Most high-functioning people are not burned out because they work too much. They are burned out because they never fully stop.

There is a difference between stopping and recovering. Stopping means the output briefly pauses. Recovering means the nervous system actually has space to integrate and refill. One is a pause between tasks. The other is the thing that makes sustainable performance possible.

Many people who describe themselves as chronically exhausted have not learned the difference. And it is rarely their fault. Most of us were never taught what actual rest is.