*Inspired by Human of GradSimple, Josh O.
We’re told that if you care enough about a mission, you can’t burn out. We treat passion like this infinite fuel source, as if believing in the work is supposed to magically protect you from the reality of seventy-hour weeks.
I’m calling bullshit on that. You can love the kids you’re teaching and believe in the mission and still end up sitting in your car at 6:00 p.m. with nothing left to give anyone.
Josh hit that wall after two years. It wasn’t that he stopped caring or got lazy. He just ran out of gas. He described it as having nothing left in his cup, and I think a lot of us know exactly what that feels like.
The real problem is we think our first choice has to be our forever choice. We feel like if the work is important, we have to stick it out even when it starts to hollow us out. But your energy is a finite resource. When you spend every waking hour carrying a heavy load, your purpose starts to feel like a weight. Eventually, you lose sight of why you even started because you’re just trying to survive the next hour.
Josh did the smart thing. He walked away. He coached CrossFit, worked for a soccer startup, and eventually landed in corporate strategy. I respect the hell out of that.
Even now, he’s honest about the fact that he’s still figuring it out. He’s using a stable job to fund his life and train for an Ironman while he decides what the next twenty years should look like.
Leaving a path that no longer fits isn’t a failure of character. It’s an admission that you’re a person and not a machine. You’re allowed to evolve. You’re allowed to find a new way to be useful that doesn’t cost you your sanity.
Look at the things you’ve committed to today. Are you doing them because you actually still want to be that person, or are you just doing them because you feel too guilty to admit you’re finished with this version of yourself?
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