You know the feeling. Low motivation. Persistent fatigue. Less desire to do things you normally enjoy. Easy tasks feel heavy. Everything takes more effort than it should.

Your brain threw its back out.

the mind as muscle

Think about what happens when you actually throw your back out. You can't just push through it. You can't will it better. The injury happened, and now it needs time.

It may take weeks—sometimes months—before you can move like you once did. And the mistake people make? They try to get back to it too early. They start loading weight on the same injured area before it's healed. Then they're worse off than before.

Our minds work the same way. Burnout is an injury. And injuries take time.

But most of us don't have the luxury to turn our brains off for weeks. So we have to modify how we move through the world. More gentle than usual. Fewer things. Only the essentials.

Not fun. Not always pretty. But necessary.

the invitation

When you sense you're burnt out, remember this: the path forward isn't through willpower. It's through patience.

If you threw your back out squatting, you don't hit the squat rack the next day. Maybe not even the same week. You may still need to use your legs to survive—but you lay off the heavy weight for a while.

Give your mind the same grace.

When it needs time to heal, don't demand that it run at the speed you're used to. If you find yourself slower than usual, that's okay. If you find yourself less energized, that's okay too.

You're healing. That's the work.