From Pleasure to Pressure, Drowning in Passions.

In partnership with

Let’s talk about it.

I’m perched up at a cafe right now, but it’s a quick one that I’m able to talk about confidently because I’ve experienced it many times.

It’s so easy to get burned out, but it’s difficult to understand the signs.

Why? Because we get in denial. We think it’s a phase and blame the factors in our lives, not understanding that we are in control of limiting and reducing certain things to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

The signs are key indicators that something’s going wrong and we need to switch up our approach.

Once the signs are there, in relation to interests, you either drop them because it got too much or it affects you negatively to the point where you feel a loss in confidence.

The steps to reducing these are putting systems in place by understanding the why; it’s always about the why.

Let me tell you my warning signs when I first started to pick up all my interests.

My first warning sign was resentment.

I’d look at my French flashcards and feel annoyed instead of curious. It felt like too much effort.

I’d start to hate the idea of the next gym session or football game with a good group all because of one bad mis-touch or off day.

When your passions start feeling like chores, your system is already breaking down.

The second sign was avoidance.

I’d find excuses to skip Arabic practice.

I got annoyed with my French teacher once and wanted to skip the next lessons I booked in advance.

One bad gym session where I couldn’t hit a PB? I was ready to skip the next session.

I’d scroll social media instead of working on things that would elevate me.

When you start avoiding the things you used to love, your passion energy tank is running empty.

The third sign was comparison spirals.

I’d see other language learners progressing faster and feel like a failure.

I’d watch travel bloggers with perfect content and question my own journey.

I’d read other writers and convince myself I wasn’t good enough.

These are all signs of impending burnout.

The doubts would creep in.

The whispers were loud.

So how do you recover from these signs? Because it’s so easy to give in and just quit because the comfort zone is too nice to climb out of.

Not all passions burn out the same way, so they don’t recover the same way either.

I learned this the hard way when I tried to apply the same recovery approach to all my interests.

It took me some time to identify, but the way I tackled the signs of burnout required different systems in place to ensure that if the signs ever came back, I’d know what to do to tackle them.

Physical Passions (Gym, Football):

These need complete rest periods.

When I was overtrained, I couldn’t just “take it easy” at the gym.

I needed full days off from physical activity.

The recovery protocol is simple.

• Sleep and naps for full body recovery

• Nutrition - eating the right things with high levels of zinc, magnesium and high proteins

• Zero physical stress until your body stops feeling fatigued.

• On days when I felt better, it’d be light walks to keep my body active but working lightly.

The body is truly a temple, so when you used to mid- to high-intensity activities like me, it can be hard to back up a bit or rest.

I found out the hard way that taking a week or two of rest is better than pushing through and risking long-term injury.

Mental Passions (Languages, Writing):

These recover through variety, not rest.

When I was burned out on French, switching to Arabic actually helped because it used different mental muscles. Same theme, but different methods of learning.

For writing burnout, I’d switch to reading instead of stopping completely. This would give me potential ideas rather than force me to write when i wasn’t feeling it.

The key is changing the type of mental work, not eliminating it.

Creative Passions (Travel Planning, Content Creation):

These need inspiration refills.

It helps to switch up from:

• Watching travel vlogs instead of planning trips or searching for destinations.

• Read other writers and newsletters instead of writing.

• Visit new places in my own city and get away from my desk, which is what I’ve done now as I’m writing this.

When my creativity was drained, I’d consume instead of create. It’s becoming a lot easier to scroll like a researcher now when I know what ideas or inspiration to look for.

Spiritual Passions (Seeking knowledge, Praying):

Spiritual burnout can also be a thing. Instead of comparing my religious obligations and feeling guilty, I'd take a step back and reflect on my own journey.

Writing about what I could do differently or seeing others reminders really gives me a shift in perspective by understanding that a lot of people struggle, but it’s always the small efforts and intentions that count.

The mistake I made was treating all passion burnout like physical exhaustion.

Sometimes you need rest, sometimes you need variety, and sometimes you need new input.

It's not a one size fits all approach.

While it is easy for others to tell you to “take a break” or “step back”, everyone has a different tolerance level for dealing with the signs.

A lot of people commonly experience the signs I mentioned above, so understanding the steps that need to be taken can help you to maintain the balance and stay on track.

Finally, a powerful CRM—made simple.

Attio is the AI-native CRM built to scale your company from seed stage to category leader. Powerful, flexible, and intuitive to use, Attio is the CRM for the next-generation of teams.

Sync your email and calendar, and Attio instantly builds your CRM—enriching every company, contact, and interaction with actionable insights in seconds.

With Attio, AI isn’t just a feature—it’s the foundation.

• Instantly find and route leads with research agents

• Get real-time AI insights during customer conversations

• Build AI automations for your most complex workflows

• Join fast growing teams like Flatfile, Replicate, Modal, and more.

Start for free today.

The bottom line

Don’t beat yourself up; we all experience overwhelm and burnout.

Lack of time, life gets in the way and so on.

It really helps to put a plan in place and have small systems so you understand that when you’re faced with doubts or difficulty, you’re able to step back and tackle it so you can bounce back like a don.

Your challenge for this week: Match your recovery to your passion type. Any interest or hobbies you have will likely fall under the categories above, so go through and see:

• What’s causing the potential burnout/overwhelm?

• How you can tackle the signs from the start rather than waiting for burnout to hit you.

• What system can you put in place to limit it going forward?

It’s always simple aspects, but it takes time to get accustomed to implementing them.

Sometimes it takes rest; other times it’ll take switching to something else to give your body or mind a rest.

But it happens to the best of us, so don’t feel guilty or give up.

I’d love to see your answers to the above, or if you want to discuss this further, feel free to reach out on Instagram @liftlangleon.

Till next time, peace.