I love my work. Truly. It’s not a cliché or a hollow mantra—it’s the kind of passion that makes the hours fly by. But here’s what I’ve realized: even when you love what you do, you can still burn out - because you burn on. And sometimes, the things you love most can blind you to the other parts of life quietly slipping away. I’m not there yet, but I’ve decided—it’s time to turn down the heat and start cooking more intentionally.
The Four Burners Theory is as cruel as it is true. Life divides into four burners: health, relationships, career, and personal growth. At any given time, you can only focus on two, maybe three. The challenge isn’t just prioritizing; it’s knowing when you’ve turned the heat up so high on one burner that the others freeze.
For me, it’s always been easy to keep the career burner roaring. I love the grind, the creativity, the challenges. But over the past 18 months, the heat from that burner has scorched everything else. My health? Forgotten—an afterthought buried under late nights and skipped workouts. My relationships? Neglected, left to simmer on the lowest flame. Even personal growth—the thing that fuels my purpose—has been starved of oxygen.
Here’s the irony: when you overload a burner, whether in life or on a stove, the flame doesn’t grow stronger—it sputters out. Too much gas, too much intensity, and the fire turns to liquid and fizzles. I see that now in my own life. By turning the heat too high on my career, I didn’t just dim the other burners—I nearly extinguished my own.
I’m not writing this as someone who has it all figured out. I’m still in the thick of it. For a long time, I thought balance would just happen, that if I kept pushing forward, the other burners would reignite on their own. But they haven’t. And now, it’s time to take control—not by trying to juggle everything at once, but by deliberately adjusting the heat.
This year, I’m shifting gears. I’m not trying to blaze all four burners at once—that’s impossible. Instead, I’m learning to cook slowly, like a chef building a menu. The career burner stays warm, but I’m letting health and relationships simmer back to life.
It’s small steps:
Prioritizing movement and better meals—not because I “should” but because I want to feel strong again.
Reconnecting with friends—not through grand gestures, but with regular check-ins and meaningful moments.
Making time for personal growth—not as a luxury, but as a necessity to stay grounded and inspired.
It’s not a dramatic overhaul—it’s an intentional recalibration.
Burnout or in this case “Burn-on” isn’t just about loving your work too much; it’s about forgetting the rest of life. The burners don’t balance themselves, and pushing one too hard only leads to extinguishing the flame. This year, I’m learning to let the fire burn steadily—warming everything, not just one corner of the stove.
What’s on your stove, and how will you cook this year?