Peer support, not treatment. Everything here comes from people describing what they personally lived through. Nobody is a verified therapist, doctor or mental-health professional. If you need clinical care, please also speak to a professional — see safety resources.
What I went through
Four years of saying yes, two promotions, and a slow erosion of everything that wasn't work. By the end I was sleeping nine hours and waking exhausted.
My lowest point
Sitting in a car park for 40 minutes unable to make myself walk into the building, then driving home and telling nobody.
What helped
Three months of genuinely doing less, a GP who took me seriously, and rebuilding one small competence at a time. Baking, then running, then work.
What changed
I stopped treating rest as a reward for output. My calendar has white space in it now and I defend it like it's a meeting.
Where I am now
Working four days a week in a role I like, two years in, no relapse. I still get early warning signs and I now act on them in weeks rather than months.
My message to anyone in it right now
You are not lazy and you have not become a different person. You are running a deficit. Deficits get repaid slowly and they do get repaid.