Breaking the Burnout Cycle: Why You Stay Stuck (and How to Break Free)

Over the last decade, I’ve found myself burned out many times, even before I had the language to describe it. I went through multiple major crashes:

• The first one was in my fourth year of engineering school (2015)

• The second one came during my startup founder era (2018)

• The third one hit me post-COVID (2022), in my corporate job—the one that led me to taking a gap year and ultimately living a tropical surfing lifestyle.

Interestingly, each major crash came about 3 to 3.5 years apart. Each one revealed a key part of my life that needed redirection, pushed me toward major life changes—and each time, the recovery did take longer.

It wasn’t until years of inner work, healing, being coached, and later coaching others that I began to clearly recognize the cyclic pattern beneath burnout. Burnout wasn’t random— it was my body, physically and mentally signaling that something deeply misaligned needed to change.

It doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a cycle that sneaks up on you, and once you’re in the downturn, it can feel almost impossible to break.

Here’s what it usually looks like:

1. Overdrive. You push past your limits — saying yes to too many things, proving yourself, working longer hours than you have energy for. Adrenaline keeps you going, so it feels manageable… at first.

2. Crash. The exhaustion hits. You fantasize about disappearing for a week, you daydream about vacations, Sunday-scare syndrome or you feel a low-key dread every Monday morning.

3. Quick Fix. You reach for temporary relief: a weekend away, PTO, maybe even a full vacation. And while that helps you catch your breath, it doesn’t actually change anything.

4. Back to Overdrive. You return to the exact same environment, patterns, and expectations that caused the burnout in the first place. The cycle repeats — often more intensely each time.

There are also smaller loops that feed into the bigger crashes—each one leaving behind more lingering symptoms that accumulate in intensity over time.

If you’ve ever tried to “just slow down” and found yourself right back in the grind, you’re not broken. Burnout is sticky.

Why the Burnout Cycle Is So Hard to Break

If you’ve ever tried to “just slow down” and found yourself right back in the grind, you’re not broken. Burnout is sticky — and here’s why:

1. Your nervous system gets addicted to overdrive

When you run on adrenaline and cortisol for too long, your body literally adapts to it, and our survival biology makes our body extremely efficient at recycling cortisol- they stay in your system. The fast pace, the urgency, the constant stimulation — it becomes your “normal.” Rest can feel uncomfortable, even unsafe.

2. Productivity = worth (at least that’s the story you’ve been told)

Most of us grew up in systems — schools, workplaces, even families — where being valuable meant producing, achieving, or giving. Slowing down can feel like failure. Saying no can feel like letting people down.

3. Workplace culture reinforces it

Burnout is often worn like a badge of honor: the busier you are, the more important you must be. When everyone else is running on empty, it takes real courage to be the one who steps back.

4. Quick fixes are seductive (and addictive)

That weekend away, that PTO, that glass of wine after a long day — they give just enough relief to keep you going. But because they don’t address the root causes, you get pulled right back into the cycle.

5. Lack of support and community

Burnout thrives in isolation. When you don’t have a circle that validates your need for rest, reflection, and boundaries, you end up questioning yourself: “Am I being lazy? Am I not strong enough?”

Without mentors, colleagues, or communities modeling sustainable ways of working, it’s so easy to default back to the old patterns — because everyone else is doing the same.

6. Fear of change keeps you stuck

Truly breaking burnout means setting boundaries, re-examining your relationship to work, self-worth, values, and sometimes even disrupting your career trajectory. That’s scary. It feels safer to stay in the cycle you know than risk the unknown.

How to actually break free

Truly breaking free from burnout often means more than just resting or reorganizing your calendar.

We get so accustomed to what we’ve built—the routines, the roles, the expectations—that it starts to feel like the only way to live, even when it constantly drains our energy, joy, and authenticity. Yet, deep down, there’s often a small, persistent voice whispering, “What if there’s another way?” And just as quickly, another voice—armed with perfect logic—fires back with every reason why change is impossible, impractical, or irresponsible.

This dynamic tension is familiar to anyone navigating burnout. It’s not a failure of willpower or ambition—it’s a signal that our mind alone cannot guide us out of the patterns we’ve been conditioned to follow. The path forward isn’t in thinking harder, more strategies, planning; it’s in returning to the body, to the truth and clarity that’s always been there, waiting beneath the noise.

I’ve seen it in my own life and with countless clients: when we listen to that inner knowing—through breath, reflection, somatic practices, or simply slowing down and be open and available—we uncover a clarity that the mind cannot manufacture, one that feels right, and like returning home to your truth. Change doesn’t have to be reckless or dramatic. Often, it starts with small, aligned choices: setting a boundary, saying no, prioritizing what fuels us rather than what merely fills our schedule. These choices ripple outward, gradually dismantling the patterns that keep us stuck.

Fear will always show up when growth is calling—but it’s also the compass pointing toward the life you actually want. Choosing courage over comfort doesn’t mean abandoning safety; it means with full acceptance of ourselves, reclaiming our energy, our joy, and our authenticity.

If this blog post has resonated- I invite you to join my 5-Day Mini-Reset Challenge—a gentle way to shift back into balance in under 15 minutes a day. You’ll experience real relief from burnout without having to overhaul your life or work.