When You Start Fantasizing About Cancelling Your Whole Week

It’s Sunday night, you are looking at your calendar on your phone imagining what it would feel like to cancel your entire week.

Even when you love your job, sometimes it just feels heavy. Especially when your capacity is being challenged by other things. When your window of tolerance is being squeezed a little too small and you begin to fantasise about an escape from the everyday. 

But when asked (especially by your clinical supervisor), you’ll reply with “I’m fine” and you keep on keeping on. Maybe you were raised with values like I was of the “stiff upper lip” or with messages around “don’t complain, there are always people suffering worse out there”.

However, these are the moments when support would actually help. It’s not because you’re failing, but because you’ve been carrying too much for too long, and actually being able to recognise it early on is way more beneficial than waiting until you can’t ignore it any longer. 

Burnout doesn’t always look like a dramatic collapse. More often, it sneaks in quietly, disguised as exhaustion, irritability, resentment, or the fantasy of cancelling your entire week. You might not even recognise it as “burnout” in the beginning. Or maybe it feels difference from a previous burnout experience you’ve had in the past.

For helping professionals, these subtle signals are easy to dismiss. But recognising them early is the key to protecting your wellbeing and sustaining your practice. 

The Quiet Signs of Therapist Burnout 

Burnout rarely begins with a crash. Instead, it shows up in small, almost invisible ways: 

• Catching yourself daydreaming about canceling sessions or disappearing for a week. 

• “I am fine” thinking and minimizing your stress by convincing yourself it isn’t “that bad.” 

• Feeling detached from your work or struggling to connect with clients. 

• Persistent tiredness that doesn’t improve with rest. 

These aren’t signs of laziness or failure. They’re signals that your system is overloaded and needs care. 

Why Therapists Are Especially Vulnerable 

Helping professionals carry the emotional weight of others while managing their own responsibilities. The culture of self-sacrifice in therapy and social work can make it harder to admit when support is needed. 

So many of you are spending your days listening deeply and holding space for others which takes a toll. Many therapists feel isolated in Private Practice, especially virtual practitioners, whom without colleagues to check in with, burnout can go unnoticed. Many of us, like me, are perfectionist, high-achievers who take on responsibilities for nurturing and caring for others and carry the belief that you must always “hold it together” which often masks being truly honest about their capacity and delays seeking help. 

Reframing Support as Strength 

Seeking supervision, coaching or professional support isn’t an overreaction, it’s a proactive step. Just as we encourage clients to reach out before things fall apart, therapists deserve the same care. 

Finding safe, supportive clinical supervision can offers perspective, accountability, and guidance to navigate complex cases. 

Private Practice Coaching can help you design sustainable systems, boundaries, and exit plans when needed. 

Finding peer support, such as in group supervision, can normalise the experience of burnout and reminds you that you’re not alone. 

Don’t underestimate the power of the collective experience and the validation that can come from knowing there are others feeling the same way. That is why I choose to self-disclosure about my own personal burn out experiences in supervision, in coaching, and with the students I teach.

My Book Recommendation for learning more about how to respond to burnout:

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle  - Nagoski, E. & Nagoski A. (2023)

The Burnout Workbook: Advice and Exercises to Help You Unlock the Stress Cycle - Nagoski, E. & Nagoski A. (2023) 

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