The podcast Stories of Emotional Granularity describes the emotion of burnout as the consequence of “passion that leads us to deplete ourselves” in the way that a wildfire exhausts the carbon it depends upon to maintain its flames.
Burnout is a metaphor of the aftermath of an intense emotional heat. After the storm of oxidation has consumed, having transformed every vital thing within its reach into ashes and cinder, there is nothing else left of the original material that is capable of reaction. All that’s left is an inert residue.
Emotionally, of course, we’re not talking about an actual fire, but the fiery enthusiasm that powers our engines of motivation. It isn’t as simple as becoming bored, or being uninspired in the first place. It’s about becoming a wreck because of the very fury with which we once felt devoured by the task at hand.
When we’re burned out, we cannot restore our original vigor through mere force of will. “When a fire has consumed all the oxygen in a room, after all,” the podcaster points out, “there’s no point in trying to rekindle the flame by striking match after match. More fundamental work is required.”
