Why So Many People Are Burning Out

The news are telling us that more and more people are experiencing burnout. This made me wonder: what is the real root of all this? Here is what I found.

Yes, modern technologies have created a new form of constant pressure, something I call the “optimization fever.”

The constant pressure to improve, refine, optimize, be better, do more, grow faster, adjust more, and perform better has quietly woven itself into our everyday lives. It rarely pauses. It rarely allows us to feel complete. And slowly, almost silently, it makes us feel as though who we are and what we do is not enough.

From a very young age, and in almost every area of life, we are bombarded with this pressure every single day. The subliminal message we keep receiving is simple and exhausting: What you are doing is not good enough yet.

If we are constantly told that we need to optimize everything about ourselves and our lives, how can we ever feel at peace, content, worthy, or good enough?

This optimization fever leaves many people with the constant feeling that who they are, and the life they are living, are still not good enough. There is little space for relief, little time to simply sit back, enjoy the moment, and feel quietly content with things as they are.

Dictated by algorithms, performance tests, and the newest trends in every field of daily life, private or professional, we have fallen into this fever of optimization in one way or another. Comparing ourselves has become so automatic that we forgot to step back and ask: Wait a minute. What is really going on here? What are they suggesting?

And to make it worse, this pressure of constant optimization is now everywhere. That is what creates the exhausting feeling: “I am never good enough.” It turns into a deeper and stronger pain. It slowly destroys our joy of life. It is exhausting. It quietly eats away at our sense of self-worth.

The optimization fever is everywhere: at our workplaces and in business, in our fitness routines, in our family and love relationships, in beauty and our self-image, in the many fields of psychology, across social media; and even in spirituality.

But who says that everything always needs to be optimized, adjusted, and improved again and again? Let us take a deep breath right here, right now. Let us pause. Step back. And slowly look at all areas of our life, one by one.

Because this optimization fever has done something even more serious: we are no longer truly satisfied with who we are, with what we have, or with the life we are living.

It has turned daily life into a quiet competition. It is now an endless improvement contest. If you observe this carefully, you will see it too: this optimization culture burns people out.

In some areas of life, especially at work, many of us have already become like hamsters running in a wheel, no longer able to stop and breathe.

Burnout happens when the constant pressure to optimize becomes toxic. Because it is daily, relentless, and leaves no space for true rest and recovery.

Yes, there are good sides to growth. Some improvements are healthy. Some changes are necessary and make sense. That is all good, as long as growth happens without pressure.

Because real growth also needs rest. Growth needs time to land and become stable. And to breathe, to enjoy the moment, and to feel genuinely happy, we all need periods of no change.

What you have done in the last weeks, months, and year is more than enough. Nothing about you or your life needs to be optimized again. You are allowed to rest. You are allowed to pause. You are allowed to be enough, exactly as you are.

If you constantly feel tired, exhausted and at the limit of burnout, this article here is for you. Let me assure you: you can still leave this train and save your mental health and happiness.

We do not have to participate in this optimization fever. Things are good just the way they are. We are good enough just the way we are.

Nothing needs to be optimized all the time. If we surround ourselves and our lives with a little more love instead, and simply do what makes our hearts happy, so much of that pressure begins to fall away.

We can enjoy ourselves, our loved ones, and our lives just as they are.

Life is beautiful exactly as it is.

With love, Jeanne

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