The Burnout Collective

Season 2 has officially entered its guest era. Meet Ally Prescott (aka Tango)! Jamie met them at the Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee and immediately thought they'd be a great addition to the pod. Tango is a graphic designer and gamer and has been gaming competitively since a young age. At the start, we spend a completely reasonable amount of time discussing a deeply unsettling Furby-adjac...

*to the tune of Conjunction Junction* Executive function…what’s your dysfunction? That’s right. In this episode, we’re diving into executive dysfunction — time blindness, impulse control, and decision paralysis! Oh, my! We talk about different coping mechanisms we’ve used in our lives (like doom piles and body-doubling) and how we’ve built some pretty elaborate accommodations for ourselves (making...

This one's for the ladies. But fellas? Listen closely. On this episode of The Burnout Collective, we unpack how perimenopause collides with burnout—especially for neurodivergent women—starting earlier, hitting harder, and making ADHD/autism symptoms like brain fog and sensory overload feel cranked to over 9000.  Rebecca describes being dismissed by doctors until an endocrinologist ran labs sh...

We’re still over here trying to keep up with the Joneses. In Part 2 of Money & Debt , we talk about how our cycles of extreme frugality followed by “rebellious overspending” is exactly like dieting. (And we now know the perfect descriptor for both of us!) We discuss how having so little growing up and being made fun of for it can fuel our overspending—even as adults. We also cover the mental a...

Financial stress and rising costs are keeping most of us living close to the edge. But before we kick off Part 1 of our conversation about money and debt, Jamie decides to share her jury duty experience (spoiler alert: she was dismissed). Then, we discuss just how little we’re taught in school when it comes to financial literacy (did anyone learn anything other than how to fill out a check?)—despi...

In today’s episode, we discuss the absolute circus that is medication access and a broken healthcare system.  To set the scene: Jamie’s ADHD meds lapse and CVS hits her with basically the greatest hits of med denial. We’re all-too-familiar with the insane amount of barriers that keep us from getting the mental health help we need—from denials and appeals to drug tests and prior authorizations. Not...

Buckle in, perfectionists. It’s Part 2 of our Perfectionist Manifesto. Before too long, we take a hard left and detour into discussion on the new America’s Next Top Model documentary on Netflix (skip to 7:51 if you wanna avoid ANTM talk).  Rebecca shares her research on how we separate perfectionism from actual diagnosable OCD. We talk about how OCD and autism are often comorbid because repetitive...

TW: This episode briefly mentions eating disorders for a few minutes. Hello. Please have a seat. Welcome to Perfectionists Anonymous: Where even when you think you're a "recovering perfectionist," there truly is no hope. In this episode, we take a deep dive into perfectionism—how it leads to burnout, how it shapes our daily lives, and how it’s a relentless beast. We talk about the t...

If you’re looking for some comfort amidst the chaos...you’ve come to the wrong place. We're very uncomfortable and we bet you are, too. In this episode, we go diving straight into the deep end of the giant dumpster fire that is our reality right now. I don't know about you, but we can't seem to recover from the constant bombardment of unhinged, terrible news. Day in. Day out. And if...

Welcome back, Burnouts!  After a much-needed break to deal with—what was that? burnout? (yeppp)—we're back for Season 2! And man is it good to be back.  What better topic for our first episode after a break? Rest. But not just any rest, y’all—we explore the seven different types of rest and how critical each is for our health. Whether it’s lying in the dark, dissociating with games, getting a...

Companies using ridiculous hiring practices, AI in content creation, and the gross secrecy around salaries—we've got it all this week. We discuss pay transparency, why some hiring managers are shady af, and why everyone should just post those salaries already. Once we started brainstorming solutions to the pay transparency problem, we realized we hadn't done enough (or our own) research....

We decided to practice what we preach last week and take a day off. But we're back! And this week we're talking about the absolute absurdity that is LinkedIn right now: people treating it like Facebook, writing novels about their personal lives, sharing made-up stories about their kids that taught them X Things About B2B Marketing, and don't forget the ol' humble brags.  We go...

