.
Sound familiar?
You’re trying to grow, to heal, to “do the work,” and yet, somehow, your nervous system feels fried, your patience is paper-thin, and you feel like you’re crawling through your own transformation.
Here’s the truth that we don’t say enough:
You can burn out on inner work.
Growth isn’t supposed to feel like another chore
When healing becomes another thing on your checklist—something you have to do to be “better,” it stops healing and becomes pressure.
It becomes another voice telling you you’re not enough yet. That you should be more self-aware, more evolved, more regulated, more “healed.” As if there’s some gold star waiting once you’ve finally figured it all out.
Healing doesn’t work like that.
You don’t earn rest or peace by working harder on yourself.
You deserve rest and peace because you are human.
The world is loud and you’re human
Outside of your inner work, there’s the constant background noise of the world: the news, the notifications, the collective stress in the air. Your nervous system feels it.
We weren’t built to hold everything all at once.
So if you’re tired, it’s not a sign you’re failing. It’s a sign your system is saying: I may need a pause. I need to breathe.
Healing also means knowing when to stop
There’s deep power in knowing when to rest. When to say:
- I’ve done enough for today.
- I don’t have to fix everything right now.
- “I can live in this moment without trying to transform it.”
Growth isn’t always forward movement. Sometimes it’s stillness.
Sometimes it’s joy. Sometimes it’s watching an entertaining show and not making it mean anything about your worth.
So what do you do when inner work starts to wear you down?
Maybe you come back to your why.
Maybe you give yourself permission to pause.
And you remember that healing isn’t a race, it’s a rhythm.
You don’t have to be endlessly evolving to be worthy of kindness, rest, or ease.
Sometimes, the most healing thing you can do is stop trying so hard and just let yourself be.
You are enough, even in the in-between.