Feeling burned out. Anyone else?

[fuzzy math]

Disgruntled health care worker, becoming more disgruntled by the day. Administration's new "we do not turn down anyone for any reason" plan is going over even worse than I could have imagined.

155 days until my pension vests, 102 work days give or take. I really want to (HAVE TO) make it longer than that... this will be my last job in my field. Something has to give, and unfortunately it feels like I'm the thing being given.

[MudPuppy]

You will feel so much better. I’ve been out and in my new role for a full week and I feel like a new person!

[PacificaFog]

Just wanted to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread.  I read through the entire thing twice this summer and that motivated me to take an 8 week sabbatical from work.  I *knew* I was burned out, but didn’t really understand just how much until I was able to take some time away.

The past 6 weeks have been an amazing opportunity to sleep, exercise, eat well and meet up with friends. I feel like my cup is being refilled a bit more each day, and I’m in a completely different place than I was 6 weeks ago.  I go back to work in 2 weeks.  While not particularly excited about it, I’m in such a better headspace that I know I can handle it!

My DH and I are about 3 years from FIRE.  Having time to reflect, I realize I am NOT willing to be miserable for the next 3 years and that there are specific things I can prioritize now that will help me enjoy the next few years of work.

Best wishes to all of you also going through burnout!  The struggle is REAL!  And thanks to those in this forum who continually advocate the importance of self care!

[magus]

Completely relate to a lot on this thread.

I dropped out of college at 19 y/o twenty years ago, starting a job as a cashier and worked my way to corp working 55-60 hours a week in my early 20s at that company....then finished my undergrad and then got my MBA from a t15 program while continuing to work 55-60 hours a week in my mid/late 20s and have been a corp finance exec for the last 10 years - I've been burnt out since my MBA time which is why I discovered FIRE in the first place. The last 18 months, my burnout has really accelerated. I was running two finance departments and I was also on the deal team to sell the company, the transition team and had to lead the fight against an activist that didn't want us to sell that went down to the wire on the vote. Think I averaged 85 hours a week the first half of this year.  At least I don't have kids, and I have been working from home since last march so see the wife a lot even with work.

I'm 39 now, 40 in two months, and will either retire next March with my current company or possibly switched to just run one department for another company for 4-5 years and then retire with a much larger nest egg ($4-5M NW vs $2M NW). If my job didn't pay ~$450k/yr now I would already have thrown in the towel. Hard to believe 12 years ago I was making $55k/yr but career has gone great - amazing really - the last 10 years but its been mentally draining.  I've been actively growing my rental property portfolio the last 18 months and expect to cover my expenses largely from those without touching my stock/bond/other investments. I figure those will keep me somewhat busy but without too much stress. Carolinas are fairly landlord friendly but I usually screen for awesome tenants and have rarely had any problems at all the last 10 years on my rentals (albeit smaller portfolio most of that time)

[scantee]

Update on my situation:

I got a new job at the same megacorp in a distant part of the company doing something very different.

My burnout in my current job has only increased the last few months. Awhile back I had a meeting with someone who screamed at me for an hour because they weren’t happy with something I had done for them. Mind, I had no obligation to do this project, I had only taken it on as a favor to them and out of the spirit of collaboration. I was very close to just quitting right then but instead I went on our internal job board, found this new position, and applied that day.

I’m under no illusion that this new job will automatically fix everything. I still would prefer to not be working, at least not at a 9-5 for an employer! But there are some differences with this new job that I think will help quite a bit. It is in a very small group that does niche work whereas my current role is in a large, highly matrixed group. I’ll be able to work fairly independently doing deep work on a narrow topic and won’t have the constant crush of special project requests from many different people who are never satisfied.

And if I dislike it I’ll just quit. Every month working is one month more savings and I am quickly approaching the point where I would be comfortable taking a year off without worry.

[mm1970]

Update on my situation:

I got a new job at the same megacorp in a distant part of the company doing something very different.

My burnout in my current job has only increased the last few months. Awhile back I had a meeting with someone who screamed at me for an hour because they weren’t happy with something I had done for them. Mind, I had no obligation to do this project, I had only taken it on as a favor to them and out of the spirit of collaboration. I was very close to just quitting right then but instead I went on our internal job board, found this new position, and applied that day.

I’m under no illusion that this new job will automatically fix everything. I still would prefer to not be working, at least not at a 9-5 for an employer! But there are some differences with this new job that I think will help quite a bit. It is in a very small group that does niche work whereas my current role is in a large, highly matrixed group. I’ll be able to work fairly independently doing deep work on a narrow topic and won’t have the constant crush of special project requests from many different people who are never satisfied.

And if I dislike it I’ll just quit. Every month working is one month more savings and I am quickly approaching the point where I would be comfortable taking a year off without worry.

Wow.

Good for you, and good luck.

[LightTripper]

Wow - congratulations for finding something else so quickly!  Sometimes when you realise you're a boiled frog you find a way to get out of the pot that seemed impossible while the heat was just creeping up...

