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- 🧠Don't Let Burnout Break Your Brain
🧠Don't Let Burnout Break Your Brain
Burnout is way more insidious and detrimental than you think...
Kristina Williams
January 22, 2025
🧠My battle with burnout felt like I broke my brain!
We’ve all seen it—the word that’s taken over LinkedIn posts, business articles, and coffee chats post-pandemic: burnout.
If you’re like me, you might have thought burnout was just a side effect of working too hard, too late, for too long. It was the shadow side of hustle culture—the mantra of 4 a.m. wake-ups and 110% productivity, glorified by tech bros, influencers, and fitness gurus alike.
Then I started my tech startup. I was living hustle culture. I wore every hat—product designer, curriculum developer, marketer, fundraiser, keynote speaker, you name it. I worked 100+ hours a week, pushing myself to the brink.
And then my brain simply… stopped.
At first, I thought I just needed rest. So, I tweaked my schedule. Didn’t help. Then, I thought maybe a change of scenery would do the trick, so I became a digital nomad. It helped as much as it could, but something was still deeply off.
I wasn’t just tired—I was burned out. My mind wasn’t working the same, my body felt endlessly drained, my sleep and digestion were a mess, and my nervous system was completely fried. Days of this turned into months. Months turned into years.
What I didn’t know at the time was that I was in functional freeze. (Ever heard of it? Because I hadn’t.) It’s a state where you’re physically “functioning” but mentally stuck in survival mode. At first, I blamed my startup life for my condition. But as my healing deepened over time (literal years), I realized becoming a tech founder was just the straw that broke the camels back.
My burnout was about much more than work—it was the culmination of decades of unresolved trauma across every area of my life:
Personal life: Parental death, physical injury, pressure to overachieve.
Social life: Friend betrayals, breakups, misunderstandings.
Work life: Sexual harassment, racism, ageism.
Societal life: Even more harassment, more racism, and systemic problems that threatened my existence.
Through studying neuroscience and diving into the depths of my recovery, I realized just how severe and long-lasting burnout can be. The truth is, burnout doesn’t just “go away” with a nap or a long weekend off. It takes time—a lot of time. I’m talking years. I’m about 2.5 years into my recovery, and healing has been anything but linear.
My goal isn’t to get back to the old me—it’s to unapologetically design a life of radical joy that nurtures the well-being of the evolved me.
What helped me get here? Travel and art. It may sound simple, but for me, they’ve been transformational. Travel gave me fresh perspectives and the opportunity to imagine healthier ways of living from different cultures & ecosystems. Art provided a way to process the mess in my mind and heart as a way to express/produce without desire for reward. Additionally, my research on neuroscience and the power to reprogram neural pathways has validated what I intuitively gravitated toward. Art is therapy and art in an inspiring envrionment is even more therapeutic. Learn more about Therapeutic Arts from Johns Hopkins International Arts & Mind Lab, which explores the relationships between brain science, architecture, music, and art through cross-disciplinary research.
Can you see more of why founding Infinityland is so important to me?
I’ve made this toolkit to break down what burnout really is, what it feels like, and how recovery looks. I hope it’ll help you understand this beast a little better—whether it’s for you or someone you care about.
Anti-Burnout Toolkit Click to view.
The Anti-Burnout Toolkit is your go-to guide for spotting burnout, making sense of it, and taking steps to heal—because you deserve better than just surviving. With easy-to-follow charts, actionable tips, and a mix of real talk and practical advice, this toolkit helps you tackle burnout from every angle—work, life, society, and beyond. It’s all about reclaiming your energy, rebuilding your spark, and designing a life full of unapologetic joy and balance.
Toolkit Teaser Peek into what’s inside.
Aspect | Personal Life (Interpersonal) | Social Life (Communal) | Work Life (Institutional) | Societal Life (Government) |
Causes | Caregiving responsibilities, financial struggles, family conflicts, personal health issues. | Isolation, lack of community, strained friendships, unrealistic societal norms. | High workloads, unclear expectations, toxic workplace culture, lack of support or resources. | Systemic inequities, social injustice, discrimination, societal pressure, and constant bad news cycles. |
Complex Trauma | Past unresolved experiences (e.g., childhood neglect, abuse, or personal tragedies) resurface, compounding feelings of burnout. | Lack of trust, fear of judgment, and difficulties forming deep, meaningful relationships. | Triggering workplace environments, lack of trauma-informed policies, and punitive responses to mistakes. | Systemic oppression, generational trauma, and collective grief (e.g., from war, pandemics, or disasters). |
Early Warning Signs | Irritability, lack of energy, disrupted sleep, procrastination on personal tasks, and a feeling of being "stuck." | Avoidance of social interactions, decreased interest in community activities, and a sense of alienation or disconnection. | Chronic fatigue, trouble focusing, increased errors, reduced motivation, and dread about work responsibilities. | Heightened frustration with systemic issues, feelings of helplessness, and a sense of detachment from societal progress. |
If any of this resonates with you, let’s talk about it. Feel free to leave a comment on the Online Post version of this newsletter. (Click “Read Online” in the upper right corner of the newsletter to access).
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Sending you sunshine and seashells!
Pura vida,
Kristina 🌺
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