I burned out at Amazon and took a 12-week mental health break. I returned with a mindset shift.

This as-told-to effort is based connected a speech with Jenn Cho, a 27-year-old Amazon bundle developer successful Seattle. It's been edited for magnitude and clarity.

I got hired astatine Amazon straight retired of assemblage successful 2019 and made enactment my beingness and identity.

I enactment truthful overmuch unit connected myself to beryllium a precocious achiever and to beryllium I was a invaluable employee successful my aboriginal career. By the extremity of 2024, I had wholly burned out.

I took a 12-week permission to absorption connected my intelligence wellness and realized my occupation wasn't the issue, it was my mindset. Here's however I identified my burnout and however I'm trying to forestall it from happening again.

Everything was large for maine until a stressful task successful 2024

When I got hired arsenic a enactment engineer, my occupation was truly exciting. We moved quickly, and I felt similar a sponge, absorbing everything, and craving to larn more.

Then, successful 2024, Amazon entered a precise stressful layoff season, which greatly affected my team. Our enactment underwent a batch of restructuring and reprioritization of our projects.

I started moving connected a peculiarly hard task and truly enactment unit connected myself to beryllium connected constituent astatine each times. But successful the pursuit of doubling down connected enactment and moving longer hours, I started lacking motivation, struggling with focus, and feeling emotionally exhausted. I was capable to support up with deadlines, but I felt similar I was successful endurance mode.

When I stopped enjoying my hobbies, I realized I was burned out

The wake-up telephone that thing needed to alteration didn't travel until I realized I wasn't adjacent enjoying the things I emotion to bash — moving out, spending clip with friends, pursuing hobbies. I knew I was burned out.

A person of excavation who had precocious burned retired and taken a leave, encouraged maine to take my ain leave. After sitting connected the thought for a while, I submitted a petition with the enactment of my therapist, and I was approved for a 12-week permission astatine the extremity of 2024.

Taking a interruption from enactment and gathering thing for myself was fulfilling

At the commencement of my leave, I broke retired successful full-body hives, which I fishy might've been stress-induced. After astir six weeks of treating my wellness issues, I yet settled into my leave.

I explored Seattle more, got backmost into my workout routine, and adjacent started moving connected immoderate idiosyncratic projects similar a nutrient blog site. It was truthful fulfilling to physique thing for myself. I considered taking a sabbatical oregon a much extended leave, but yet decided to instrumentality with my 12-week plan.

I realized the biggest happening that needed to alteration erstwhile I was to instrumentality to Amazon was my mindset. Finding fulfillment done my hobbies made maine recognize that enactment shouldn't beryllium my life; it should substance my quality to unrecorded my beingness and prosecute my passions.

When I got backmost from my leave, it felt similar thing had changed, and I needed to acceptable boundaries

I was acrophobic astir taking a leave, but I don't deliberation it hindered my vocation astatine all.

After returning to work, I realized that I was conscionable 1 of thousands of employees. The institution doesn't halt conscionable due to the fact that 1 idiosyncratic leaves. As workers, we thin to prioritize work, but our employers prioritize profits, truthful it's up to america to make boundaries betwixt enactment and life.

I'm trying to embody my caller mindset by setting boundaries. For example, moving retired is important for my intelligence health, truthful I've acceptable a bound that I volition not cancel a workout people to support working. It's a hard stop.

I've besides been penning down my to-do lists for the day, but not conscionable making them centered connected work. Sure, my enactment volition beryllium astatine the apical of the list, but I've besides been penning down the idiosyncratic things I'm looking guardant to doing aft work, similar getting dinner, seeing friends, oregon moving connected the nutrient blog.

I'm focusing connected trade-offs alternatively of a balance

On a day-to-day basis, it feels astir intolerable to find a equilibrium betwixt enactment and life. I person truthful galore things I privation to do, but not capable hours successful the day. So, I'm looking astatine the bigger representation instead.

There volition beryllium periods erstwhile enactment is precise engaged and demanding, and I person nary prime but to enactment my effort into it. But I person to punctual myself that beingness shouldn't beryllium similar that 24/7.

Maybe I'm focusing connected enactment successful 1 moment, but later, I tin instrumentality clip disconnected to prioritize something for myself. I'm inactive learning to onslaught the close balance, but it's up to maine to marque definite I nurture my individuality extracurricular of work.

If you burned retired astatine enactment and privation to stock your story, delight email the editor, Manseen Logan, astatine mlogan@businessinsider.com.