Summer's Burning Out...

Why, like me, you might feel like you are crashing in August.

We often imagine burnout as something that happens in winter, during a busy period at work, or after months of pushing ourselves too hard. But sometimes burnout becomes more noticeable in summer — when life appears to slow down and we finally have enough space to feel how tired we actually are.

Summer is sold as a season of ease: longer days, warmer evenings, time outside, holidays and socialising. But for some of us, it can leave us feeling flat, exhausted and overwhelmed.

The heat, disrupted routines and demands of the year so far can make the summer months feel claustrophobic and heavy — not quite as airy and beach-y as we're told they should be.

If you're a working professional living in the city, perhaps you know what I mean.

There can also be a strange pressure to enjoy summer. When everyone seems to be making the most of longer evenings, booking holidays and filling their weekends, it can be difficult to admit that what you actually want is to do less.

I have been experiencing cycles of burnout over this summer, which has left me reflecting on my own relationship with productivity and work. How easy it is to keep moving when there is always another project, deadline, email or idea waiting.

Sometimes we don't realise how much we have been carrying until we stop.

I've been asking myself: Can I rest without needing to justify it? Can I create without turning creativity into another form of productivity? And what actually brings me joy when I'm not trying to achieve something?

I don't have concrete answers, but these questions feel important.

I have been lucky enough to train as a Seasonal Yoga Teacher, a practice influenced by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which encourages us to pay attention to the changing rhythms of the seasons.

August can be seen as a transitional point — moving from the expansive energy of summer towards a quieter, more reflective period. We can see this transition happening around us: berries begin to ripen, the light starts to change and the first signs of autumn appear.

We don't ask a tree to keep flowering indefinitely. There is a natural movement between expansion and contraction, activity and rest, growth and letting go.

Perhaps we can allow ourselves to move through these cycles too.

Burnout isn't always simply about having too much to do. Sometimes the fatigue comes from constant giving without enough receiving; from creating without freedom; or from living within structures that leave little room for spontaneity, pleasure and personal joy.

So, if you've found it difficult to experience the joy that summer seems to promise, perhaps you don't need to force yourself to feel differently.

Perhaps this transition can simply be an invitation to pause and take stock.

What has this year asked of you so far?

What have you given?

What have you received?

What has nourished you — and what has quietly drained you?

And what might you want to carry forward into the next season?

There is no need to have all the answers.

As summer begins to turn towards autumn, perhaps we can allow ourselves to turn inward too. Not as another project of self-improvement, but as a gentle opportunity to notice where we are, what we need, and what might bring a little more lightness back into our lives.

Sometimes moving forward doesn't mean pushing harder.

Sometimes it means making enough space to notice what has been asking us to slow down.