Updated September 2025 with latest burnout research and recovery insights
Read Time - 6 Minutes
Here's a question that might hit a little too close to home: Are you running so hard toward burnout that you'll flame out before you even realise what's happening?
If you're a high-achieving woman who's been pushing through exhaustion, ignoring your body's signals, and telling yourself you'll rest "when this project is done" or "after this busy period," this one's for you.
Burnout isn't just being really tired. It's not something you can fix with a weekend off or a good night's sleep. It's a complete breakdown of your mind, body, and soul that happens when you've been operating beyond your capacity for too long.
And here's the scary part, most people don't realise they're burning out until they're already deep in it.
What Burnout Actually Does to Your Mind
When burnout hits your brain, it's like your mental operating system starts glitching. Your mind goes into overdrive, but not in a productive way.
You become overwhelmed by the smallest details. Things that used to be manageable now feel impossible. You worry about everything – and I mean everything – including things that may never happen.
Here's what's really happening in your brain:
- Forgetfulness becomes your new normal
- Concentration feels nearly impossible
- Learning new things takes twice as long
- Making mistakes increases dramatically
- Decision fatigue sets in by 10 AM
But here's the part that really gets me, research shows that burnout can actually enlarge your amygdala, that is the part of your brain responsible for your fight-or-flight response.
This means your brain is literally stuck in danger mode, constantly releasing stress hormones that exhaust your body even more. It's like having your car alarm going off 24/7 – eventually, the battery dies.
The Physical Toll Nobody Talks About
Your body has been trying to tell you something for months, maybe even years. But we've gotten really good at ignoring those signals, haven't we?
When burnout hits your body, it's not subtle:
- Chronic fatigue that sleep doesn't fix
- Headaches that seem to come out of nowhere
- Digestive issues that make eating uncomfortable
- Insomnia despite being exhausted
- Getting sick more often
- Physical pain with no clear cause
And what do we do? We pop a pill and keep going. Headache? Ibuprofen. Can't sleep? Melatonin. Stomach issues? Antacids. We treat the symptoms and ignore the message.
Your body is basically screaming, "Hey! We need to slow down!" But we've learned to turn the volume down instead of listening.
The Soul Damage That Cuts Deepest
This is where burnout gets really scary. When your soul starts to shut down, you begin to lose yourself.
You might find yourself asking: "Who am I outside of my work?" And that question can be absolutely terrifying because you realise you don't know the answer.
The soul symptoms of burnout include:
- Feeling like nothing you do matters
- Dreams and goals seeming impossible or pointless
- That inner voice becoming increasingly negative (hello, mean girl voice)
- Feeling disconnected from everything you used to care about
- Wondering if this is all there is to life
It's like you're living in a gray world where everything that used to bring you joy feels flat and meaningless.
The Perimenopause Factor - When Burnout Gets Complicated
If you're a woman in your 40s or 50s, there's another layer that makes burnout even more complex, hormonal changes can amplify every single symptom.
During perimenopause:
- Your stress tolerance naturally decreases
- Sleep disruption becomes more common
- Brain fog can feel more intense
- Emotional regulation becomes harder
- Physical recovery takes longer
This means you might be dealing with burnout symptoms that are intensified by hormonal changes, making it even harder to recognise what's happening and why traditional recovery advice doesn't seem to work.
The Warning Signs You're Probably Ignoring
Here's the thing about burnout, it doesn't happen overnight. Your body, mind, and soul give you plenty of warning signs. The question is, are you paying attention?
Early warning signs include:
- Feeling tired even after rest
- Dreading work or responsibilities you used to enjoy
- Increased irritability with people you care about
- Difficulty making decisions, even small ones
- Physical symptoms that seem to have no cause
- Feeling emotionally numb or disconnected
If you're reading this list and thinking "that sounds like me," you're not alone. And more importantly, you're not broken.
Why "Just Push Through" Doesn't Work
Here's what I see all the time: smart, capable women who think they can willpower their way out of burnout. They believe that if they just try harder, organise better, or find the right productivity system, they'll feel better.
But burnout isn't a time management problem. It's a nervous system problem. It's what happens when your body's stress response system has been activated for so long that it can't turn off.
You can't think your way out of a physiological state. You can't organise your way out of nervous system dysregulation.
The Recovery That Actually Works
Here's what I want you to know, burnout recovery isn't about adding more to your plate. It's not about finding better ways to manage stress while maintaining the same impossible pace.
Real burnout recovery involves:
- Understanding what's happening in your nervous system
- Learning to recognise your body's signals before they become screams
- Addressing the subconscious patterns that drive overwork
- Creating sustainable boundaries that actually stick
- Rewiring the beliefs that make rest feel impossible
This is especially important if you're navigating perimenopause, where your body's needs are changing but your mindset about productivity might still be stuck in your 30s.
The Cost of Waiting
Here's the hard truth, the longer you wait to address burnout, the longer recovery takes. What might take weeks to address in the early stages can take months or even years to recover from if you wait until you're completely depleted.
I've seen women who ignored the warning signs (heck I was one of them) for so long that they ended up taking months off work, experiencing relationship breakdowns, or developing serious health issues.
But I've also seen women who caught it early and were able to course-correct before hitting rock bottom. They learned to work with their bodies instead of against them, created sustainable success strategies, and actually ended up more productive and fulfilled than before.
Your Next Step
If you're reading this and recognising yourself, please don't wait. Burnout isn't a badge of honour, it's a warning sign that something needs to change.
The strategies I use with clients address both the immediate symptoms and the deeper patterns that lead to burnout in the first place. We work on nervous system regulation, boundary setting, and rewiring the subconscious beliefs that make rest feel impossible.
Because here's what I know for sure, you don't have to burn out to be successful. You can have both, a thriving career and a body and mind that feel good. But it requires a different approach than what got you here.
Worried you're heading toward burnout (or already there)? As a clinical hypnotherapist specialising in burnout recovery and perimenopause for high-achieving women, I help you recognise the warning signs early and create sustainable strategies for long-term success. Don't wait until you're completely depleted.
Follow Me for honest insights on perimenopause, burnout recovery, stress management and weight loss and how to keep thriving when life throws you curveballs.
