Irritability and Anger as Burnout Symptoms: The Short Fuse Nobody Calls Burnout

When we talk about burnout, most of us picture the depleted version: flat, exhausted, going through the motions, running on nothing. That version is real, and I’ve written elsewhere about the kind of burnout that looks like hitting your billables while feeling absolutely nothing. But there’s a second presentation that gets missed almost entirely, largely because it doesn’t look like someone struggling. It looks like someone being difficult, and that’s a much harder thing to be met with compassion about, including by yourself.