Running on Empty
Rest, Resets and Relationships
Hi. Remember me?
I haven’t published a newsletter since June 10th, and that’s over a month ago. What happened?
Well, I was grappling with burnout. Which means I’ve been running on empty. IYKYK…
The good news is that I just came back from a trip to the East Coast—my hometown specifically and spent the week reuniting with friends and family.
I knew that going into the break, I was dealing with some burnout. Fortunately, it wasn’t affecting my performance at work—in fact, during my time off, I received some wonderful positive feedback from a colleague about a recent engagement that required me to bring clarity to complexity, which I consider a specialty of mine.
For me, burnout isn’t going to manifest as much in my day job as it is in my personal hours. And that’s why my newsletter went on pause. It wasn’t planned; I just knew I had nothing left in the tank to give outside office hours, so the symptoms of burnout manifested in my personal life. Little things like motivating myself to exercise took more effort—I found myself aimlessly scrolling on my phone more than usual, and I noticed that when I wasn’t working, my thinking wasn’t as clear as it usually is.
As a card-carrying member of GenX, it can take some time for me to process what’s going on, but even as I did—I took some action intuitively. One of the best things I did for myself was to reach out to some former friends and colleagues in advance—something I have done in the past less often or with less planning.
This was one of the best acts of self-care that I’ve given to myself in hindsight.
I reunited with some former colleagues whom I’d not seen since before the pandemic. I caught up with an old friend from high school whom I hadn’t seen in over thirty years. I spent an evening with one of my best friends from childhood, and we immersed ourselves in a mix of rich life experiences and lighthearted nostalgia from our shared youth. I even beat my dad at pool for the first time in my life! I spent quality time with both my parents, who, at ages 86 and 90, are still enjoying remarkable health and mobility. I choose to spend my PTO days with them because I know I will not have this time for too much longer.
It is better to celebrate life today than mourn with regret tomorrow.
I let my nephew beat me in arm wrestling. He now tells the tale of how much stronger he is than I am, and I will play my part to validate his reality. I said hello to one of my wrestling coaches on a video call because, at 61, he could not attend a July 4 celebration due to the spread of his cancer.
Yet another reminder that I am at the stage of life where I will continue to be reminded of my mortality more regularly, whether I want to or not.
Memento Mori.
If you are 45 or older, you should familiarize yourself with this philosophy, because you’ll be living under its influence and have little say in the matter.
We GenXers don’t talk about this stage in life very openly—it happens more often with other GenXers, in private. We compare notes about the state of our careers or, in some cases, about career decline. Many of us have already lost one or more parents—a life-changing event. And our bodies don’t do the things they used to, no matter how great we look…
Rest, Resets, and Relationships
I needed the time off.
I knew this going in, and I have an even more profound sense of why that was the case now that time has passed. I often describe myself as an “ambivert,” possessing a combination of introverted and extroverted traits—but I think I sometimes underestimate my extroverted side, especially in this hybrid/remote work world. I also have a better understanding of how critical our non-work relationships become as we advance into our late-stage career years, when many of us are no longer climbing the corporate ladder as we used to, and our career objectives shift as our lived experience evolves.
I required a reset, and part of that reset included reinforcing relationships from different chapters in my life. I also needed some rest and a break from the day-to-day grind of work and adulting. As I was departing on my trip, we were dealing with a ruptured water pipe caused by street construction and were still adjusting to the extra workload of caring for a cat family with a mother and three kittens.
Seriously, let me know if you or anyone you know is open to adopting an adorable kitten. They are super social, friendly, and docile, and will make great pets. I’ll accept an adoption in place of a newsletter subscription. 🐱
It is an ongoing joke in the corporate world when our technology isn’t working, and we’re dealing with tech support. At some point, you’ll be asked:
”Have you tried restarting it?”
Our laptops, phones, tablets, and other devices benefit from a restart. Memory is made available, software is reset to a cleaner state, and we often notice a performance difference when we simply turn our machines on and off.
Humans aren’t that different. We need resets—specifically to our nervous systems, which control so much of it. I knew I was running on empty, and thankfully, I was able to do something about it.
If you’re feeling like you need a reset, I can’t recommend one enough. Trust your intuition—it’s probably right.
Visually yours,
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David Armano is a futurist, strategist, and Enterprise AI transformation leader who helps his colleagues, clients, and community solve intricate business challenges and see a clear path forward.
He’s known for his unique approach to visual thinking and for insightful yet grounded takes on intelligent experiences, culture, and leadership. In addition to his day job, he writes David by Design to translate complex shifts into actionable ideas.
That’s a terrific way to spend your time. You can beat me anytime in arm wrestling too.
I love this and have had a recent experience like it. Took some necessary time off. Reset my brain. Just invested time with our kids not caring about what other people required of me. Got BORED. Best thing that's happened and, while my office demeanor has a smaller sense of urgency to others than it might have a few weeks ago, I'm probably a better teammate for it.
I think corporate work is like exercise. People think doing more and more faster and faster makes them higher performers. Those folks end up getting injured, burned out or walk away frustrated.
The most fit people I know are aware of when to redline a workout but also how important the rest is in-between to max out their performance.