“Jonathan Malesic points out in “The End of Burnout” that burnout is caused by the gap between our ideals of work and its reality; we expect work to fulfill us on every level, and then are disappointed when it does not. We place too much of our need for meaning on our jobs, and don’t have enough intrinsically valuable pursuits outside of it.” - Brett Mckay

Interesting idea and one that should be aware of considering my day job (teacher) has a pretty high burnout rate and my side job is as a career coach. McKay goes on to point out it may in fact be more than just the ideal gap, it could be the repetitive nature of our modern lives. We no longer have a cyclical nature to what we do, eat, and participate in. Everything happens roughly the same 24/7, 365 days a year.

He goes on to posit a possible remedy, which is basically a reinforced Protetant work ethic. Not sure I’m on board with that, but it’s an interesting take nonetheless.