TLDR: New job in management, tried to do everything myself and burnt out, admitted it to my boss and more importantly, myself. On the track to a healthier workload.


I started my current job 2 months ago, rotation work 2/1 same as I've been doing for the past 4 years. The pay increase was the reason for the change, it is almost 50% higher than what my past employer paid. When I showed up I began working to impress, making huge changes, establishing processes, pretty soon I was trained to make reports and deal with clients. Everything I could do to prove I would be worth keeping.

Soon after that it became obvious that the more I did, the more I had to do, and when I would go on days off my work would begin to pile up since I was not there to do it. That brings me to about a week ago, I worked 2 back to back soul crushing 17 hour days to catch up on the work that never seems to stop flowing. I caught up with a heafty price, I had burned myself out.

Did I admit this to myself? Of course not. "I have mild anxiety" I told myself over and over. I thought burn outs were something people just talked about. But the steady creep of anxiety. The anxiety I had trained myself to deal with by acknowledging it and not letting it take over. 

The next few days had late ends due to client requirements, audits, and report revisions from a dark past (the old manager and staff were doing their jobs with gross incompetence). The veneer started to crack, the anxiety began to shine through until every moment of every day was a nervous wreck. I lost all confidence in my work and had to go back on my medication just to deal with the day. That brings me to now.

I texted my boss, and he agreed to help take some responsibilities off of my plate. Some of the blame may be placed on me since I am new to management and do not know how to delegate tasks very well yet. I need to put more trust in the team working below me.

That is not important though. Instead of pushing myself along, suffering, I admitted to myself that this is a problem. It is not healthy. Just because I have a week off at the end of the rotation does not mean I can work myself to death until then.

I feel like this is a bit of a niche situation but I wanted to share. I hope this helps someone else realize their limitations before they burn out as well.