Burnout Lesson - That Time My Socks Missed The Laundry Basket

There was a time in my life when I thought busyness was a badge of honour.

I was burning the candle at both ends, running on caffeine, adrenaline, and sheer willpower. My days were an endless loop of emails, projects, and to-do lists that only seemed to multiply overnight like gremlins fed after midnight.

Each night, I came home feeling like my mind had been wrung out. I’d move through the motions on autopilot, barely aware of anything, and eventually collapse into bed to start the grind again the next day.

Then came The Sock Incident.

The Sock Incident

One especially exhausting day, I wandered into my bedroom feeling like a wind-up toy that had finally wound down. I bent over to peel off my socks, ready to toss them into the laundry basket before plopping into bed.

Except… instead of hearing the soft thud of socks hitting the bottom of the hamper, I heard… a splash.

It was a wake-up call – delivered by soggy socks.

For a moment, I froze. My brain, in its foggy state, tried to process what had just happened. I turned slowly, like a character in a suspense movie, and there they were:

My socks. Floating in the toilet.

I stared at them, bobbing sadly in the bowl, and I just… burst out laughing. It was that kind of laugh that bubbles up from somewhere deep inside you that says: This is ridiculous. YOU are ridiculous. Something has to change.

In that moment, I saw myself clearly. Overworked. Exhausted. So distracted and stressed that I couldn’t tell the difference between the toilet and the laundry basket. It was burnout lesson and a wake-up call – delivered by soggy socks.

I realised I couldn’t keep living like this, running on empty and expecting myself to function at full capacity. I needed to slow down, to breathe, to take back control of my stress levels before my socks weren’t the only thing circling the drain.

That was the day I began to make small, meaningful changes.

Prioritising sleep. Taking mindful pauses. Saying no when I needed to. Giving myself permission to rest – without guilt.

And every so often, when I feel that old pattern creeping back, I think of those socks floating serenely in the toilet, reminding me that life is too short to be so distracted that you mistake bathroom fixtures for laundry baskets.

✨ Take it from me: Take it from someone who knows: rest before exhaustion sends your socks for a swim.