High-Functioning Burnout Is Still Burnout
September was a blur.
XBIZ Amsterdam, TES Prague, Venus Berlin – three countries, three stages, and countless conversations about mental health, resilience, and burnout.
The irony?
I was giving those talks while exhaustion was quietly settling into my bones.
Behind the smiles, the panels, the passion, was a body and mind running on fumes.
That’s the deceptive nature of high-functioning burnout.
It looks like productivity.
It looks like drive.
It looks like having everything under control.
In reality, it hides behind colour-coded calendars, back-to-back flights, and the relentless belief that if I just finish this one last thing, everything will be fine.
It whispers “keep going,” long after your system has nothing left to give.
Many of us in this industry, and in leadership more broadly, have mastered the art of masking. We show up because the work matters. Because people depend on us. Because slowing down feels like letting someone down.
But there is a very fine line between commitment and collapse.
After the September whirlwind, it became impossible to ignore the signs: the foggy thinking, the irritability, the emotional flatness, the bone-deep fatigue that sleep couldn’t touch. I realised the only way forward wasn’t through more pushing, but through pausing.
So October is about recovery; gentle mornings, slower days, fewer flights, and remembering that stillness can be productive, too.
If this resonates with you, take this as your permission slip to pause.
Rest isn’t laziness.
Rest isn’t failure.
Rest is what makes purpose sustainable.
High-functioning burnout rarely looks like falling apart.
More often, it looks like keeping it together so tightly that something eventually snaps.
So before it gets to that point, take a breath. Step back. Give yourself space to reset.
At Pineapple Support and Wellbeing by PS, we talk about this often, the importance of caring for yourself before you care for others. Whether you’re leading a team, creating content, holding space for your community, or simply trying to navigate the chaos of life, your wellbeing isn’t a luxury.
It’s the foundation that holds everything else up.
And like any foundation, it deserves maintenance, compassion, and time to recover.
with love,
Leya
