Burnout Versus Burning Out

 

Burnout versus Burning Out

Living the difference between depletion and purification

 

There is a difference most of us do not see in burnout.

On the surface, both look like exhaustion – heavy, overwhelming, and final.

One is burnout – a collapse that drains you until nothing remains.
The other is burning out – a purification fire moving through you that empties what is not yours, so your original light can rise again.

 

Seeing the two of them distinctively and clearly is the difference that can set you free.

 

Let me be clear of what I mean when I speak of “the fire”.

The fire is the deep current that moves through your body and energetic field when what is not and no longer yours (patterns, programs, beliefs, repressed and suppressed emotions) begins to leave.
It can feel physical, like exhaustion, heat, pain, tears, waves of grief.
It can feel emotional, like everything you’ve held down rising at once.
It can feel spiritual,  like life itself saying: no more lies and illusions, only truth now.

 

This fire can destroy if resisted, but it purifies if allowed.

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The fire I have known

I have known both.

In 2008, I collapsed into burnout. I was emptied by over-responsibility, stripped of joy, carrying so many things what were never mine. I was largely disconnected from myself.

Then, in 2024, I was burning out, so intensely that I felt my body was going to die.

This looked the same with the one in 2008 on the surface – exhaustion, heaviness, many moments of weeping, a sense of physical crushing in my body.

This fire, however, was different than in 2008.

The 2024 one was so much more intense than the fire of the past, but it wasn’t destroying me.

It was burning away the deepest level of many depleting subconscious mind programs, such as…

• over-responsibility that had once emptied me.
• the way I kept holding everything together – for myself, for others, for the collective – at the cost of the well-being of my own body.
• the self-sacrifice that made me give myself away until very little remained.

It was burning through years of suppressed grief, loosening the tears and losses that had stayed burried hidden because “I had to push through”.

It was burning through the survival vows of “I must endure, I must push, I must hold on and stay on my calling and purpose no matter the cost”.

Finally, in 2024, the purification reached the deepest level it could go without destroying the core of my being.

Some of this weight was not mine alone.

Part of what my body was burning out belonged to the collective – ancestral exhaustion, generational heaviness, the residue of humanity’s old scaffolding.

Burnout in 2008 broke me and left me emptied of myself.
Burning out in 2024 emptied me into myself. It purified me, and brought me back home to my original essence.

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Two fires, two truths

Burnout is distortion. It is the collapse that comes from giving away your life force until nothing remains.

Burning out is purification. It is the sacred fire that clears distortion from your body and field so your original codes can shine again.

Burnout drains because you pour yourself into distorted programs, like over-giving, proving, self-sacrificing.

Burning out empties because your system is detoxing – purging and flushing out residue, dismantling your inner scaffoldings and others that no longer belong.

What feels like weakness is in truth your nervous system and field restructuring themselves for a higher baseline.

When you see this clearly, the fire no longer feels like an enemy.
One consumes you. The other returns you to yourself.

When you live this difference in your own body, the experience is unmistakable.

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How the two feel in your body… and they are different

Burnout feels like dragging yourself through the day, numb and hollow, with no spark left.

Burning out feels like your body crying out no more moving in life out of unexamined habits – demanding rest, forcing you to stop on auto pilot and making decisions.
Through it, you may ache, sleep longer, or feel waves of grief. You may feel like your body is crushing within. Yet beneath the intensity there is a knowing: this is not collapse, this is cleansing.

If you’ve felt bone-deep exhaustion… if your body has cried out and you feared you were failing… know this: you are not alone. Many mistake purification for collapse.

Yet, when you begin to discern the difference, your body itself becomes your teacher, not your betrayer.
When you listen to your body, you will move through this passage intact and much lighter at the end of it.

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When burning out turns into burnout

The fire itself is not the danger.

Burning out becomes burnout when you resist it.
When you keep pushing through.
When you cling to what is burning away.
When you mistake purification for failure, and cover it with shame.

Then, the fire cannot cleanse; it can only consume.

The nervous system frays, the body collapses, and burnout takes hold.

This is why so many people feel confused and stuck.

They may already have tried to do something about it, like taking a holiday, seeking therapy, changing routines yet the fire keeps returning.

Often, what they are really doing is trying to put out the fire.

Putting out the fire is seeking temporary relief: taking an extended holiday but returning to the same patterns, numbing or distracting, or receiving support that only manages symptoms.

These soothe in the moment, but they don’t let the fire complete its work so it reignites.

Allow the fire to move through you with support is something very different.

It means letting yourself be held while you let go of what is actually burning away. Therapists, companions, or guides can help you recognize what is leaving and steady you as it goes.

Rest and care then become fuel for purification – not escape from it.

Burning out becomes burnout when you fight the fire.
Burning out stays purification when you allow it to move through you.

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What becomes possible

When you stop fearing the fire, you can finally trust it.
You no longer resist exhaustion – you let it cleanse you.
You stop clinging to what is burning away, and you begin to feel lighter. Clearer. More yourself.

What remains after burning out is you – undistorted, radiant, free.

So let these words land in your body.
Feel the fire that once scared you become a warmth that holds you.
Breathe it in.
Let it burn away what is not yours.

Right now, you are remembering that:
You are not broken.
You are not weak.
You are not failing.
You are purifying.
And from that remembrance, something new becomes possible.

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Truth anchors for burning out

Let these truths settle in you now as something to remember, to relive.
It’s a return to how your body already knows.
Receive these truths as you read slowly and breathe them into your bones, your cells, your energy field:

“Burning out is not my failure. It is my purification.

What feels like emptiness is my system emptying what is not mine.

This exhaustion is a sacred fire, not a collapse.

What burns away is distortion. What remains is the true me, my core essence.

The fire is my ally. I am safe to let it pass through.

It is safe for me to let go of the fears”.

Let these truths steady you.

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From my heart to yours

If you are burning out, trust it.

This fire is not your enemy, it is your ally.
It is not the end of you. It is the end of what you are not.
At the end of the purification, you will rise from it much lighter.

If your body wishes to embody this truth more deeply, there is an audio transmission available for you.
It is a guided companion to help you integrate the remembrance that burning out is purification, not collapse, and to let your body feel this truth directly.

Click here to listen through my podcast (no sign-in required): https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Cf5FEXUeXab7ul7jajYIG?si=erjyscX5THiWJGCC4WBbcg

Click here when you choose to listen to it through my online Sanctuary: https://embodiment.upliftmylife.today/burnoutversusburningout

 

This audio transmission is my gift to you.

If you feel moved to offer a gift in return, you may do so from the same place this transmission lives: truth and lightness. You are welcome to do it through here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/AstutiM

 

If this reflection stirred something in you, I would be honored to hear your reflections.
You are always welcome to write to me, whenever your heart feels called.

With love,

Astuti

💛💜

 

“May the remembrance within you bloom in perfect time.”

 

P.S. Ready to live your true wealth? Explore Authentic Wealth Embodiment (AWE) here: https://embodiment.upliftmylife.today/the-authentic-wealth-embodiment-program

Click here for a free discovery call with Astuti: https://astuti-martosudirdjo.youcanbook.me/

Go here to find out more about her self-paced online programs: https://embodiment.upliftmylife.today/

 

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