Burnout
Burnout builds slowly, usually in people who kept going long after they should have been allowed to stop.
This is Nikita Vashistha’s counselling work.More about Nikita
What this often feels like
It isn't tiredness, and sleep doesn't seem to touch it. It's waking up already empty, and feeling very little about work you genuinely used to care about.
Often there's guilt sitting on top of it. Other people manage, so what's wrong with you. Cynicism creeps in where enthusiasm used to be. Small tasks start to feel enormous and you can't explain why.
The hardest part is usually that you're still functioning, so nobody has noticed enough to ask.
What we’d actually do together
We take the pressure off first. You don't have to perform recovery in here, and you don't have to arrive with a plan.
Then we go back through how long this has actually been building, which is almost always longer than people think. What has been draining, what has quietly been refilling you, and what you've been carrying that was never really yours.
From there it's practical. What's realistic to change, how to ask for what you need at work without torching anything, and what rest looks like for you rather than what it's supposed to look like.
When it might be worth talking to someone
If you've been running on reserve for months, it's worth talking to someone. Burnout takes a long time to build and it doesn't undo itself over one weekend away.
It's also worth coming if you've stopped feeling much of anything about things that used to matter to you, or if you're getting through the week on the promise of Friday.
You don't have to have quit, collapsed or fallen apart first to qualify.
If you would like to talk
There is no rush, and booking a first session does not commit you to anything after it. You can also just ask a question first — that is a completely normal way to begin.