“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
THE QUITTER’S CLUB blog
People pleasing, perfectionism, booze, skinny jeans, crappy cheese - everyone’s quitting something. Join me here in a quest for less of what’s holding you back from a life of sustainable, authentic joy.
Stress Blindness: The Surprising Science of Why You Can't See Your Own Burnout
Your stressed brain physically loses the ability to recognize exhaustion—like carbon monoxide poisoning, the danger is invisible to its victim. Research shows burnout shrinks your prefrontal cortex by up to 20%, fundamentally altering decision-making. Learn the counter-intuitive boundary strategies that the most productive people use to protect cognitive function.
The Hidden Burnout Crisis: Why Neurodivergent Brains Are More Vulnerable
Have you ever wondered why burnout feels so much more devastating for you than it seems to be for others? Why recovery practices that work for your colleagues feel like trying to put out a forest fire with a water pistol when you try them?
Here's a startling reality: studies suggest that neurodivergent individuals (those with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing differences, and other neurological variations) experience burnout at rates up to three times higher than their neurotypical peers. Not only that, but this burnout often strikes earlier, lasts longer, and requires different recovery approaches.
What's happening isn't just ordinary burnout—it's what researchers are now recognizing as "neurodivergent burnout," a distinct and particularly debilitating form of exhaustion that occurs when neurodivergent individuals spend years attempting to operate in environments designed for neurologically different brains.