Have you already started the new role?  I hope it's working out well so far if so.  Sounds like it will at the very least be a good change of scene and pace, and give you some time to figure out what's next if the new role is still imperfect (or hopefully to figure out that it actually suits you well!)

[Glenstache]

I’ve hit my minimum FI number very recently, which is a mental adjustment all on its own. I also have been a caretaker for my SO who very badly broke her leg in Sept and won’t be full weight bearing for a few weeks yet. That on top of some big transitions at work over the last 6 months has been draining. I also found out that in two weeks I will need to go take care of my brother and his wife as a kidney transplant situation just came up. I am SOOOO happy to be doing that, but also realize that it will be tough going into that when I’m not done taking care of my SO, who is mobile, but still in crutches and needing me to get stuff for her and cook all meals, etc. She will probably be just at the cusp of self-reliance as I leave.

So, I’m pretty cooked.

A couple of weeks ago I started putting in motion a plan to go part time at work as an internal consultant, which would remove any hours-per-week requirement. The math says I can go into coast-mode at about 12 hours a week and break even with annual expenses comfortably and allow compounding to get me to a more comfortable FIRE margin. There are still a lot of elements of my job that I like, especially the people I get to work with. I’m hoping that if I reduce my schedule to 2-4 days a week (flux for ebb and flow of project work) I can un-crisp a bit and find a better equilibrium. I don’t see any way to responsibly reduce my work commitments and personal commitments through the end of 2021. Ugh. But light at the end of the tunnel.

[ardrum]

Disgruntled health care worker, becoming more disgruntled by the day. Administration's new "we do not turn down anyone for any reason" plan is going over even worse than I could have imagined.

155 days until my pension vests, 102 work days give or take. I really want to (HAVE TO) make it longer than that... this will be my last job in my field. Something has to give, and unfortunately it feels like I'm the thing being given.

Any update?

[scantee]

Update on my situation:

I got a new job at the same megacorp in a distant part of the company doing something very different.

My burnout in my current job has only increased the last few months. Awhile back I had a meeting with someone who screamed at me for an hour because they weren’t happy with something I had done for them. Mind, I had no obligation to do this project, I had only taken it on as a favor to them and out of the spirit of collaboration. I was very close to just quitting right then but instead I went on our internal job board, found this new position, and applied that day.

I’m under no illusion that this new job will automatically fix everything. I still would prefer to not be working, at least not at a 9-5 for an employer! But there are some differences with this new job that I think will help quite a bit. It is in a very small group that does niche work whereas my current role is in a large, highly matrixed group. I’ll be able to work fairly independently doing deep work on a narrow topic and won’t have the constant crush of special project requests from many different people who are never satisfied.

And if I dislike it I’ll just quit. Every month working is one month more savings and I am quickly approaching the point where I would be comfortable taking a year off without worry.

I’ve been in my ‘new’ role for a year now so I thought I’d give an update. Taking this job was absolutely the right move for me. It’s very relaxed and I’ve had almost no work-related stress this year. Most weeks I don’t even need 40 hours to get my work done. I don’t miss my old job or group at all, even though I generally enjoyed the work and the people, because a few parts of it had gotten so bad that it is still such a relief to be away from that environment.

Do I want to do my current job forever? No. I don’t see it as a role I will be in long-term. But that’s fine. I have no aspirations to climb to the corporate ladder and I like variety so I’m sure I’ll tire of this role in a couple of years. My primary concerns now are to roughly make what I make now in a role that isn’t particularly stressful or time-consuming.

Should my savings rate remain what it is now I will reach my full FIRE amount in about 5 years. If I save not a penny more I’ll coast to that amount in around 11 years. And hey, maybe I’ll save more than I currently am and reach my number sooner. Regardless, I feel like I’m at the point on my FIRE path where I have a lot of options and I’m not willing to grind myself down in a stressful job just for the money.

[iluvzbeach]

scantee, that is a terrific update.  So glad to hear you're feeling better and confident you made the right move.  When I first saw your post and started reading your old quoted post, I was afraid the update was going to be that the new department got laid off as a part of recent tech megacorp layoffs.  Happy to see that wasn't the case and that things in the new role as swimming along nicely.

[ardrum]

Anyone have any other updates to share?  This is thread is a great read.

I am on target to take 33 PTO days off this year as I gradually use more PTO than I earn (gradually reducing my stash of PTO saved up) to simulate a more part-time feel with the idea being that I would quit my job anyway by the time I would run out of PTO.  The extra days off definitely make a massive difference.

[mistymoney]

Anyone have any other updates to share?  This is thread is a great read.

I am on target to take 33 PTO days off this year as I gradually use more PTO than I earn (gradually reducing my stash of PTO saved up) to simulate a more part-time feel with the idea being that I would quit my job anyway by the time I would run out of PTO.  The extra days off definitely make a massive difference.

I don't think I was on this thread, but likely on one or two similar.

