You know that moment in the morning-when your eyes flick open and before your feet hit the floor, your brain has already joined a meeting?
That was my every day.
I didn’t wake up-I booted up.
I checked emails before I brushed my teeth.
I replied to Slack messages while still in pajamas.
And I wore “always available” like some twisted badge of honour-like it meant I was committed, valuable, irreplaceable. That was corporate life, wasn’t it? Be responsive. Be seen. Be indispensable. Even if it meant being exhausted.
I used to laugh at the memes about burnout and caffeine and inbox zero, like we were all in on the joke. But deep down, it wasn’t funny anymore. Because while my fingers were typing and my face was smiling on video calls, something inside me was quietly falling apart. No one tells you that burnout doesn’t always arrive like a dramatic collapse. Sometimes, it’s just a slow erasing of joy.
You start canceling plans, losing sleep, snapping at people you love, forgetting why you even started doing this work in the first place.
You become a robot with a calendar. Efficient but hollow.
I remember one particular Monday morning-my laptop glowed, my inbox screamed, and I just sat there.
Frozen.
Not overwhelmed.
Just… empty.
It was like my body had decided, “We’re not doing this anymore,” before I could argue back.
That moment became my turning point.
Now, I look back and ask: Why do we praise being “always on” when it’s the fastest route to switching ourselves off completely? This month-Mental Health Awareness Month-I’m choosing to talk about the stuff we usually whisper about: The guilt of logging off on time. The fear of being overlooked if we set boundaries.
The false belief that our worth is measured by our availability. We need to rewrite the script. Because mental health at work isn’t just about having an EAP program or a yoga class during lunch. It’s about normalizing the pause. The “no.” The “not right now.” It’s about creating workplaces where being human isn’t a liability-it’s respected. I now coach people who’ve built entire careers on over functioning. People like me-strong, smart, and secretly unravelling.
So if this blog found you at a time when you’re running on empty, I want you to hear this: You don’t need to prove your value by being “on” 24/7. Your mind needs rest. Your body needs boundaries. And your soul? It needs to know that it’s okay to choose yourself.
Every. Single. Day.