Burnout Isn’t Failure, It’s a Systems Problem.
Originally posted on The Cosmic Anthropologist Substack
Last newsletter, I asked you to reflect on your "why" to figure out the reason you keep going when life turns sideways. But sometimes, even the deepest ‘why’ can lose its shine and won’t cut it anymore. This is a common pattern that tends to hit between March and May. The summer buzz has worn off, and we’ve passed the autumn equinox; a time when nature calls for slowing down, transformation, and a decay in the lifecycle. But this is often forgotten in the systems we’ve been operating in.
In my foraging for information, I came across a 2024 article that looks into Massey Business School’s Professor Jarrod Haar’s research on burnout: “The most recent data from April 2024 reveals that one in two employees, or 57 per cent of the workforce, fall within the high burnout risk category. This indicates a doubling since December 2023, when the rate was 25 per cent, and exceeds the previous highest score of 43 per cent reported in November 2021.”
I’ve experienced burnout twice in the last decade. Once during my master’s in 2017/2018, which ended with four months of bed rest when several health issues emerged. Ironically, that time off led me to discover blockchain, and the rest is history. The second time was this time last year. And like most burnouts, it didn’t appear overnight. A catalyst event occurred a year prior, and through my “been through worse” mentality, the burnout crept in slowly, built tension across all areas of my life, and eroded my joy until my body, once again, forced me to listen.
The truth is, burnout is not a natural state but is weirdly accepted as a fact of corporate life. It’s a systemic failure disguised as personal weakness. And in my experience, most workplace support is about protecting the system, not the human.
If you feel burnout creeping in, it’s probably not because you don’t love what you do. It’s a sign that something about how you’re doing it, or the environment you’re doing it in, isn’t sustainable anymore. Passion doesn’t burn you out, but the structures around it can. For example, I loved being at the forefront of emerging tech. I loved throwing events, talking with start-up founders, writing newsletters, and doing government relations work. I still love those things now, but on my own terms and at my own pace. It wasn’t the work itself that wore me down. It was the system I was working within; the pace, the pressure, the expectations that were never really mine.
There’s always an alternative to doing what you love, but it can take time to figure out the ‘how’. And if you’re already in burnout, the best thing you can do is keep it simple. Don’t wait for your body to force you into a system reboot. Constant maintenance is needed, so burnout or not, it’s time to have a review of how you’re doing.
Here are the 7 survival needs I go back to time and time again when I start to feel out of alignment:
Breathe. Put on a five-minute breathing video. If you have time to scroll, you have time to do this. Recenter the nervous system and get oxygen to the brain.
Hydrate. I know, boring. But you’re probably dehydrated, so drink some water.
Food. Do you need a snack? Have you had enough proper nutrients?
Rest. Take a nap if you need to. Most of our processing happens when we’re asleep. Let the little peanut mind take a break, and let your subconscious process what it needs to.
Now, once the basics are taken care of, we can move on to the next level:
Environment. Does my environment make me feel good? Do I feel safe? Am I warm enough? Put on some frequency music or something calming. Is the lighting okay? Do I need to tidy a few things up or get some airflow?
Connection. Have I connected with anything today? Have I had a real conversation, something deeper than surface-level chitchat? Have I connected with myself? With the Earth? With my version of the universe/god/spirit?
Creativity. Have I expressed myself today and exercised my imagination? This is where you give yourself permission to be fully yourself. Use your imagination and create or do something that feels like you.
You don’t have to overhaul your whole life overnight if you’re feeling like the systems around you are overwhelming. But you do have to start paying attention to the basics that keep you alive, creative, and connected. And if you’re like me, and you feel that deeper need for purpose, we’ll get to that in the next edition.
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Cosmic Weather Report: Taurus New Moon at 7°
On Monday, 28 April, we welcomed a New Moon in Taurus at 7 degrees. I was supposed to have this newsletter out to align with the New Moon, but something stopped me last week, and now I’m glad it did.
New Moons are often seen as “manifesting moons”, and since the dawn of time, were when we would plant seeds for what we want to grow and harvest in the coming cycles. Taurus, ruled by Venus, brings themes of beauty, abundance, comfort, and values. It asks us: “Is what I’m building sustainable? Is it rooted in what truly matters to me?” The 7th degree adds another layer. In numerology, 7 speaks to the mystic, the seeker, the architect of inner worlds. It’s about building structures that hold not just dreams, but deep inner wisdom.
And on the new moon, the universe sent a wink, reminding me why this edition was delayed.
For two months, I had been hunting for a very specific journal, the Princeton Architectural Press, Grids and Guides. It’s a blank notebook filled with architectural and engineering-style pages to exercise left and right brain thinking. I first checked Gordon Harris at the university, only to find it was stocked only at their Newmarket store. So, a few days later, on the New Moon in Taurus, I made my way to Newmarket and finally held the black edition in my hands. I LOVE IT.
As a reward, I stopped for a coffee and a sweet treat at one of my favourite cafes. And lo and behold, at the only free table sat a flyer for the Architecture and Design Film Festival. So now you know what will be consuming my time for the next two weeks.
Since I quit corporate, my life has been full of synchronicities like this. A journal of grids and guides. The Architecture and Design Film Festival. A New Moon in Taurus at 7 degrees. Everything speaking the same language: structure, beauty, value, design. All the things I love found together in one delicious moment that wouldn’t have happened without a small delay and redirection last week.
So while I missed the Moon’s exact moment for this newsletter, I didn’t miss the message. This season asks us:
What are you building? Not just out in the real world, but within your own inner world.
What kind of temple are you creating inside your life?
Are your daily rituals feeding your values, your creativity, your joy?
Taurus energy doesn’t rush. It moves slowly, carefully, through the five senses to build structures not just for survival, but for beauty, for pleasure, and for enduring worth. A Taurus New Moon, and Taurus season in general, doesn’t ask for quick wins. It asks you to plant something real, something you’ll still want to tend long after the first spark has faded. You’ll get to where you’re going, and it might end up better than you expected if you let it flow.
Let this season not be about wanting more or doing more, but about refining what already matters. Return to your seven basic needs and get the foundation right. From there, you can begin creating something that is your passion and your expression every single day. Even if it’s just for five minutes, and who knows where that could lead you.