Running on Empty: Recognizing When Your Energy Reserves Are Dangerously Low

Always feeling tired no matter how much coffee you chug? Let's get into why high achievers push through the exhaustion and often miss the signs of burnout. Discover the sneaky ways burnout creeps in, how stress messes with your brain, and most importantly, how to actually recover your energy. 

We're talking about setting real boundaries, making lasting changes, and not waiting until you're totally drained. It's time to take burnout seriously and take control of your energy.

 Check out the detailed show notes (https://tarakermiet.com/podcast/) and leave your thoughts or questions about today's topic. 

00:00 Understanding Energy and Exhaustion
01:10 Recognizing the Signs of Burnout
01:37 The Gradual Onset of Burnout
03:39 The Science Behind Burnout
04:44 Emotional and Physical Symptoms
06:15 Preventing and Addressing Burnout
09:48 Effective Recovery Strategies
12:32 Setting Boundaries and Making Changes
14:56 Taking Action to Restore Energy
16:50 Final Thoughts and Call to Action 

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Energy and Exhaustion
• 1:56 Recognizing the Signs of Burnout
• 2:23 The Gradual Onset of Burnout
• 4:25 The Science Behind Burnout
• 5:30 Emotional and Physical Symptoms
• 7:01 Preventing and Addressing Burnout
• 10:34 Effective Recovery Strategies
• 13:18 Setting Boundaries and Making Changes
• 15:42 Taking Action to Restore Energy
• 17:36 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Transcript

[00:00:00] All right, let's talk about energy. The kind that keeps you sharp, focused, and engaged, not just physically present, but mentally there. Because if you're anything like most high achievers I work with, you've probably convinced yourself that exhaustion is just part of the job. You push through, you tell yourself you'll slow down after the next big project, the next deadline, the next crisis.

Except that after never comes. And eventually you stop realizing how drained you actually are because you've been running on empty for so long that it just feels normal. Here's the reality. Your energy isn't infinite. When you consistently operate beyond your capacity, your body and brain start sending out warning signals.

The problem is most people don't recognize those signals until they're completely burned out. And there's a reason for that. Research shows that chronic stress affects [00:01:00] your brain's ability to self regulate. It blunts your awareness of just how depleted you are, making it easy to keep pushing forward until you hit a breaking point.

So today, we're going to break down exactly how to recognize when your energy reserves are dangerously low, why your brain convinces you to ignore those red flags, and most importantly, what you can do to restore your energy in a way that's actually sustainable. Because rest isn't just about taking time off, it's about knowing how to refuel in a way that keeps you performing at your best without sacrificing your well being.

So let's get into it.

Here's the tricky thing about burnout. You don't just wake up one day and suddenly feel drained beyond repair. It happens gradually in the margins of your daily routine until exhaustion just becomes part of the background noise.

At first it's subtle. You're a little more tired than usual, but it's nothing an extra coffee won't fix. You catch yourself rereading emails [00:02:00] because your brain isn't processing them quite as quickly. Or you start feeling a little impatient in meetings, but hey, everyone gets frustrated sometimes, right?

Then before you know it That just a little tired feeling becomes your normal state. Mental fog replaces clear thinking. The motivation that used to come so easily feels like a complete struggle. Even things that you enjoy start feeling like obligations and still you tell yourself you're fine. Except you're not.

High achievers in particular are really good at convincing themselves that they're fine. Even when they're not. If you're someone who's used to handling a lot, whether that's leading a team, managing multiple projects, or balancing work and personal responsibilities, you've probably built an identity around being capable, reliable, and strong.

That identity makes it even harder to admit when you're struggling. I [00:03:00] hear this all the time. Folks don't come to me saying, I think I'm burned out. They come to me saying things like, I don't understand why I'm so exhausted. I'm not even working that many hours, and yet I'm just plum drained. I used to thrive under pressure, but now everything feels overwhelming.

or I can't focus like I used to. I feel scattered all the time. What's happening here is that their energy reserves have been drained for so long that their baseline has completely shifted. They don't remember what it feels like to function at full capacity anymore, so they just assume that what they're experiencing is just part of life.

Now this is where the science comes in because chronic stress actually alters your brain's ability to recognize fatigue. There's research showing that long term exposure to stress hormones disrupts the connection between the prefrontal cortex, that part of your brain responsible for rational thinking and self awareness, and the limbic system, which controls [00:04:00] emotional responses and stress reactions.

So in simple terms, the more exhausted you become, the worse your brain gets at noticing just how depleted you really are. And because your nervous system is wired for survival, your body finds ways to compensate. You get little surges of adrenaline that keep you going just long enough to meet a deadline or to power through a tough day.

