Is It Burnout or Grief? How to Tell What Your Body Is Saying
Feeling Tired All the Time? You’re Not Alone.
As a trauma-informed therapist, I’ve been hearing the same thing from clients, students, and colleagues lately:
“I’m exhausted but I’m not doing that much.”
“My motivation is gone.”
“I feel foggy all the time — what’s wrong with me?”
We often assume it’s burnout — and it might be. But more often than not, I gently offer a different lens:
What you’re feeling may actually be grief.
The Hidden Grief Beneath Our Exhaustion
This isn't just about loss in the traditional sense. Many of us are carrying collective and cumulative grief — from a pandemic that reshaped our lives, from global instability, from the loss of normalcy, touch, milestones, and connection.
This kind of unspoken grief is sneaky. It lives in the body. It lingers under productivity pressure and “getting back to normal.”
As a therapist and somatic practitioner in San Francisco, I’ve witnessed how suppressed grief often shows up as:
Chronic fatigue
Emotional numbness
Anxiety or irritability
Trouble concentrating
Feeling disconnected from your body
A strange sense of “blah” — even when life seems okay on paper
Burnout or Grief? Here’s How to Tell
While burnout is often tied to prolonged stress and overextension, grief is rooted in loss — including ambiguous loss, like the loss of certainty, rhythm, or identity.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
BurnoutGriefCaused by doing too much for too longCaused by loss or changeFeels frantic, edgy, restlessFeels heavy, slow, foggyRelief comes from rest and boundariesRelief comes from acknowledgment and emotional processing
How to Tend to Grief in a Nervous System-Safe Way
You don’t need to fix grief — but you can support it.
As a somatic therapist, here are a few gentle, body-centered ways I recommend to support grief and emotional exhaustion:
Name it out loud. Grief softens when it’s witnessed.
Let your body speak. Move, stretch, dance, cry — let it move through you.
Ditch the timeline. Grief doesn’t follow deadlines — it follows love.
Find a trauma-informed therapist who understands nervous system regulation and emotional integration.
Be radically kind to yourself. Some days, your only job is to be gentle.
Support Is Here
If you're navigating stress, grief, or simply feeling not like yourself, know this:
You are not broken.
You are not behind.
You are processing something sacred.
I offer online therapy throughout California and in-person somatic therapy in San Francisco.
Together, we can create a space to honor your nervous system, release stuck emotions, and help you feel more grounded and whole.
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And if you’re ready for 1:1 work, reach out. I’d be honored to support your healing journey.