RUST OUT : Burnout’s Cheeky Second Cousin

Usually, I am banging on about how a big burnout in my finance career led me to faint at my desk, walk out that day, meet the doctor angel of dreams and never return to the scene of the crime. Enter 4 months of trying to regulate my nervous system again, reduce the anxiety of what on earth I was going to do, and an identity crisis that ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me. If it aint a lesson it's a blessing, and we grow (glow) through what we go through and all that. 

But let's switch the focus and talk about burnout’s cheeky long lost second cousin RUST OUT. I have also experienced her in all of her uninspiring and disengaging glory. First things first, I want to make it very clear that rust out is much more of a weird kind of privilege than burn out is. At least with rust out you have a moment to breathe through all the unenthused sighs. 

What is RUST OUT?

For me, the hallmarks of rust-out were feeling uninspired and uninterested, as a result of not enough stimulation and challenge in my day to day job. Basically, I’d switched from the chaotic trading floor to the wonderful, 9am starting role of financial research at a derivatives exchange. For a few years, it was bliss. I got to write research papers, launch products, work with calm and mostly lovely people, and there was even free matcha with ANY alt milk you fancied. My nervous system was utterly delighted and revelled in the magic that it did not think existed in the financial landscape of careers. 

However, as I started to get my full on mojo back, as I grew as a person (29-32 are pivotal years it seems), and got to know myself on an even deeper level, I started to feel that perhaps this wasn’t the answer to all my problems. It certainly had been and I am forever grateful to the career angels who sent me this role at a time when I so desperately needed it, but the manifesting generator in me was back operating on full capacity and this gal needed stimulation. One thing about me is, I am efficient. I am quick. I can take on multiple tasks at once and I can do them all pretty well actually. I am a rapid and deep thinker and as I’d started doing a lot of ‘the inner work’ to heal past hurts, patterns and reshape my identity, I also began to realise that the financial markets no longer interested me like they (perhaps?) once used to. I was officially hitting RUST OUT. 

I am not saying we can expect to ALWAYS love our jobs (although now I do think you can tbh), but it was becoming clear that I was so terrified to burnout again that I’d started to open the door to monotony and boredom instead. I did not have the impetus to tackle projects and write research papers with the same energy, I was starting to feel irritated with the slow pace I was previously so grateful for and my days were starting to feel mundane. I even started a podcast as a side passion project to counteract the work RUST. Turns out, the podcast changed THE GAME (my whole life), and was the catalyst for saying bye bye to rust out once and for all, but that's another story. 

Work is such a huge part of our lives, right? It's what we do every damn day, it's a large chunk of our identity and it also provides our financial stability. So, when we feel uninspired on the regs and our skills, intellect and abilities aren’t being stretched at all, it's no wonder we end up feeling lifeless, bored, and wishing we could find a way to feel all the things again. This impact can be huge, and leave us feeling stuck and unhappy. 

I think rust out can come in various forms. It may be that we’ve worked our way up the ladder, we’re sitting in that swanky director/CEO/consultant role, the one we thought we were striving for, and when it arrives we feel no different. It may be that we fell into an industry straight after school/uni that we didn’t give too much thought to and all of a sudden it's 15 years later and we’re still there. It may be that we are so scared to burn out again, we feel we should just be grateful and stick with our lot. 

What I have learnt is, you can have it all. It's not easy and it's a constant balancing act a lot of the time, but with a huge dollop of self belief, oodles of determination, and unlimited (always) support from the universe you really can leave the job that's giving you alllll the RUST, and pursue something totally new and totally different. Even the thing that sets your soul on fire, lights up your heart and sends tingles through your body on waking every single day. The decision really is yours. 

The rust is showing you something about your career and life that is feeling uncomfortable. The universe is doing its thing so you can go and pursue your dreams. Rust-out sped up my journey of self discovery, and whacked me back onto the path the universe was lighting up for me, and for that I wanna say THANK YOU to the rust, I am so very grateful. It felt scary af at the time, but through self awareness I was able to tune into my heart, and the heart never ever lies. It's where our intuition resides. If you're feeling the same, try to reframe your bout of rust-out as an opportunity: it might just be the wake-up call you need.

Make a plan, take a teeny step, and choose to believe you can - then watch that rust start to melt away.