A Different Way of Thinking About Burnout

How we end up feeling both exhausted and unproductive.

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Humans are natural harmonizers. We want our families and other groups to be stable and happy, because this ensures our own success to a large degree.

We harmonize by curbing our individual instincts. We learn not to show every emotion on our face. Not to say exactly what we’re thinking in a meeting. We know that if we always did things our way, no group would survive.

These are the benefits and constraints of being a social creature. You can put your energy towards harmonizing the group, or towards directing yourself. Neither option is more “right” than the other. But sometimes too much of our energy, of our self, gets lost in the harmonizing.