What does it look like? Signs? Symptoms? Ways to break out of it? Asking for a friend.

In my case I got lazy, lost interest in trouble shooting at one time the part of the job I loved most next to the travel. My suggestion is take as long a vacation as you can before you make a change or like me get laid off after 30 years
Good luck.

I’ve been fighting it for about three years now. I have 6 more years left and I can then go one to what ever I want. My retirement package (to myself) will consistent of a month in the north country for 30 days horse back hunting my way through the backcountry, with a handful of tags
I can’t wait

I broke out of mine via retirement. You just know when you've had enough.

Its real. My biggest sign was when my kids started noticing. Other signs, when your doctor starts noticing. When you start working on vacations or not taking them at all. I did a pretty deep self-evaluation about 6mo ago and almost flat out quit my career altogether after lots of signs. Now is a good time to re-evaluate bc the market is hot, an employees market, and you can find a company and position that will be a good fit. I fear we have some rough waters ahead and we’ll soon flip flop and it’ll be an employers market.

I had it a few years ago, I was able to take off 1.5 years. Then when I went back, everything was great. Til the check engine light came on. That pretty much took all the wind out of my sail. Now 3 years later, I’ve taken retirement and I work an occasional part time project.

Retire. Worked for me.

I break out of It with frequent vacations (pushing back as I type this to fly to Vegas) and fishing bass tournaments.

I was reading up on this the other day when a buddy said he was done and couldn't take it anymore. Next move was to try something with less responsibility. Came across this stuff. Keep your head up.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642
https://www.ororecovery.com/burnout-is-now-officially-classified-as-a-mental-illness/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279286/

I used to refer to it as "hitting the wall". I had to just mentally climb over it, and it would eventually get better. Every job is going to have some type of burn out from time to time though. I eventually changed careers after 28 years and it was the best thing I ever did.

I had it really bad 2 years ago. Super corporate global company that was getting worse by the day.
Gained 35 pounds and was a basket case. Very lucrative so hard to walk away from.

I'm 30 years away from retirement so I couldn't go that route. We changed pretty much everything in our life. Sold our house and moved back closer to home. Wife got her old job back she loved, she had to quit when we moved for my career. We are both happier than we've ever been. One of the best decisions we have ever made. We don't have kids so we are in a little different situation than most. I'm going to enjoy everyday I'm here and if I make it to retirement it will just be a bonus. I refuse to waste the one life I have on planet earth working and being miserable just so I can have a few years to relax when I'm a geezer. I have zero plans to be the hardest working guy in the graveyard.

I had a man tell me one time "I don't live to work, I work to live"

At 41 I find myself struggling with this too and I have a long way to go. Being in sales based career it’s a constant grind. The stress of knowing no matter how well I am at my job it can all be gone tomorrow for any number of reasons. If you have never worked in a sales field you just don’t understand those pressure. Definitely not comparing it to law enforcement or military I’m just saying if you punch a click on an 8-5 you just don’t get it. I also have 3 kids under 16, so that adds a whole new layer to the stress. But at the end of the day I am extremely blessed, I do not take that for granted. I’ll just dig in and keep going till the tank is empty.

Over the years I worked 3 separate careers. None were the same as the one before. I think that helped me avoid job burnout. I left the first career for more money in the new career and left the second career for my personal health (stress avoidance) and took a huge cut in pay. The wife cried when the first paycheck arrived from the lower paying job. “Is this IT” she asked. But life got better and stress went away. So, I’ll suggest a career change if you aren’t able to retire. New people and new tasks will cure the burnout.

I've been in the same job since the day I graduated from college. Will be 18 years in October. I've worked my way up to Director of Technology which is the highest I can get, I've hit the ceiling and unless I want to take over for the executive director when she retires, which i don't, way to many politics involved. There is no where left for me to go up. Although I'm very happy where I'm at and don't have any plans of leaving, I get burned out pretty easy. Only way I've found to combat that is to fill up my time I'm not in the office with family and hobbies.

I also do contract tech work, websites, and graphic design on the side, I think sometimes this actually adds to my professional burnout. When I get off work I don't even really want to be around computers LOL.

