The phases of burnout recovery

The first thing I did after starting leave was sit down and try to figure out what I wanted this time to look like, asking: what do my days look like, ideally? What are the way points? I made a list of things that would be true if this leave were successful:

• I have rested my brain and my body, and my nervous system has recovered to the extent that it can.
• I have found ways to feed myself consistently.
• I have found ways to move my body consistently.
• I have found ways to be in community regularly.
• For all of the above, I have built systems and routines to support myself.
• When I get back to work, everything doesn't fall apart again immediately.

I am not trying to bring big bureaucratic energy into my rest time, but I also need to re-parent myself enough throughout so that I am not just playing Diablo IV and eating an entire watermelon in my underwear, you know? I have definitely never spent a summer like that. Also that's just not the point of this time. I'm (tentatively) taking twelve weeks of leave, so I broke it down into four phases:

Rest (July 12, 2026 → August 1, 2026)

Focused on resting and nourishing my mind and body. Lots of:

• eating regularly (working with a dietician for support here)
• reading, reading, reading
• listening to records
• doing puzzles
• gentle movement, like yin yoga, forest walks, body weight stuff
• time spent outside resting in nature

Connect (August 2, 2026 → August 22, 2026)

Focused on connecting to yourself and to others. Starting that dance class instead of only Dance Church-ing, and trying to become a regular at some coffee shop again.

Rebuild (August 23, 2026 → September 12, 2026)

Re-establishing movement and food routines. Likely back to lifting, but not powerlifting like I used to, where it only felt good if I had Won Lifting. Like, normal people lifting. 

Begin Again (September 13, 2026 → October 3, 2026)

Putting the last 9 weeks into practice and easing back into a work schedule but for my personal projects. See how it feels, and stress-test the systems. Aiming to keep a 9-4 schedule and start practices like weekly coworking as if I'm already back to work.

Each phase intentionally builds on the previous phase! I'll check in with myself on the last day of each phase to plan the specifics of the next one. 

If this seems a little bit ridiculous and intense then welcome, nice to meet you, I am Gina. But also, I am working through a surprising amount of shame around having had to take leave at all? There's some unholy convergence of midwestern work ethic and late stage capitalism haunting my brain. I'm worried that people will see an Instagram story where I'm at the beach and be like wow, must be nice to go on LEAVE and go to THE BEACH! So then I am like well, I'd also better post a story about how I'm crying so everyone knows this isn't fun. But here's the thing: it is often fun? Maybe not fun fun, like imagine a beach day where you think a lot about the state of tech labor in 2026. But genuinely, getting back in touch with myself, my body, and my interests after the self-annihilation that is working full time with a chronic illness is obviously a relief. 

In general, the goal here is to build scaffolding for myself so that I can actually thrive once I am back at work. Like I said in my previous post, my work had not begun to suffer, but my body had. I really needed a full-system reset to figure out what's no longer serving me, what still is, and what can help me moving forward. Okay bye!