I have what I consider a pretty surprising update. I'm still plugging away in the same position, but my job situation has gotten much much much more bearable. In a wierd twist, as I stayed put the organization has gotten better - many many resignations later - and while I did nose to grind stone quite a bit through all the upheavals, new toxic people, then those people leaving, etc. I concentrated on and got my work group into a much better POV, accomplished a lot of groundwork, worked with staff to automate many steps in our routine stuff, got positions added, and after 3-4 years of everyone being overworked, stressed, and pressured in ways I couldn't make go away, we are in a good position to not only get the work done but to keep making improvements to our products and systems while not working over time.

This was all a super heavy lift, but now its done! And toxic leadship is out the door.

Still have a lot to work on myself in terms of my mental health, burnout recovery, etc. But I have the space I need to do that now. It's just taking a lot longer than I anticipated! I don't think anyone was as burnt out as I was - which is how it should be as I'm the manager of the group - and now that I've established all the guidelines, work flows, SOP documentation, developed and empowered staff, I am really in a position to manage without doing a lot of IC work after hours.

It is harder to recover from real, deep, burnout than it is to get it I think! For a long time (at least for me!) it was frog in the pot with the effects of overwork and other unnecessaary job stresses as water slowly getting hot over a period of years.....maybe decades? Sometimes I feel guilty about working less than 8 hours a day when I can - which is usually several days a week now!......but I have a lot of 12 hour days that the place "owes" me.

So I have the tools and space and time, I think!, to win this. But it hasn't been something that 3 weeks off, followed by a month or two of "quiet quitting" is going to fix. Tried that!

Insomnia is still a primary issue I need to deal with, then other health and fitness concerns. I can't really get to anything much until I figure out the sleep part of it. But after last summers vacation, I never went back to previous levels of work. I don't instantly pick up anything that someone else on the team can't schedule immediately to get out the door, and I focus the team on doing the best job we can within reasonable limits, and if we miss a few deadlines, then I'll take it upstairs for whatever feedback we get. I bring any issues forward immediately, with no apologies, that we are missing x deadline because A, B, C lined up this way and staff was stretched too thin to meet deadline. This is how we'll work it next time to avoid this conflict. With new leadship, it's been, "oh, ok" and moving on....

Still hanging on to my side work. which, does contribute stress and hours, but the money is very nice, and the two gigs would not be easily replaceable, and it gives me a lifeline if I do decided to quit the day before getting to 4% territory on the stache.

So, for me, the crisis is over, but recovery is lagging.

[ardrum]

Good update, mistymoney.  Sounds like the situation has definitely improved for you. 

It does seem like recovering from burnout is a much more challenging than acquiring it.

I am envious of the side work you have going for you.  I'd be much more tempted to make a change if I had an alternative income stream to my 8-5.

[hoodedfalcon]

42, about to turn 43. I hit burnout a few years back, moved states, tried to change careers. But then got sucked back into a role very similar, but even more stressful, than the role I'd walked away from. I've kept my shit together for this job for 2.5 years now, but it ain't easy. Student Loan forgiveness application is pending. Once that comes through (90K of federal student loan debt has been a noose around my neck), I will reevaluate. Not ready to FIRE yet, but have enough to take a couple of years off. But the worry is getting back into the working world after experiencing the bliss of gardening, walking in the woods, and tinkering. I could also approach my current employer about a new role, fewer hours, less stress....just waiting for that loan forgiveness.....

I ended up leaving my job in August of 2021 after my student loans were forgiven. I loved not working. I traveled a bit, decompressed, and moved to another new state. I have some passive-ish income - I sell tradelines. I have a rental house - which brings in about a third of what I need to live off of. It was all pretty damn glorious but about 8 months ago, I decided to dip my toes into the working world again and bring in some additional money. I found a one-day-a-week barista-esque job that brought in a few hundred a month. This was all fine and good. Then my former employer reached out about two temporary contract gigs, which I felt I should take because it was a minimal weekly time commitment and a temporary one (6 months) with a decent payout.

So, I am 4 months into the contract gigs and I have discovered:
1. I don't want to ever work a full-time job again,
2. My middle-of-the-night anxiety attacks are creeping back,
3. Per my smart watch, my resting heart rate has gone up overall since working again but consistently dips on the weekends while spiking during the week.

So essentially, my fear of loving my sabbatical came true, but I am CoastFi at best, so I need to figure it out. Trying figure out how I can bring in an additional $20-30K/year going forward in a way that doesn't trigger my anxiety, insomnia, heart rate, or existential dread. I had a feeling this was going to be how things panned out but I held out hope that my brain wasn't totally fried. Turns out, it is still pretty crispy.

[mistymoney]

Good update, mistymoney.  Sounds like the situation has definitely improved for you. 

It does seem like recovering from burnout is a much more challenging than acquiring it.

I am envious of the side work you have going for you.  I'd be much more tempted to make a change if I had an alternative income stream to my 8-5.

It's good money for the time involved, but 2023 will only be about 10k, so not even coast territory (this is less than the past 2 years unfortunately. But a nice buffer for a variety of bumps along the way so I like to keep it. But when the project comes in, there are deadlines and tight turnarounds - so not something I can put off if it collides with other things at work or life.

Last few years have put most of it into Ibonds.