We almost quit this year (A story on burnout)

Todays Issue is deep, vulnerable and it was hard for me to write. Don’t take my vulnerability as a grain of salt because it’s hard to share so much. But we want to give you the real, behind the scenes of business in these Issues.

A small trigger warning for those dealing with issues of grief, loss or sadness.

One day you’re fine; the next you can’t explain why simple things feel impossible.

Burnout is sneaky. A few cracks. A few signs you ignore. Then suddenly, you’re not yourself anymore.

Here’s how it happened to us, and how we put everything back together.

But first, some context. What even is burn out?

Burnout is a condition caused by chronic stress that leads to exhaustion, detachment, and reduced ability to function.

You know that feeling where you wake up and you want to do something but your brain and body is like “nope.”

Burn out is like that x1000. You basically shut down.

It’s hard to know when you’ve hit burn out and it’s even harder to break out once you’re there. It’s like stepping into quick sand. Each step you take brings you further under.

And after experiencing burn out, I never, ever, want to go back there.

Here are some examples of what COULD cause burn out for you:

• Chronic, ongoing stress: Not the big dramatic moments, the constant small ones that never switch off.

• Too much responsibility + not enough recovery: Your output keeps increasing but your rest doesn’t. Like lifting weights everyday with no rest day.

• Lack of control: Feeling like you have no say in your workload, schedule, or direction.

• Constant pressure to perform: High expectations (from others or yourself) with no margin for error.

• Workload that exceeds capacity: Too many tasks, too few hours, and your brain silently screaming.

• Emotional labour: Caring, supporting, holding space, managing people… all invisible energy drains.

• No clear boundaries: Always available, always “on,” always responding.

• Misalignment with your work: Doing things that don’t match your values, strengths, or interests.

• Lack of clarity: Not knowing what to do → decision fatigue → mental drain → burnout.

• Prolonged uncertainty: When every day feels like a question mark, your system burns through energy fast.

• Isolation: Feeling like you’re dealing with everything alone.

• Never feeling “done.”: If every task replaces itself immediately, your brain eventually taps out.

Being a freelancer or self-employed human (or alien) means some of these are just, unfortunately, unavoidable.

Things like uncertainty and never feeling done are just part of the gig, making everything else on that list even more important to avoid.

Alright so if you’re up for a story, let me tell you ours.

It’s about the 4 months of burn out that snowballed over time.

If you’re not up for a long and emotional story, skip to the next section for some solutions to burn out.

So for us, I felt the beginning of burnout starting in the middle of May 2025...

Business was going well. Eden and I had just moved into our gorgeous apartment in Bangkok. We were hitting the gym, eating healthy, focusing on building a nice routine and life here. We had a trip planned for September to go back home to Australia to attend a wedding and see our families.

Life felt good, almost perfect. And then... things started to snowball.

The first thing that happened was getting the crushing news that my parrot Charlie of 15 years had died in Australia.

Charlie wasn’t just a pet to me, he was my lifeline during some really hard years. He listened when I was a teen. Kept me company when I lived alone in my 20s. He came to work with me to three separate office jobs everyday. He was literally by my side, almost every single moment for those 15 years. So yeah that day, my heart broke because I lost my best friend who comforted me through every heartache, pain and crashout.

Charlie also kept Eden and I company and helped us build Boring Studios in those early years.

Sometimes pets love us in a way that no human can.
So if you’ve lost a pet like that, my heart goes out to you.

So a death alone is not burnout.
That’s grief.
It’s what happened after that.

I started to resent my work. I needed something new. So I started sewing classes and I started making content to build a personal brand.

Both were fun creative outlets and great distractions from the grief.

But like all things you avoid, they come back, and the grief eventually made me realise how far away from home I was. I didn’t have any friends in Bangkok yet because we’d just moved here.

Thus began feelings of grief + isolation.

I spoke to my beautiful sisters, my two best friends and I also reached out to some old friends. One reply opened the door to conversations I wasn’t prepared for and had zero space to hold.

So now we’re at grief + isolation + emotional labour.

But just like the Shopping Network likes throwing in a set of steak knives with your Ab King Pro… wait there’s more.

So after both the grief, isolation and emotional labour, the thought of going home was just not appealing.

We cancelled our trip to Aus and I convinced Eden to go to Europe for 2 months in July thinking it would help.

Spoiler: it did not. We went to Europe pretty scattered about life and business. We had many lovely moments, but it was just another distraction, a bandaid on a bigger problem.

So we came back and had no direction on what the next step for Boring Studios was, or even life in general. Plus, we put the added pressure of succeeding onto ourselves.

Then it was September and we’re at…

Grief + isolation + emotional labour + lack of clarity + pressure to perform.

We needed to get out ASAP, before that quicksand swallowed us whole.

Alright so how did we fix it?

Fed up, lost and knowing we needed to change something - maybe everything.

We sat down and literally outlined what needed to be done.

• What the next chapter of Boring Studios looked like.

• What our personal goals were for the rest of the year.

• What we needed week to week to succeed.

Then we built a new plan;

• Goals for the business.

• Worked backwards and put those goals into steps with a new weekly routine and monthly plan.

• Got back into a personal routine with; movement, meals, hobbies, community, dates, personal time, rest, recovery.

For the first time in 4 months, my head was clear.

Then we started following the plan, and with each day, more clarity and momentum were added.

It’s December now, and although these moments were hard to write about, I have the momentum, routine, clarity and control back in my life.

So just like all those bad things can snowball into burn out.
Good things can snowball into momentum and happiness once again.

Give time to all the cornerstones in your life.
Things like; direction, planning, routine, community, hobbies and health.

And if you’re stuck in quicksand at the moment, remember the lows are not forever.

Focus on the good. Stay in your lane. Be kind. Stay healthy.

And keep your cornerstones up.

I hope you know that you’re not alone in anything in this life.

Remember, we all have issues.

Love,
Penelope

Co-Founder of Boring Studios, Writer, Strategist, Burnout Escaper