🔥 The Weight of High Functioning Burnout: A Guide for High Achievers
- Tracy Bevington
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
For a long time, I thought I was handling it all.
I was running my practice, caring for my kids, supporting my husband, showing up for my parents, and still hitting every deadline. On the outside, everything looked fine—even impressive. People would say, “I don’t know how you do it all.” I’d smile and reply, “It’s not easy,” but what I really meant was, “Of course I’m doing it all. I don’t have a choice.”
Inside, I was exhausted—and I didn’t even realize it. I woke up tired no matter how much I slept (and I could sleep 12+ hours if given the chance). I felt restless even in downtime. I kept pushing through long days, but the joy I once felt in both work and family life was fading. I told myself it was “just a busy season,” but that season never seemed to end.
That’s what high-functioning burnout feels like—you keep going, you keep achieving, but you’re running on empty. It doesn’t show up as collapse. It shows up as a quiet, constant drain that no one else can see.
No one ever taught me how to take care of myself. Or maybe they did, and I wasn’t listening. What I did learn was the sink-or-swim method. And I wasn’t a sinker. I only had two gears: full stop (sleep) or go-go-go.
I’ve learned the hard way that pushing harder isn’t the solution. Living by that philosophy injured my body and damaged my soul.
The real work is recognizing and accepting the toll that being a high achiever can take. It has taken me years of therapy, a kind an supportive husband, and family to learn how to pause, to set boundaries, and to give myself permission to be cared for too. And truthfully—I’m still not great at it. It’s very much easier said than done.
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