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.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 4 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “How do you make big life decisions when completely burnt out?” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+4 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- This comes up 18.2× 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.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How do you make big life decisions when completely burnt out?
- 1Taking time to talk to a therapist before making drastic changesDid this help you?
- 2Leaving public accountingDid this help you?
- 3Talking to a therapistDid this help you?
- 4Exercising to manage stressDid this help you?
- 5Reframing work pressure as artificial rather than criticalDid this help you?
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
- 24How to handle severe work burnout and zero motivation
- 23How to know if you need a career pivot or just a new job
- 26Why am I too exhausted and overstimulated to parent?
- 52Why am I so tired and burnt out teaching?
- 107How to stop letting accounting stress ruin my life?
- 11Should I leave my job for my mental well-being?