The Burnout Paradox: Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever in an Era That Promised Balance
- Michael Shenher, MBA
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
🧠 The Burnout Paradox: Why We’re More Exhausted Than Ever in an Era That Promised Balance
By Michael Shenher
"Work-life balance" sounds like a yoga pose invented by your boss to keep you standing on one leg while checking Slack.
Remember when we thought we’d cracked the code?
Remote work. Four-day weeks. Slack emojis. Office plants. “Flexible schedules.” We were entering a golden era of balance—or so we were told. A utopia where you could sip your matcha, do a quick mid-day Peloton ride, knock out a strategy doc in the afternoon, and still be home in time to meditate your way into a restful evening.
But instead of a revolution in rest, what did we get?
People burning out at home.
Quiet quitting masquerading as coping.
Mindfulness sold as a subscription.
And exhaustion rebranded as “high performance.”
Let’s be clear: we didn’t solve burnout. We gave it a Zoom background and told it to put on sweatpants.
The Great Lie of Work-Life “Balance”
The modern workplace loves balance—in theory.
But in practice? “Work-life balance” now means:
Working 9–5 and answering emails from 7–11
Taking PTO while still “just checking in”
Attending wellness webinars sandwiched between back-to-back calls
Logging your water intake while ignoring the fact that you’re emotionally dehydrated
We’ve replaced physical exhaustion with cognitive load. We’re not breaking our backs anymore—we’re breaking our bandwidth.
The scary part? We think we’re the problem.
Burnout Has Been Rebranded
We used to recognize burnout: bags under the eyes, slouched shoulders, a thousand-yard stare only cured by quitting and fleeing to Costa Rica.
Now? Burnout looks… adorable.
It’s:
An Instagram story of a sunset captioned “Unplugging 🧘♂️✨”
A Calm app subscription you bought while doomscrolling
A LinkedIn post about “embracing boundaries,” liked by the same manager who scheduled your 8 a.m. Monday check-in
We’ve made burnout aesthetic. It’s got merch now.
Performative Recovery Is Just More Work
Somewhere along the way, we decided rest needed to be productive.
So instead of napping, we’re:
Cold plunging (because shock = self-care?)
Tracking sleep with a watch that gives us anxiety
Journaling in a gratitude notebook like we’re trying to win a Pulitzer
Meditating to a YouTube video that starts with a targeted ad for noise-canceling headphones
We’ve taken something deeply human—rest—and turned it into another thing to optimize.
And that’s the paradox:We’re more exhausted now because everything—even rest—is being monetized, measured, and turned into a performance.
What’s Really Going On
This isn’t just about vibes or bad scheduling.
Always-on tech
Flattened organizational boundaries where everyone is reachable always
Productivity culture dressed up in the language of wellness
And a capitalist machine that praises output while ignoring human limits
We’ve become self-employed project managers of our own nervous systems. Every emotion, every lull in energy, every moment of peace is now a “problem to fix.”
So… What Do We Do?
Let me be honest: there’s no five-step checklist at the end of this essay. No perfect morning routine. No “hack.”
But here’s what I am suggesting:
Rest is not earned. It’s required. You don’t need to bleed out on a spreadsheet to deserve a break.
Stop glamorizing busy. Tired is not a badge of honour.
We need to talk more honestly. About how our systems are broken. About how leadership often rewards the wrong behaviours. About how self-care shouldn’t be an after-hours project.
Reclaim boring. Doing nothing is not laziness. It’s liberation.
Final Thought
Burnout isn’t a personal failure.It’s a collective consequence.
We didn’t get lazy. We got lied to.We didn’t lose our work ethic. We lost the boundaries around it.
So the next time someone tells you to “just prioritize better,” maybe ask them why they think you’re supposed to schedule your humanity into a Google Calendar.
And then—log off, guilt-free.
🗣 Over to You
Are you feeling the paradox? Drop a comment, share this with someone who's been powering through on fumes, or forward it to your boss if you're feeling bold.
Rest is radical. Let’s make it normal again.
Michael Shenher
Comments