I shipped six products in eight months chasing momentum. Then I spent three months unable to open my laptop. This is what burnout actually looks like, and how I rebuilt.
In retrospect, the warning signs were obvious. I had stopped cooking. I had stopped reading. My git commits were dropping in quality — shorter messages, larger diffs, less thought. I told myself I was just in a productive streak.
I was not in a productive streak. I was running on cortisol and ignoring everything that made me a thoughtful engineer.
Burnout for me did not look like laziness. It looked like the opposite: compulsive productivity with no genuine engagement behind it. I was shipping but not thinking. Merging but not caring. The code worked. I did not.
Recovery was slow and uncomfortable. I took three weeks fully off the computer. Then I worked two hours a day. Then four. I rebuilt the habit of curiosity — picking up problems because they were interesting, not because they were on the roadmap.
The lesson I carry now: sustainability is a technical skill. Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing how to ship.