You can't use your PTO when you're dead. We're sure you know that, but we just wanted to be sure. Cuz hey! Even we still struggle with the guilt (read: trauma) tied to taking time off. In this episode, we discuss everything from unlimited PTO (and how it's not actually unlimited) to the internalized shame that keeps us from asking for time off even when we’re burnt out af.  We...

We kick off Episode 30 with the winners of our giveaway announced! (Unfortunately, the first two winners didn't respond, so we picked two new winners.) Congrats to @z_mertz and @liz_aday for winning some Burnout Merch !  This week has been A WEEK. We wanted to talk about those times when you can't even. When you  can't even muster the energy to do basic things—brushing teeth, taking...

This week we're joined by Adan Hinojosa (aka @manicsocratic) to talk about the highs and lows of being a live content creator. We cover everything from fitting into the retro gaming scene, managing petty community drama (Rebecca's fav), and the emotional labor that comes with being a Twitch streamer.  Sparked by a life reboot that took him from the desert to the Pacific Northwest, Adan r...

This week, we got comfy with the talented Liz Aday to discuss her journey as a singer, musician, and producer. She talks about her battle with physical and mental health (including how she lost her voice to vocal cord paralysis) and how she copes with burnout.  Liz discusses the devaluation of music, her experience with sexism in the industry over the years, and the importance of hope in her creat...

Rebecca couldn't make this week's episode, but will be back next week!  We were stoked to welcome Joel Tamas from the band Red Heaven to the show this week to talk about the modern-day musician who must wear too. many. hats.  The first thing you need to know is that Joel rocked out with robot cats in Second Life before V-tubers were even cool (and still does live shows in SL today!). He...

"Hey, do you have a minute to chat?" "Hey, how are you? How was your weekend?" If your anxiety just skyrocketed or you feel triggered, we get it. That's why Episode 26 is all about the bane of our corporate existence: meetings.  Listen. The chaos and exhaustion of (mostly pointless) meetings can turn even the most on-it Type A into a burnt out mess. How are you supposed to...

Since it's our birthday month and we wanted to do a special stream, we did what anyone else would have done and procrastinated until the last day of the month for our stream (and giveaway announcement!).  But first, we decided to take a little journey down memory lane and share stories from when we were kids. We reminisce about hilarious and cringey high school moments, talk about our childho...

On this week’s episode, we chat with Dr. Priyanka Rao, a psychologist and executive coach who specializes in neurodivergence. We immediately dive into the world of adult ADHD and autism—why so many get diagnosed later in life, how it shows up, and why it's so fucking difficult to get diagnosed at all . Each of us share our personal struggles with having a late diagnosis (Pri, too!). Jamie tri...

In this episode, we welcome Morgan Smith, who shares with us about working in HR, quitting her job for her mental health—oh, and the state of online dating (we hear it's a bit murdery out there).  After shedding a soul-sucking job and an even more soul-sucking relationship, Morgan talks about how she went from feeling the weight of "golden handcuffs" to making the brave leap into th...

Jamie was sick this week, so sorry for the delayed episode release, Burnouts!  We had a an absolute ball talking to one of our favorite writers this week: Taylor Medine. Taylor shares her own journey of overcoming burnout by shedding light on the challenges of freelancing, transitioning to full-time work, and finding balance between career ambitions and personal life.  Once Taylor stops bragging a...

This week we had an impromptu slumber party that was a little unhinged (but in the best way). Elyssa was visiting Jamie, so we took advantage and brought her on to chat about prioritizing and rehumanizing ourselves.  We discuss setting boundaries, being vulnerable, and not being responsible for other people's reactions to you. We also talk about how vital it is to do the things that are impor...

This week we celebrated our 20th podcast episode! Proof even the most ADHD brains can, in fact, stick with things.  Earlier in the week, Jamie had a meltdown over the seemingly impossible job market. So, we wanted to discuss the struggles of finding a job (especially after being laid off). We talk about frustrations with current hiring practices, LinkedIn scammers, and the emotional toll of consta...

PSA: Rebecca took a Lorazepam before the show. Then, we all found out about frolfing (it doesn't mean what you think it means! we swear!). Here we go. Adult friendships are hard. You know, like how the hell do you even make friends as an adult in the first place? Where do you find these people? And how do you keep up with each other?  From awkward social encounters to long-time internet frien...