i cycled through 2 jobs this year: one decent paying office gig from last year up to may and then a summer intern job i’ve been doing every year for 3 years (longer if you count my volunteering) that paid minimum wage. the earlier job was a 2 hour one-way commute and featured a horrible boss, an office built into a decrepit house in an industry i hated (fuel). the intern job was more interesting but by the time i started it i was so deflated by my earlier job i really didn’t give a fuck, worked my hours only and then went home without going above and beyond.
that led to some slacking on the job admittedly but i don’t feel very sorry for that because i honestly didn’t have the brain space to care after being made to feel so shitty at my old job. it seriously occurred to me that no employer, however nice initially, cares about you outside of the value you produce. not that i would expect otherwise, but it just felt like a sharp reminder not to give much to any job, let alone one that paid minimum wages for what was essentially being the assistant director of a noteworthy organization.
now, i’m back in university and it’s been 3 weeks since the start of the semester. i still feel so much residual lethargy and just…. fog from getting burnt out even though it’s been a few months. is this normal? does burnout last this long usually?