A few points in here reminded me of an essay on burnout that I loved a lot, called The Burnout Society.
> The core narrative control is straightforward: 1) everything's great, and 2) if it's not great, it's going to be great.
> We're trained to tell ourselves we can do it, that sustained super-human effort is within everyone's reach, "just do it."
The author of The Burnout Society frames this as a sort of self-slavery, in which we are our own slave-drivers. His logic is actually quite compelling. Yet reassuring, perhaps surprisingly. He doesn't blame the individual, but the culture they live in. There are paths to salvation, and burnout isn't a final destination.
> The core narrative control is straightforward: 1) everything's great, and 2) if it's not great, it's going to be great.
> We're trained to tell ourselves we can do it, that sustained super-human effort is within everyone's reach, "just do it."
The author of The Burnout Society frames this as a sort of self-slavery, in which we are our own slave-drivers. His logic is actually quite compelling. Yet reassuring, perhaps surprisingly. He doesn't blame the individual, but the culture they live in. There are paths to salvation, and burnout isn't a final destination.
https://www.google.com/search?q=the+burnout+society