I used to think exhaustion was just part of being successful.
Late nights.
Early starts.
Back-to-back calls.
There was a strange pride in how depleted I felt.
But what I’ve seen again and again—
In myself, and in the clients I work with—
Is that this kind of fatigue isn’t about capacity.
It’s about alignment.
You can be wildly capable and still feel drained.
Not because you’re doing too much—
But because too little of it lights you up.
I spoke with a leader recently who said:
“I don’t even know what I enjoy anymore.”
That’s what chronic overextension does.
It doesn’t just burn you out.
It makes you forget who you are.
So we asked:
“What if the exhaustion is sacred? What if it’s the body telling the truth your mind has been avoiding?”
Not to push through.
But to listen.
Because sometimes, the real work is not doing more.
It’s stopping what quietly steals your energy.
The meetings where you disappear inside.
The conversations that leave a sour taste.
The ‘yeses’ that feel like little betrayals.
You don’t have to blow it all up.
But you can start by asking:
What no longer fits?
And what wants to take its place?
Because when you say no to what drains you,
You create space for the things that make you feel alive again.
Photo by Mehdi Yousefi on Unsplash