I'll be the first to admit that I have gone through phases of burnout at various points in my life.
Whereas I have mostly been pretty good at ignoring long-term stress and "keeping going" during difficult — and even hopeless — times, there typically comes a point where we ask ourselves why we are even bothering, anymore.
For me, that point has typically come as a result of becoming painfully aware of the "diminishing marginal returns" in my life.
It happened when a pretty decent work-from-home gig I had gradually "went away" because what I was doing increasingly got outsourced to other parts of the world. My pay (late 1990s) gradually went down from $18/hour to $15/hour, to $14/hour, to $12.50/hour, to $10/hour to $9.00/hour and I finally had to bail when there was an announcement that pay would be reduced to $8.50/hour.
After all, it was "contract work" and so subject to whatever "market forces" would bear.
The above "contraction" took place over about a three-year period.
Of course, there are lots of theories as to why people burn out, but I'd submit that any time you combine something that seems increasingly futile and meaningless with the idea of "no change or end in sight" you have a recipe for burnout.
Some might argue "so just QUIT," but in our modern obligation-filled world, it may not be as simple as it seems... unless we relish the idea of living in a refrigerator box under an overpass.
And so, we're left with the unfortunate challenge of trying to keep ourselves interested in the very thing that is the source of our potential burnout. Not much fun...
Lately, this sensation has been nibbling at the edges of my awareness as my profession as an editor and proofreader is increasingly being replaced by AI.
As I have written before, I am no stranger to "reinventing myself" but at the moment I just feel tired at the mere thought of that process.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!
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Created at 2025.06.14 02:33 PDT
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