But those surges are borrowed energy. They don't fix the problem. They just mask it. That's why so many high achievers don't realize they're burned out until they hit a breaking point, whether that's a full blown emotional crash, a health issue, or just simply reaching a moment where they physically cannot do any more. For most people, burnout doesn't announce itself as total exhaustion right away.

Instead, it shows up in ways that feel frustrating but manageable until they aren't. You start resenting your work, even if you love what you do. You avoid tasks you used to handle with [00:05:00] ease because they suddenly feel like too much. You feel emotionally detached, less excited, less invested, like you're just kind of going through the motions.

You start making careless mistakes, not because you don't care, but because your focus is slipping. Or you spend your weekends trying to recover, but no amount of sleep seems to help. And maybe the scariest part? You don't remember what it felt like to have full energy anymore. This state, this constant tiredness, this mental fog, this feeling of always being behind, it's just how life feels now.

Maybe you've already experienced this. Maybe you've gotten sick the second you finally took time off. Maybe you've had moments where you completely shut down, staring at your computer, unable to do even the simplest tasks. Maybe you've found yourself snapping at people you care about. Feeling resentful about the things that shouldn't bother you, or struggling to enjoy the things [00:06:00] that used to make you happy.

These are all signs that you're past the pushing through phase and deep into depletion. And look, I know this probably isn't the pep talk that you were hoping for, but the good news is, burnout isn't inevitable. It is preventable. The key is learning to recognize the warning signs before you reach your breaking point.

So if burnout doesn't show up overnight, if it sneaks in slowly and rewires your brain to ignore just how bad things have gotten, how do you actually know when you're running on empty? It's one of those things that you might not recognize when it's happening, but you more easily recognize it in hindsight.

You see it after you've hit the wall, after your body has forced you to stop. After you've spent months, or maybe years, pushing beyond your capacity. But if you know what to look for, you can catch it before it takes you down. The first clue? Your energy levels are no longer predictable. Normally, [00:07:00] you have natural ebbs and flows.

Maybe you hit a slump mid afternoon or need some extra sleep after a long week. That's normal. But when you're running on empty, your energy doesn't just dip, it never fully recovers. You wake up feeling just as drained as when you went to bed. You power through the day on autopilot, and no amount of rest seems to refill the tank.

And that's because chronic depletion doesn't just make you tired. It fundamentally alters how your body restores itself. Research shows that prolonged stress disrupts your sleep cycles. Slows down cellular repair and depletes neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Those are the chemicals that help you feel motivated, engaged, and emotionally stable.

So even when you do rest, your body struggles to recover the way it should. The second clue, everything feels harder than it should. The decisions you used to make in seconds now take extra effort. You have to think about things that used to just come naturally. Maybe [00:08:00] crafting an email. Prioritizing your tasks, remembering details in a conversation, your brain feels sluggish like it's wading through mud.

This happens because chronic stress reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex, that part of your brain responsible for executive function. Your ability to concentrate, problem solve, and regulate your emotions takes a hit. So if you found yourself struggling to stay focused or feeling scattered even on normal days, It's not because you suddenly got worse at your job.

It's because your brain is running low on the resources it needs to function at full capacity. And then there's the emotional side. One of the biggest red flags of burnout isn't just exhaustion. It's detachment. You stop feeling connected to your work, to your relationships, to even your own sense of purpose.

Things that used to excite you feel dull. You go through the [00:09:00] motions, but there's no spark behind it. You might even start feeling resentful, not because you don't care, but because you don't have the energy left to care in the way that you used to. This is your nervous system trying to protect you. When you've been running beyond capacity for too long, your body shifts into conservation mode. It shuts down emotional investment because engagement takes energy, and right now, your body doesn't have any to spare. And if all of this is hitting a little too close to home, I want to be clear.

This is not a personal failure. It's not because you aren't tough enough, resilient enough, or productive enough. It's because you're human. And humans aren't meant to function at full speed all the time, with no recovery. So now that you know what burnout actually looks like, now that you see the signs, you're probably wondering, okay, but how do I fix it?

Here's where most people go wrong. They treat [00:10:00] exhaustion like a short term problem with a quick fix solution. They take a day off, book a massage, they get a little extra sleep, and assume that that will solve it. And for about 24 hours, sure, they might feel a little better, but then the exhaustion creeps back in because they never actually addressed the root of the issue.

Real recovery isn't about taking more breaks, it's about refueling in a way that actually restores your capacity, not just numbs you out for a while. And that starts with understanding one fundamental truth. Not all rest is created equal. If you're feeling depleted, your first instinct might be to throw yourself onto the couch, binge watch a show, and scroll your phone for hours.

