Breaking the Cycle: Work Burnout

A path toward clarity, resilience, and meaningful change

Burnout isn’t just about being tired. It’s not something you can “sleep off” over a weekend or fix with one self-care day. Burnout is a serious, multi-dimensional experience that affects your mind, body, and sense of purpose. It can leave high-achieving, caring professionals feeling numb, disconnected, and exhausted—often while still meeting everyone else’s needs but their own.

And yet, burnout is not a personal failure. It is a signal—a wise one—that something needs to change. Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), you can shift the way you respond to stress, reconnect with your values, and begin the process of healing in a way that is compassionate, grounded, and lasting.

🔍 What Is Burnout?

Burnout is more than just fatigue. It’s a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged and unmanaged stress, particularly in high-pressure environments where expectations are high and recovery time is low.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is defined as an occupational phenomenon with three key components:

1. Emotional exhaustion – Feeling constantly drained, overwhelmed, and depleted.

2. Depersonalization – Becoming increasingly cynical, detached, or emotionally distant from work and others.

3. Reduced personal accomplishment – Feeling ineffective, unmotivated, or questioning your value and abilities.

Understanding this definition matters. It shifts the focus from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What’s happening around me and within me that’s creating these symptoms?” It invites reflection, not blame.

💼 Why Are Professionals So Prone to Burnout?

Burnout is especially common among professionals in high-demand fields—healthcare, law, education, tech, business, and caregiving. These are roles that require deep engagement, strong responsibility, and constant output.

Certain factors make burnout even more likely:

• High job demands – Long hours, tight deadlines, and always being “on.”

• Perfectionism – Holding yourself to unrealistic or unattainable standards.

• Lack of control – Feeling powerless over decisions, pace, or structure.

• Work-life imbalance – Personal needs and relationships often fall to the bottom of the list.

Pair these with an inner drive to help others, achieve, or be seen as “capable,” and you have a recipe for burnout—even in people who seem outwardly successful.

⚠️ Signs and Symptoms of Burnout

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow drip—often going unnoticed until exhaustion becomes your baseline.

Some common signs of burnout I see in my Colorado telehealth practice include:

• Chronic fatigue, even after rest

• Difficulty concentrating or completing tasks

• Increased irritability, anxiety, or emotional numbness

• Physical burnout symptoms: headaches, stomach issues, insomnia

• Withdrawal from social activities or things you used to enjoy

• Feeling detached, like you’re going through the motions

If this resonates, pause and know: it’s not weakness—it’s a wake-up call.

🧭 How ACT Helps You Heal from Burnout

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a mindfulness-based, evidence-driven approach that helps you respond to burnout differently—not by ignoring or resisting it, but by facing it with openness, intention, and values-based action.

ACT techniques build psychological flexibility—the ability to stay present, even with discomfort, and make choices that align with your values instead of reacting from fear or exhaustion. Here’s how ACT can guide your recovery:

1. Accept Rather Than Fight Burnout

One of the most important shifts in healing burnout is moving from resistance to acceptance. Often, people caught in burnout think:

• “I shouldn’t feel this way.”

• “I just need to push through.”

• “This is just part of being successful.”

ACT invites you to pause and ask:

“What am I actually feeling right now?”“Can I allow myself to sit with this discomfort instead of fighting it?”

This kind of mindful acceptance helps you stop burning energy trying to avoid the truth—and start using that energy to care for yourself instead.

2. Defuse from Unhelpful Thoughts

Burnout often brings a harsh inner critic. Thoughts like:

• “I’m not doing enough.”

• “If I slow down, I’ll fall behind.”

• “I can’t let anyone see me struggle.”

These thoughts can feel like facts, but ACT teaches a powerful skill called cognitive defusion—learning to notice your thoughts without believing or obeying them.

Try saying:

“I’m noticing I’m having the thought that I’m falling behind.”“That’s just my mind doing what minds do—generating stories.”

Defusion doesn’t silence your mind—it helps you step back so you can respond, not react.

3. Reconnect with Your Values

One of the most painful parts of burnout is the loss of meaning. You may find yourself asking, “What’s the point?” or “I used to love this work—what happened?”

ACT helps you reconnect with your core values—the deeper qualities that guide who you want to be. These might include compassion, balance, authenticity, or growth.

Ask yourself:

• “What kind of professional (or parent, partner, leader) do I want to be?”

• “What brings me meaning beyond checking things off a list?”

• “What small action today could reflect one of my values?”

Realignment with values isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing what matters, even in small ways.

4. Commit to Small, Purposeful Actions

Through my experience as an online burnout therapist, I've come to realize that burnout recovery is not a grand, linear transformation. It’s built on gentle, consistent steps that move you toward what you care about.

ACT encourages you to commit to manageable actions that support your well-being:

• Set boundaries: log off at a certain time or say “no” when needed

• Take 10-minute restorative breaks without guilt

• Speak to yourself with the same compassion you'd offer a friend

• Reintroduce small joys—music, movement, nature, connection

These aren’t luxuries. They’re lifelines. Small, values-aligned actions create powerful momentum for healing.

🌱 Final Thoughts: You Can Recover Without Pushing Harder

Burnout isn’t just about stress—it’s about disconnection from yourself, your needs, and your purpose. Acceptance doesn’t mean surrendering to burnout. It means stopping the inner war so you can start walking a wiser path—one rooted in clarity, kindness, and choice.

Through ACT, you can:

✅ Accept your inner experience without shame

✅ Step back from self-critical thoughts

✅ Reconnect with what matters most

✅ Take small, intentional steps forward

You don’t have to “earn” rest or prove your worth by pushing through. You are allowed to heal—just as you are.

💬 Ready to Reconnect with Yourself? Meet With a Virtual Burnout Therapist in Denver, CO

If you're feeling the weight of burnout and are ready to move forward with clarity and support, I invite you to reach out to my online Colorado therapy practice.

✨ As an online therapist in Denver, CO, I offer one-on-one consultations for professionals navigating burnout, stress, and overwhelm. Together, we’ll uncover what’s getting in the way, reconnect you with your values, and co-create a sustainable plan for healing using evidence-based ACT principles.

📞 Click here to schedule your free 15-minute consultation. Or email me directly at jennifer@drolsonmadden.com. I’d be honored to support your next steps.

Other Online Therapy Services I Offer In Colorado

If you're feeling overwhelmed by constant change, stress, or anxiety, you're not alone. Through burnout therapy, I help clients regain clarity, calm, and confidence so they can move forward with greater resilience and ease.

In addition to supporting those struggling with burnout and chronic stress, my Colorado-based telehealth practice offers a range of other therapeutic services designed to meet you where you are. I provide specialized care for anxiety disorders, trauma recovery, and the unique challenges that come with life transitions. I also assist clients navigating relationship difficulties and offer comprehensive assessments alongside personalized one-on-one therapy sessions. I invite you to explore my website to learn more about my approach, find helpful resources on my mental health blog, and reach out when you're ready to take that first step toward feeling better.

About the Author

Dr. Jennifer Olson-Madden is a licensed psychologist and expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), dedicated to helping clients achieve purposeful and successful outcomes through inspired and committed action. With over 15 years of licensure in Denver, CO, and more than two decades of experience in mental health, she specializes in treating anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, chronic stress, depression, and executive dysfunction such as ADHD. She not only practices ACT professionally but also integrates its principles into her own life daily.