The Burnout Warning Light

Work is often an emotional demolition derby disguised as a calendar full of quick syncs and low lift asks. You are not imagining it, it is chaotic. From the moment you log in, it is a stream of Teams pings, last minute fire drills, and existential crises in the breakroom or before turning on the camera.  And yet, we are all pretending like this is fine. Like it is normal to draft an email while low key spiraling, or to get performance feedback written in the tone of someone who asked ChatGPT to sound more empathetic. The raw, unfiltered truth is everyone is overwhelmed. Everyone is faking competence just enough to not get flagged in the group chat. Even that coworker, the same one who asked you to lean in while clearly leaning out emotionally, they are out here Googling how to say per my last email without sounding petty on their lunch break. Their car has seen things. That steely leadership vibe? It's 70% caffeine, 20% imposter syndrome, and 10% pretending to understand a deck they skimmed in the elevator.

So if you are feeling drained, demoralized, or like you are two emails away from grabbing the office goldfish and walking out mid meeting  yelling "who's coming with me" you are not alone and you are not broken. You are just awake in a system that rewards burnout and calls it initiative. But here is the part no one tells you, your emotions? That internal chaos? It is not a liability it is data. It is your nervous system flagging that something is off. And the goal is not to ignore that intel or smother it with a smile so forced it could qualify as a hostage signal. You are not malfunctioning. You are a full spectrum human with a built in alarm system and that tension in your chest or spontaneous urge to throw your laptop? That is your nervous system doing its job. So instead of forcing yourself into a fake Zen trance like a tired phone on battery saver mode pretending it can run Zoom, Spotify, and your emotions at the same time, the real move is to process it. Quickly. Honestly. Without letting it take over your whole day, because that is where the magic happens. When you stop white knuckling through your stress and start working with it instead of against it.

Try this, it is called  The Five Minute Full Feel Trick

Here’s how it works: 

Set a timer for five minutes. That is it. Then feel everything. Let the meltdown have its moment. Cry, scream into a throw pillow, rage text your group chat, or zone out like your brain just hit pause. No judgment, no shame. Just full send. The trick is DO NOT stay in the spiral, give it a container. Because when you feel it on purpose, it does not own you. Once that timer is up? Move. Literally. Shake it off. take a walk or pace around, stretch, stomp, flail your limbs, whatever it takes to physically move the emotion out of your system. Science says movement unsticks the stress from your body. Then change something physically like wash your face, change one article of clothing (change your socks for no reason or put on a sweater), take your laptop to another room. Signal to your brain we are not in this breakdown anymore, babe. We have shifted. 

Only got two minutes? No problem. Do an Express Feel. Sixty seconds of deep breaths acknowledge the chaos, shimmy, shake, let your body move weirdly, splash water on your face or pull up your hair, say nope to the void and then back into the chaos like the unhinged legend you are. You do not need a vacation to reset. You just need five honest minutes. That is it. That is your system update. That is your boss up starter pack. Not emotional repression. Not pretending to be fine. Just a little honesty, a little drama, and a lot of bounce back.

Bossing up does not mean being unaffected. It is not pretending nothing hurts it is turning pain into power plays. It means knowing exactly how to fall apart and then return with receipts. It is about turning emotional awareness into tactical clarity. You can spiral and strategize. You can be a hot mess at 10:13 AM and still draft the most articulate follow up email of the quarter by 10:17. That is the duality. That is the power. 

You can boss up with tactical precision. 

• The Professional Pivot: Got hit with an unfair critique? Don’t spiral. Drop a pointed yet graceful response that makes them reread their own words.
• The Power Email:
  Not- "Just following up again, haha :)”
  Instead- “Thanks for the update. I have already taken steps on (insert thing they did not think of). Let me know what you would like prioritized next.”

That is executive presence with a hint of try me.

So the next time the workday feels like a psychological escape room with bad lighting and worse snacks, remember  your boss probably cried in their car this morning. Everyone is winging it. You are allowed to be a person. Just make sure you are the kind of person who feels, resets, and then sends an email so diplomatically savage it gets quoted in someone else’s therapy session.

And when someone asks, You gonna cry about it or boss up? the answer is obvious: umm Actually I'm gonna do both. 

ღ Chi