Although I think woodworking relieves the most stress or maybe its what I get the most pleasure out of, creating something from complete scratch is amazing to me. I also do 3D printing and Laser Engraving, both of which are really cool to see your creations come to life, but I think the woodworking helps the most.

I’m 79 and retired about 10 years ago. Most boring and poorest paying job I’ve ever had. Wife, younger than me, finally retired last year. We do a lot of “local” travel. That means drive any direction from Fort Worth and take some side roads just for scenery.

Between Social Security and rental income from 2 houses, we have no money concerns as long as I can keep her out of the casinos. Being debt free really helps. Having enough grandkids and great grandkids can get expensive.

Biggest challenge is keeping busy. I don’t much care for TV so we stay on the go a lot. That is, when I don’t have a doctor appointment. I’m fairly healthy but it seems to take a lot of docs to keep me that way.

If I'm honest, I'm there now. I lack motivation because I'm not finding fruit in my labor, I don't know what role I want to take on next (the problem with a matrixed org), and the grind of constant friction is getting to me.

I've always lived by "I work to live, not live to work", so it is hard to leave a lucrative job that is more flexible than many others. After watching the single most powerful interview I've ever seen last night and reading this thread, it's starting to reinvigorate me. The answer for me right now isn't leaving, it's to start working out. I know I'm happier, more fulfilled, and a generally better person when I get in my diet/workout routine. After I get back on the train then I'll reassess if I'm still burnt out

I was "there" many times in my career. The company I was with for almost 30 years was terribly stressful. I once told my wife I was quitting, buying a bay boat and moving to South Padre and be a fishing guide. Would have been a HUGE mistake.

I retired in 2017, still stressful in different ways.

I think it's called LIFE. It aint all it's cut out to be.

It's a bitch, not a place for the weak. You just need to suck it up and carry on

Even billionaire's are unhappy.

if you choose to look for the good, you will find it.

What are you working for? Remember it's only stuff and not all of it will fit in the box with when you go. I decided I'd rather help others become successful because I put my faith in the Lord providing what I needed. The stress is less when you face it with faith behind you. I know it's easier said than done but as a civilian I never had the same fears as when I was in a war zone. The war zone did strengthen my faith and I feel even with the challenges and hardships I was still better off than the ones who didn't make it home. This world is only temporary. Everything shall pass.

You guys know that I teach tennis (for free) to kids in middle school and high school. I’m 74 and won’t be able to do this too many more years, and I was wondering recently if I should just quit now. But, the old head coach called me yesterday and asked if I’d help him with the middle school kids this week. I really enjoyed it yesterday afternoon, and now I’m back to having fun with the kids. Teaching tennis takes stress away from me. And, like KRoyal, woodworking relaxes me too. Shredding pasture, unfortunately, has no restorative properties.

I’ll suggest that you guys take up something that makes you feel good (not strip clubs). And those of you that are burnt out but can’t leave the high paying job you have might want to reconsider that and change what you do, even if it’s for less money. I left the high paying job that was stressing me out because the doctor said “the stress is gonna kill you. You need to find another career”. I did, and I missed the big money, but my blood pressure dropped way down and my TMJ went away, and my marriage got better.

One of my previous jobs I got so burned out I would start reading into fortune cookies way too much. I got one that said "Things will improve for you soon" or something like that and I interpreted it as things will get better in my position.....they didn't. Then my next fortune cookie said something like "A new opportunity will land in your lap" and one didn't really land in my lap but I did find another one and it was just more of the same. Now I have moved from fortune cookies to horoscopes.

I work a few hours each week from a home office. Keeps me from being bored and the money is still good.

But if I had to work full time and drive to the office..................over and out.

Wake up in the morning and say a few thankyous, ask for a little guidance and the Man upstairs might just keep you sane.

Everything in life is a trade off…..money won’t buy you happiness but it will give give you choices…..

It depends on what makes you happy. The happiest time in my life was when I was in the countryside of the Philippines and went 2 weeks without spending a dollar. Then I had to come back to the city. Poorest but happiest people I've ever met. If I didn't have to get back to my family I would still be there. Probably be way healthier too.