Experiencing burnout in recovery
Feeling overwhelmed when you start to address your mental health is not only understandable; it’s incredibly common. And I wish I had known that sooner.
When I started my recovery journey, I was one of the first people I knew with serious mental health concerns. The isolation was real. And it played a major role in the burnout I would later experience.
Treatment became part of my life early on, delaying milestones like college. I traded in social and superficial relationships for ones that were far more intimate, vulnerable and, at times, deeply therapeutic. For a long time, this made me feel like I was the only one struggling with my mental health.
But today, I am grateful to see so many people opening up about their recovery experiences. Visibility matters.
Before going any further, I want to be clear about something.
I am not “done.” I have not arrived at some final destination of healing.
What I have arrived at is a set of tools, mindsets and values that help me navigate the ups and downs of life, including burnout. Just like my physical health is never a constant, neither is my mental health.
Recovery didn’t give me perfection. It gave me a relationship with myself.
Much of what I know now about burnout, healing and mental health is due to hindsight. It is only possible because of the struggles I went through.
And the phrases you hear often in recovery spaces? They are not clichés to me.
- “Easy does it”
- “Progress not perfection”
- “One day at a time”
These were actually lifelines for me, but I didn’t fully understand until I needed them.
Recovery is overwhelming, especially at the beginning
For many of us, recovery is a radical shift in how we live, how we relate to others and how we understand ourselves. And often, it happens in the midst of tremendous emotional pain, confusion and shame.
I felt enormous pressure to get better and resume my life before I “missed out” on any more of it. That pressure was rooted in a belief that my value came from my ability to perform, achieve and do.
What I didn’t know yet was that recovery would ask me to learn something entirely different. I had to learn how to be. To trust. To let myself heal.
The tension between how I had learned to cope with my thoughts, feelings and beliefs and what healing actually required created its own set of intense emotions and stressors.
Addressing my mental health wasn’t just hard because of what I was facing. It was hard because I was unlearning everything I thought made me worthy.
The mindset of “needing to get better” versus allowing myself to heal was monumental. And that tension became one of the quiet contributors to my burnout.
What burnout looked like for me in recovery
When people talk about burnout, they often talk about work or productivity. We don’t talk enough about what burnout looks like inside recovery.
Eating Recovery Center alum Maddy M. shares what burnout looked like in eating disorder recovery. “Burnout for me looked like wanting to give up, canceling healthcare appointments and doing the bare minimum to stay afloat. When I was burned out in recovery, I was very depressed, physically exhausted and isolating myself. Anxiety, anger and panic attacks often followed.”
Maddy continues, “When I was burned out, I didn’t want to keep fighting my eating disorder. I didn’t care about my reasons for ‘why’ recovery was worth it. During these times, I didn’t even feel like recovery was real. I was in treatment multiple times and providers would say to me, ‘See you in a few months’ and ‘You’ll never get better’ because they thought I would just go right back to my eating disorder behaviors.”
For me, burnout didn’t show up as wanting to quit.
It showed up as:
- Exhaustion
- Pressure
- A constant internal sense that I should be further along by now
This all came from the expectations I had, including the ideas that:
- Recovery was supposed to be linear
- If I was doing the work, things would steadily improve
- Healing meant fixing myself
But I wasn’t broken..
Burnout crept in when recovery started to feel like another performance. Another place where I was measuring myself against expectations. Another arena where perfectionism loudly took over.
From “getting better” to actually healing
One of the most important shifts in my recovery was letting go of the idea that addressing my mental health meant I was missing out on my life.
The truth is, I have always been in my life.
- Even when I was in treatment
- Even when things were hard
- Even when progress felt slow or invisible
Burnout helped me see that so much of my exhaustion came from trying to rush my own healing. I believed that there was a version of my life waiting for me on the other side of recovery and that I needed to get there as quickly as possible.
But true healing asked something different of me. It asked me:
- To slow down
- To soften
- To let go of timelines
- To challenge perfectionism
- To question old ideas rooted in shame
- To explore play, rest, connection and grace as foundational, not optional
Maddy also found ways to deal with burnout when eating disorder recovery became exhausting. Says Maddy: “I didn’t want the people who doubted my ability to recover to be right. This still motivates me to this day.”
How to manage eating disorder recovery burnout
Here is what helped Maddy prioritize recovery on the hardest days:
- Taking each day minute by minute
- Starting off with very small goals and even doing the bare minimum if necessary
- Going to therapy and learning about dialectical behavior therapy
- Putting sticky notes everywhere with very blunt, supportive messages
- Remembering that “food is fuel.”
- Having food delivered or keeping something in the freezer that’s easy to eat
- Letting others help with food prep and planning when needed
“I told myself ‘I don’t have to want to get better AND I know that I still need to reach out for support.’ Another big thing that helped me, and I would suggest to anyone who may have a younger sibling, a niece or nephew, or anyone who looks up to you, is to spend more time around them. My niece became the age where she knew what was going on. I wanted to be a good role model for her. I wanted to be there for her. Hanging out with or even FaceTiming her helps me to this day,” says Maddy.
How I understand burnout now
Today burnout in my mental health is no longer something I fear or judge. It is information.
Burnout is a reminder to let go. It is an invitation to ask for help. It asks me to check in with myself and reach out when I feel burdened or isolated. It invites questions like:
- Am I prioritizing rest and reset?
- Am I comparing myself to others?
- Am I placing unrealistic expectations on my healing?
- Am I giving myself grace while doing hard things like setting boundaries, addressing trauma, or building trust and vulnerability in relationships?
Burnout doesn’t mean I am failing.
It means that something needs care and attention.
What burnout taught me about recovery
There was a tipping point in my recovery where I realized that burnout wasn’t the “problem.” The expectations I placed on myself were. Letting go of the idea that recovery had to look a certain way changed everything. So did releasing the belief that progress had to be visible, measurable or impressive.
Maddy shares, “It’s totally normal and OK if you are dealing with burnout in recovery. It’s OK to struggle to find motivation. And you still can’t give up on recovery! Recovery doesn’t have to be perfect.”
Burnout helped me understand that healing is not about fixing what is wrong.
It is about attending to what is tender. Recovery doesn’t promise me a perfect life. It gives me a more honest one. And that has made all the difference.
This content is reflective of the author’s lived experiences. It is intended for informational purposes only. It does not provide medical advice, nor is it a substitute for professional medical diagnosis or treatment. If you are struggling with an eating disorder or your mental health, we invite you to call us at 866-622-5914 or fill out this form to set up a free introductory call with a member of our team.