Well, well, well… look at us, all up in a new year. Happy 2026, my friends.
FYI — I’m trying really hard to ignore the anxiety angel on my shoulder. Turns out the little shit not only had a restful holiday break but apparently took their time off to practice screaming “burnout” into my sensitive 35-year-old ears. Obviously, “burnout” is not a new term, but it is apparently attempting to be in its grandstand era.
Because everything is burnout now.
Burnout from work. Burnout from the news. Burnout from Instagram, TikTok and the blatantly bigoted memes your second cousin posts on Facebook. Burnout from people. Burnout from caring too much. Burnout from caring at all.
It has become the catch-all explanation anytime someone feels tired, disengaged or less productive than they think they’re supposed to be. And by someone, I mostly mean me… maybe you, too. You think misery loves company? Welcome to AirBnBurnout, baby.
And yes — burnout is absolutely real. It started as a workplace term, meant to describe what happens when people are pushed past their limits for too long without support or recovery. But somewhere along the way, the word got stretched so thin that it now covers basically any form of modern fatigue. If you’re tired, overwhelmed, distracted or emotionally tapped out, guess what, chicken butt? You’re burnt out as fuck.
The problem is that burnout implies something temporary. That funny little term suggests you just overdo it. That you pushed too hard, skipped too many breaks and now just need some rest, a modest reset, perhaps a long weekend or a brand-new morning routine that will totally get you back on track. However, that is certainly not what this feels like.
This feels like waking up already tired. Like needing a break from things you actually care about. Like wanting to be engaged — in your work, your relationships, the world — but not having the mental or emotional bandwidth to operate at full volume all the time; like the battery in our souls that had once been an Energizer Ultimate Lithium is now that battery that has been in the freezer for 15 years.
People aren’t suddenly unmotivated or lazy. We are overwhelmed by a culture that never slows down, never shuts up and never stops asking for more.
We are not burned out, I think we are all just exhausted. And despite popular belief, the two things mentioned above are actually not the same. Whoa.
Part of why “burnout” stuck so hard is because it’s convenient. It frames the problem as personal. If you’re burned out, the solution is on you: set better boundaries, take more time off, drink more water, buy the physical copy of the right self-help book. And don’t get me wrong — rest matters. Boundaries matter. But none of those things fix the bigger issue, which is that the pace of everything has become completely unsustainable.
We are processing more information than ever before. We are expected to have opinions on everything, instantly. We are reachable at all times, whether we want to be or not. Work doesn’t end when you leave the office because the office lives in your pocket. Neither does the news. Neither does social pressure. Neither does the emotional labor of keeping up with friends, family, group chats, timelines, and a never-ending stream of “6-7, 6-7, six-fucking-seven!” Even opting out takes effort.
There’s also this weird assumption that exhaustion must mean a lack of motivation, as if we just don’t want to try anymore. But most people aren’t avoiding work — they’re pacing themselves. Turns out giving 110% to everything, all the time, takes up a lot of energy and can really suck the soul out of you.
You don’t fix exhaustion by demanding more enthusiasm from people. Motivation isn’t the missing piece. You don’t fix it by reframing hustle culture with softer language and calling it “intentional productivity” or “self-care with goals.” That’s the same thing, just #rebranded.
So, what’s behind Door 4? Decision fatigue. Emotional overload. A monthly subscription to low-grade stress. Turns out there is no clear off switch when your job, your social life, the news and the internet all exist in the same place. The idea that we can just log off, unplug or disconnect ignores the reality that participation isn’t optional for most people — it’s so baked in our lives now that we’re pretty much toast.
See what I did there?
And then there’s the pressure to still seem fine. To perform productivity. To be responsive, always likable, always capable. And of course, always okay. Dare I say, the weight of carrying all of that can be too much. We don’t need more motivation; we need permission. Permission to slow down without feeling behind.
Permission to care selectively instead of about everything, all the time. Permission to stop treating exhaustion like a personal failure instead of a rational response to an unreasonable system.
We live in a world that expects us to be informed, available, productive, emotionally present, and online — all at once, all the time. No one is failing at that. It’s just not sustainable unless you’re a psychopath (in my opinion).
Maybe 2026 isn’t about finding your motivation again. Maybe it’s about finally admitting that the problem was expectation, not the lack of effort. I believe in you/me/use, but more importantly, I believe that it is perfectly fine if we choose to go the way of the tortoise… minus the race, running, and the hare can still go fuck himself. Love ya, mean it.
Sabrina Ambra is a co-host of Real Radio 104.1’s “News Junkie” program and stand-up comedian.
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