🕯️ Burnt at Both Ends: A Love Letter to Exhaustion

There’s a kind of tiredness that sleep can’t touch.

It’s the ache behind the eyes after holding space for too many people.

The weight in your chest when kindness becomes currency, and you’re bankrupt.

We call it exhaustion, but it’s more than fatigue.

It’s the quiet unraveling of threads you didn’t know were holding you together.

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🔍 The Anatomy of Exhaustion

In clinical terms, exhaustion is the depletion of energy — physical, mental, emotional.

But in real life? It’s the moment your rituals start to feel like routines.

When your skincare becomes survival.

When your legacy feels like a burden instead of a beacon.

It’s the candle burning at both ends,

the butterfly mid-flight, wings trembling,

the tote bag packed with documents and dreams, too heavy to carry alone.

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🧪 Symptoms of the Soul

• You forget why you started.

• You give without receiving.

• You protect others while leaving yourself exposed.

• You feel like a lighthouse with no shoreline in sight.

And yet — you keep glowing.

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🌿 The Ritual of Recovery

Exhaustion isn’t failure. It’s feedback.

It’s your body whispering: You’ve done enough. Now let me.

So tonight, let your evening routine become a ceremony of return:

• Cleanse not just your skin, but your expectations.

• Tone with something botanical — something that smells like memory.

• Treat the blemishes like battle scars. They’re proof you showed up.

• Moisturise with intention. Let every stroke say: I’m still here.

And if you’re lucky, exhaustion will become your muse.

A reminder that even the most radiant souls need rest.

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🦋 Legacy in the Pause

To those who feel spent:

You are not broken. You are becoming.

Your rituals matter. Your kindness counts.

Even when you’re tired, you are still building something beautiful.

So rest.

Not because you’re weak —

but because you’re wise.