Why I Collapsed on the Job

Burnout doesn't differentiate between gender, race, sexual orientation, social status or the size of your bank account.

Much like when I was in flying training and we were subjected to the altitude simulation pressure chamber so that we could each identify how we individually experienced the onset of hypoxia, I think it is important that everyone notates down the onset of burnout at home or at work.

For me, Stage 1 is when I start feeling myself getting irritable and snapping at those close to me for no reason at all. S2 is when I start having trouble sleeping, and get a really stiff neck leading to headaches. I've got to catch it at that point otherwise if it moves to S3 - crippling headaches, inability to focus on simple tasks or S4 - inability to even get out of a chair due to the feeling of extreme fatigue, then the recovery process is SO much longer and harder.

Keep a working journal, or better still, ask someone close to you that you can trust to note any out of character behavioural changes and advise you of them so that you can start to detect patterns and take action to mitigate.

>xyz is hard in education, especially for women' creates an environment in which men should just suck it up and 'stop whining' because women have it truly hard.

It isn't a competition. Everyone's experiences are valid and correct. That women, on average, face the problems of (profession) plus the problems of being a woman in (profession). This doesn't mean that men don't have problems, that their problems are somehow invalidated, or that they should "man up" and take it - the idea that men should do so is actually a problem of _men_ in (profession), because men also have their own set of problems.

That women generally, on average, face more and more significant issues does not invalidate anybody and should not cause a competition to find who is most disadvantaged. It should be one component of a rallying point by which everyone's lives can be improved, men and women and everyone else.

TLDR: It's an anectode of "an associate professor of education-policy studies" at Penn State who suffered from burn-out.

I have no idea what we are supposed to take away from her story. Don't work too hard and learn to say no, I guess. There is no clear narrative and the article reeks of self pity (she does not get tired of mentioning that she's a "twice an immigrant" and a woman).

EDIT: what bothers me about the article is that there is no root cause analysis and no solution is offered.

Also, I am unsure the n-th order immigrant argument is valid. The very concept of a second order immigrant seems bizarre to me. And if they exist, it remains to be proven that k-th order immigrants have it strictly more difficult than l-th order immigrants for all k>l.

I agree you need to catch it early. I often wonder what the most time-efficient form of mitigation is.

The most time-efficient already implies you see burnout as something you just have to push through and get back to work. This is wrong; the most time-efficient way is to avoid getting it altogether. Stick to regular working hours, don't take your work home, stick to 5 working days a week if possible. And if you're in a managerial position, your job is to delegate work, not do things yourself anyway in addition to trying to delegate things.