What is Anti-Burnout Life?
“Anti-Burnout Life” is a term I coined to describe my vigilant, all-hands approach to burnout recovery, prevention, and management. It’s also the name of THIS, my biweeklyish newsletter encapsulating years of my own burnout recovery work and prevention techniques.
Each issue will loosely follow the four-part Anti-Burnout framework I’ve devised for myself over the years. Together, we’ll Research and Reflect on our burnout risk factors, Reframe our relationship to burnout culture, Recharge the energy that burnout has depleted, and Reconnect with the communities that keep us grounded in times of stress.
I might talk briefly about all four areas in one issue, or I might narrow my focus to just one topic that expands into a longer essay. Journal prompts, reading notes, boundary-setting, birth charts, new scientific studies, affirmations, personality tests, mindfulness, self-care, and more (definitely more) are all fair game here.
About me
I’m Chloe Brooks, a journalist turned marketer turned freelance writer covering burnout, work culture, productivity, and personal development. I’m also a gardener and garden writer, a soup-maker, and the creator of Anti-Burnout Life.
I spent the decade of my 20s completely consumed with burnout. If I wasn’t too stressed to function, I was either recovering from a breakdown or on my way to another one. Every three years, like clockwork, I found myself drowning in overwork, poor boundaries, and a crippling need for external validation.
By 2019, I’d had it. I was exhausted by my own burnout cycle, not to mention the external factors that kept driving me to it.
I swore I would never let myself burn out again, and I threw myself into learning everything I possibly could about burnout and my relationship to it. I devoured books, podcasts, articles, and YouTube videos, attended workshops on boundaries and purpose, and worked with business and mindset coaches.
Four years later, it feels like I’ve DIY’ed a college degree in burnout recovery and prevention. But I know I still have so much to learn.
Why Subscribe to Anti-Burnout Life?
Writing this newsletter is an Anti-Burnout exercise for myself, but everyone can benefit from learning more about burnout recovery, prevention, and management.
American burnout levels are up 52% from 2021. 38% of millennials and 46% of Gen Zs say they are stressed all or most of the time. But 56% of employees say their HR departments do not encourage conversations about burnout, and 36% say their organization isn’t doing anything to address it.
Subscribing gives you access to the burnout recovery and prevention tools you need, and it gives me an extra boost of motivation to keep digging. Your support reminds me that the work I’m doing is bigger than just myself; that it has so much potential to actually change the world.
PAID subscriptions show me that you believe in my work, too, and that you appreciate the effort it takes to translate ~ all of this ~ into a coherent, digestible format. Paid subscriptions allow me the space and safety to explore more personal, intimate topics in my writing. Paid subscriptions mean I can keep showing up here for myself and for you, and maybe someday, I can pay editors, designers, and other collaborators.
Because I know I can’t do everything I want to do with this by myself. I’ve been down that road three times already, remember?
If you’re a free subscriber: You’ll get each of my biweeklyish newsletters delivered straight to your inbox.
If you’re a paid subscriber: In addition to the free newsletters, for $5/month or $50/year you’ll also get access to exclusive content like:
Comments and discussion threads,
My anti-burnout reading notes,
Step-by-step rituals to help you reconnect with yourself and heal from Hustle Culture,
Sob Stories, a recurring peek into my journal to review the tears I’ve shed and the lessons they’ve taught (think Reasons My Kid Is Crying, but for adults who are relearning how to honor their body’s needs and signals),
And more!
Another way to support me:
So much of my burnout education and healing has come from reading books written by people who have studied it longer and more scientifically than I have. I REALLY engage with these books, highlighting as I go and referring back to them over and over, so library copies just won’t do. And buying them all gets expensive in a hurry!
You can support my burnout recovery, education, and professional development by gifting me books from my Anti-Burnout Book Registry through Bookshop.org. These are titles that directly relate to my study of burnout, and will all eventually end up repackaged into content here. And in a fun double-dip of Chloe support, Bookshop even let me set up this registry so that it earns me affiliate commission! Thank you, Bookshop, and thank YOU, book-giver! Feel free to browse now and often, as I’m constantly finding more books I just have to read.
Thank you for being with me on this journey! I’m glad you’re here.
💜 Chloe
