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This is a letter to you, to the friends and family, the people who are a source of support for people with burnout. Those who are always ready to help us. Thank you for your understanding, patience and flexibility.
Because you are the people who keep getting canceled. Not because we don’t want to keep our appointments, but because we are too tired or depressed to come. You are the people with whom we no longer plan anything or make appointments. Not because we don’t want to do this, or because we don’t like it, but because we are afraid of having to cancel again. This makes it seem like we are no longer interested in you or that we no longer care about our friendships, but the opposite is true!
It’s just that we still can’t properly assess what we can and can’t do. We are excited, we want it so badly! But then we are called back again and we have to cancel appointments with you again because we are unable to do anything.
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This is also a letter to you to thank you. To thank you for your support and understanding. Because it is so difficult to understand why someone who is otherwise healthy can no longer do anything. It is difficult to empathize, especially if you have not had any psychological problems yourself, but you do this anyway. Sometimes we forget that it is impossible to imagine what we are going through if you have not experienced it yourself.
That is why this is also a letter to say that we understand you. That we understand if you call us less often to go out, have drinks or eat with us. Because after the third no, you’re fed up. But we are absolutely not tired of you, we are sick or struggling with the last steps so that we are no longer the person we were. We may never even be the same again.
ALSO READ: My Journey to Recovery: How I Ultimately Overcame Burnout
Because we change, we change because of our burnout. Things that we previously considered important may now be much less important to us. And things we had in common before may no longer exist. Don’t blame us, because in most cases we have had to get to know ourselves again. But we hope that you will also want to get to know us again, because we would like to share our new insights and our new interests with you. Because changes take some getting used to, but they can also be positive.
Dear friends and family, once again: thank you for your support, patience, understanding and flexibility. It’s not always easy for us and it’s not always easy for you, but without you we would never have gotten through this period.
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