I’m 29, Burned Out, and Leaving My Job
Hey, I think I might be depressed
“Hey, I think I might be depressed.”
I said that to my wife one day as I looked up the different signs of depression.
Hopeless outlook? Check.
Loss of interest? Check.
Fatigue and sleep problems? Check.
Anxiety? Check.
Irritability? Yep, my wife can attest to that.
What doesn’t make sense is… “How, and why, am I depressed? After all, I probably have what everyone else asked for.
In terms of career, it’s probably one of the most fulfilling ones out there. I’m helping shape the future of trade at an international level. I’ve launched some large-scale projects that I’m super proud of. I’ve supportive bosses and peers. Even my product owners were awesome — I consistently tell other engineers how my team has the best POs around. And the cherry on top, I have a great work-life balance.
In terms of life, I’ve recently been married to a superwoman who is supportive of everything I wanted to do, an amazing sounding board for my crazy ideas, and my emotional safety net for the day when I’m not feeling 100 percent. We’ve just moved into our newly renovated apartment with our lovely dog.
Financially, I’m in good standing. My salary would place me comfortably within the top 10 percentile of my age group. My passive income would cover my basic survival expenses comfortably. Basically, I’m not sweating the small stuff anymore.
So theoretically, I would be the last person to be depressed.
Right?
Nah.
Apparently, mental health problems like depression and burnout affect everyone — even the most successful people out there (by societal standards).
Realizing that I might be depressed led me down the rabbit hole of better understanding mental health. I started to compare the difference between depression and burnout and found that it is subtle. I learned that finding the correct label is less important than accepting that you are unwell. To date, I’m not sure if I’m depressed or burned out, but it didn’t matter to me anymore if I got the label…