
On Burnout
First Look “Burning out.” When I search online on the etymology of burnout, I get something like the following: Burn until fuel is exhausted […] meaning “mental exhaustion from continuous effort”. When we examine this a layer deeper, we notice two things: Fuel is replenishable, but the most critical component in burnout. You spend fuel with effort. Throughout my life, this definition resonated. However, I don’t think I knew what real burnout was—and how it felt—until last year....