How do you make big life decisions when completely burnt out?
Severe burnout and uncertainty make it impossible to trust your own judgment or figure out what counts as going backward in life. People trapped in this state end up paralyzed by self-doubt or falling into self-destructive cycles under impossible pressure, unable to see a clear way forward.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- This comes up 17.1× more often in r/Accounting than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Taking time to talk to a therapist before making drastic changes
- 2Leaving public accounting
- 3Talking to a therapist
- 4Exercising to manage stress
- 5Reframing work pressure as artificial rather than critical
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm a piece of shit, I deserve to be miserable! That's why it's good that I put myself through these impossible deadlines multiple times a year. Because I deserve it”source ↗
“Look man, I got out of public because I felt like this.”source ↗
“I mean, I’m just burnt tf out, but whatever gets you through it”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 9How to handle severe work burnout and zero motivation
- 9How to know if you need a career pivot or just a new job
- 10Why am I too exhausted and overstimulated to parent?
- 35Why am I so tired and burnt out teaching?
- 92How to stop letting accounting stress ruin my life?
- 14How to survive year-round mandatory overtime in public accounting