A Letter to Burned Out Leaders: You’re Not Alone

Dear Leader,

Let me start with the truth: You’re not imagining it. You really are carrying too much. And if you're tired—not just sleepy, but deeply soul-weary—you are not alone.

I’ve been there. Not just “I need a long weekend” tired. I’m talking about the kind of burnout that hollows you out. The kind that makes you question whether this level of depletion is just the price of being a “good” leader.

And then, just when I thought I couldn't run on any less… I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Let me tell you: nothing hits the brakes like a life-altering diagnosis. Cancer stripped away the illusion that I could keep pushing forever. It forced me to ask questions I had buried under endless to-do lists and late-night emails:

Who am I beneath the title? What matters if I stop producing? What do I actually need to heal—mind, body, and spirit?

Those questions changed everything.

They birthed Sabbaticalize—not just as a concept, but as a calling. A movement to help leaders like you and me step back before we break down. To normalize rest as a strategy, not a failure. To turn burnout into a threshold—not an ending.

So if you’re here, reading this, wondering if you’re burned out…

Let me say it loud: You are not broken. You are not weak. You are not alone.

You are a human being who has likely been leading in systems that reward over-functioning and punish pausing. But you deserve more than survival.

You deserve space to breathe. You deserve time to heal. You deserve to lead from wholeness, not depletion.

At Sabbaticalize, we believe rest is a radical act of leadership. We help leaders create intentional pauses—not as escapes, but as portals to transformation.

So if your body, your heart, or your spirit is whispering (or screaming), “I can’t keep going like this”— I want you to know: that whisper matters. It’s the beginning of a new kind of leadership.

One rooted in clarity, care, and courage. One that begins not with a sprint, but with a step back.

I’m walking this path too. Let’s walk it together.

With hope and fierce love, 

Adriana 

Founder and CEO, Sabbaticalize

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