By Aislín Johnston
Ever feel like every workday ends with you running on fumes? Like your spark has quietly vanished, and somehow the best part of your week is just closing your laptop? If you’ve ever felt conflicted about voicing that sentiment, just know that you wouldn’t be standing alone – it’s echoing around more offices than you’d think. Burnout is everywhere, with a Forbes 2025 study uncovering that up to 66% of workers are in a state of overwhelm as we speak.
To put it into context, let’s say you’re a millennial, 15 years into your career. You’re knowledgeable, sure, but increasingly more than that, you’re tired and disenchanted. You spend far too much time thinking about work, stressing about deadlines, trying to conjure ideas you’re no longer excited about. Your breathing gets heavier when your boss messages you, and your self-esteem sinks when your contributions don’t get the reception you’d hoped for. You stop speaking up because it starts to feel like nothing matters. You’re numb, detached, and disconnected from yourself.
Another victim of burnout.
If you’re already burned out and don’t know how to heal, or dancing dangerously on the precipice, where do you go from here?
You’re Not Just Your Job Title
It’s easy to forget that this probably wasn’t always the case. For many people, as we become more entrenched and committed to our careers and responsibilities, it becomes all too easy to let other things fall to the wayside and forget that the secret to feeling content is balance. We aren’t robots, and we shouldn’t treat ourselves as such.
How long has it been since you indulged in your passions? Perhaps it’s been so long that you’ve forgotten.
If that’s the case, then it’s time to get to work.
Go old school, get out a pen and paper. What would you do if time and money were no issue? What did you love as a child? What makes you forget about your phone? When do you feel most proud of yourself outside of working hours? (Verywell Mind has a great list of questions to get you started.)
These questions are not trite or trivial – they are a way to sketch a map back to yourself, because living entirely on a work-slanted axis tilts us further not just into burnout, but anxiety, depression and brittle relationships. Creativity withers, and basic tasks feel like uphill battles. And when your cup is empty, you’re not living, you’re surviving.
This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week shines a light on how movement, community, and connection can reinvigorate our wellbeing, restore our sense of self and remind us that the foundations of a balanced life and a happy workforce are built outside the workplace.
Building Community Outside of Work
In the era of doom-scrolling and dopamine addiction, it’s very easy to feel disconnected from the world around you. We are a species wired for belonging that spends increasing amounts of time absorbed by screens, ranging from tiny to gargantuan, that enable us to negatively compare ourselves to our peers and indulge in existential crises about the past, present and future that our cavemen ancestors didn’t have the luxury to enjoy.
Therefore, it’s critical to reiterate that no matter how good binging on social media may feel in the moment, this is not what makes human beings happy. What makes human beings happy is feeling connected to others and being part of something greater than themselves.
Maybe your community will look like a local running club. Or a book circle, a community garden, or a niche film night. Whatever form it takes, curating a community is an act of resistance against isolation, against burnout, and against the idea that we are meant to go it alone.
And the benefits? A deeper sense of self, greater emotional resilience, and a powerful reminder that you are more than your job.
Pursuing Personal Passions
Some people are put off because “passion” feels like high stakes, but it doesn’t need to be. You don’t have to quit your job and move to Bali or wait impatiently until you have an Einstein-esque moment of epiphany. You just have to find the things that make you feel alive again. The things that don’t require a certain outcome to be worthwhile.
According to Inc., people with a passion outside work are more engaged, mentally healthy, and creative. Passion replenishes your dopamine, quiets the nervous system, and reminds you that pleasure isn’t earned, it’s your right.
Make bad art. Rap battle. Learn to DJ. Pick up knitting. Write mediocre poetry and tell everyone (or no one). Plant herbs. Take a dance class. Whatever it is, follow the spark of your intuition.
The Interplay Between Personal Fulfilment and Professional Performance
Now here’s the paradox: the more you cultivate your life outside of work, the better you perform within it. When your sense of identity is diversified – nourished by friendships, passions, and joy – the more resilient, more creative, and more resistant to burnout you become.
According to HBR, employers who support work-life alignment, not just in policies, but in practice, see improved retention and stronger employee engagement. A workplace culture that acknowledges that, as humans, their workforce needs to take care of their physical and mental health, have outside interests, and treat each other with kindness and dignity.
This is the winning workplace model of the future. Sustainable workplace transformation means building systems that protect human beings from chronic depletion while embracing the exciting opportunities the future holds.
Where to From Here?
It doesn’t take a plot twist of epic proportions to inject greater amounts of diversity, passion and play into your life. Nor does it require you to work in a whole new way. It’s as easy as looking for micro-moments of organic connection (with yourself and others) through the course of your day.
Spark some joy by:
- Moving your body
- Texting a dear friend
- Challenging yourself to try something new
- Devote two hours a week to something you know will make you happy
- Being vulnerable in a safe space
And for leadership teams, the responsibility is more than a personal one, it stretches into the structural integrity of their organisations. Chesamel recognises that it’s time to build workplaces that recognise human needs as vital strategic priorities.
We help businesses transform with sustainability and humanity at the core.
Ready to build something better? Have a look at What we do.
