Believe it or not, you&rsquo;re technically in a relationship with anything you&rsquo;re passionate about. Be it reading, writing, jogging, or any other activity in the world. It could be an object, a place, or even a moment in time that you keep reliving.&nbsp;
In the beginning, your passion is intoxicating. You wake up excited, eager to do whatever it is you like doing. You smile even if you lose track of time because you&rsquo;re so deeply in love with what you do. It fuels you. It gives you purpose.&nbsp;
You think, this is it. This is something I want to do every day.
I&rsquo;ve found the one.
But then, something shifts.
The spark starts flickering. The thing that once made you feel alive now feels like a chore. You sit down to write, paint, create, build&mdash;whatever it is you once loved&mdash;but instead of excitement, there&rsquo;s exhaustion.&nbsp;
The same passion that used to energize you now drains you.
So, like the avoidant person you are, you start taking a detour. You make excuses. You scroll mindlessly on your phone, convincing yourself that you&rsquo;ll get to it later. And when you finally sit down to do it, it feels.. forced. Stale.&nbsp;
Like trying to rekindle a romance that has lost its magic.
There comes a phase where you enter a state of denial, too. At first, you brush it off. Akala mo kasi pagod ka lang. I just need to push through, you tell yourself. But the harder you push, the worse it feels. The frustration builds. Every attempt to get back into it feels heavier, like dragging your feet through wet cement.
You even start resenting it at one point. Ayaw mo na, eh. The thing you once loved now feels like an obligation. You question everything: Was I ever really good at this? Do I even love it anymore? What if this is it&mdash;what if I&rsquo;ve lost it forever?
And worst of all, you feel guilty. Passion is supposed to bring joy, right? It&rsquo;s supposed to be the thing that keeps you going, not the thing that wears you out. But here you are, dreading the very thing that once lit you up.
However, there&rsquo;s meaning behind the languish&ndash;burnout doesn&rsquo;t mean you&rsquo;ve stopped loving your passion. It just means you need space. Just like in any relationship, too much intensity and pressure with too little rest will wear you down. Love, no matter how deep, can&rsquo;t survive on gusto alone. Ang pagmamahal ay pagpahinga rin.
So, take a step back. Breathe. Fall in love with life outside of it. Let your passion miss you. Give yourself permission to rest without guilt, and when you&rsquo;re ready, it will still be there, waiting for you to remember why you fell in love in the first place.