These are notes from the inside — of leadership, of change, of staying whole in the face of systems that often ask us not to be. The Olive Pages is where care and clarity meet, one reflection at a time.
The Olive Pages
Fieldnotes on care, clarity and staying whole.
When You No Longer Recognize Yourself Inside the Work
We often use the language of burnout when work becomes heavy. Sometimes that is right, but sometimes the experience feels a bit different. Exploring moral injury, grief, identity, and the experience of no longer fully recognizing yourself inside work you still care deeply about.
“I wonder how many people are carrying grief for versions of themselves they lost at work without realizing that is what they are mourning.”
We Don’t Talk About Moral Injury — But We Should
What you’re feeling might not be burnout — it might be betrayal. Moral injury is real, and it shows up when our work asks us to abandon what we believe in. We need to talk about it. And we need to heal from it.
“You can’t resilience your way out of betrayal.”
What Burnout Isn’t: Rethinking the real causes — and why your exhaustion might be something else entirely
We’ve been misdiagnosing burnout for years. It’s not just about working too much — it’s about working in ways that cost you too much. This is a reframing for those still trying to make it all work in systems that weren’t built for care.
“Burnout is not a personal failure. It’s a very reasonable response to long-term mismatch, moral tension, and neglect.”