And listen, I get it. Sometimes zoning out is all you have the energy for. But that kind of rest is passive. It helps you escape for a little while, but it doesn't actually rebuild your energy. And when you're burned out, you [00:11:00] don't just need time off. You need active recovery.

Research on nervous system regulation shows that true restoration happens when you engage in activities that replenish your cognitive, emotional, and physical reserves. This means rest isn't just about doing less, it's about doing the right things to recharge the areas where you're most depleted. So before you even think about what you need, you have to ask yourself, what kind of exhaustion am I dealing with?

If your brain feels foggy and you're struggling with focus, you probably need cognitive rest, which means stepping away from screens, reducing information overload, and engaging in activities that allow your brain to breathe. Think walking, journaling, or even simply sitting in silence for five minutes without distractions.

If you're feeling emotionally drained, resentful, detached, or just over it, you need emotional rest. [00:12:00] And if your body is physically exhausted, but you're struggling to relax, you need nervous system rest, which means slowing down in a way that actively signals to your body that it's safe to stop. This could be deep breathing, stretching, or any form of movement that releases rather than drains energy.

Now I know that some of you are thinking, sure, that sounds great, but I don't have time to rest. My schedule is packed and people need me. And that right there is the exact mindset that got you into this state in the first place. Because burnout doesn't just come from working too much. It comes from not having enough space to recover in between, and that's a boundary issue.

If you're constantly on call, answering messages at all hours, [00:13:00] saying yes when you need to say no, treating every request like it's urgent, you're operating in a way that keeps your stress response activated all the damn time. Your brain and body never get a break because you've trained them to expect that you always have to be available.

So here's the hard truth. If you want to recover, do it. You need to create space for it. That means setting actual work life boundaries. Not just saying you will, but enforcing them. If you say you're done working at 6, but you're still checking emails at 9, that's not a boundary. That's a suggestion that you're actually ignoring.

That means reducing decision fatigue wherever possible. Whether that's automating small daily choices like meal prepping, so you don't have to think about dinner. Or eliminating obligations that drain you more than they serve you. Or that means reclaiming control over your schedule. Not waiting for free time to just magically appear, but actively making time for things that restore you.[00:14:00] 

I want to be clear about something. Recovering from burnout isn't about taking a week off and then going right back to the same habits that drained you in the first place. It's about making systemic changes to how you manage your energy on a daily basis. It's about recognizing that your capacity is a finite resource, and if you don't protect it, no one else will.

And listen, I know this isn't easy. Changing how you operate, especially if you've spent years equating productivity with worth, that's uncomfortable. It forces you to shift the way you define success. But here's the bottom line. You cannot perform at your best if you are constantly running on empty. And if you want to be the kind of person who shows up fully engaged, fully present, and fully capable, you have to stop treating rest like a luxury and start treating it like the non negotiable that it is.

So if you've been listening to this thinking, okay, yeah, I feel called out. [00:15:00] Then consider this your sign to stop waiting. Stop convincing yourself that you'll slow down when things get easier. The time to start making changes isn't later, it's now.

Because burnout isn't just going to go away on its own. But the good news, neither is your ability to change it. Here's the thing. Burnout doesn't tap you on the shoulder and politely ask for your attention. It doesn't wait for you to have free time or a lighter workload before it demands a response. It just keeps taking until you either do something about it or your body makes the choice for you.

And I don't want it to get to that point for you. Your energy is your responsibility. No one is going to hand you permission to slow down. No one is going to restructure your schedule so that you have more breathing room. No one is going to set boundaries for you. If you're waiting for someone to tell you that it's okay to take care of yourself, consider this your permission slip.

You cannot do your best work, be a strong leader, [00:16:00] or even just enjoy your life if you are constantly running on fumes. And I need you to hear this. Rest is not a reward for having worked hard enough. It's the fuel that allows you to keep going in a way that's sustainable. So let's make this real. What's one thing you can do right now to take a step toward restoring your energy?

Maybe it's taking a deep breath and actually stepping away from work when you're supposed to be done. Maybe it's saying no to something that you don't have the capacity for. Maybe it's giving yourself the same care and consideration that you so easily extend to everyone else. Because if you don't make the choice to recharge right now, burnout's gonna make the choice for you later.

And I want you to sit with that. I want you to take action before exhaustion becomes your default setting. If this episode hit home for you, I'd love to hear about it. Come find me on LinkedIn or Instagram and let me know what resonated. And if you know someone who needs to hear this, send it their way.[00:17:00] 

Take care of yourself, friend. I'll see you next time.