The Cycle of Burnout and Its Impact on Well-Being for Those Trapped in Survival Mode

In today’s inequitable world, many workers are stuck in a relentless hustle, struggling to make ends meet. For those on low incomes, the stress of living paycheck to paycheck compounds the risk of burnout, creating a dangerous cycle that not only depletes mental, emotional, and physical well-being but also pulls individuals deeper into poverty. Understanding this cycle is crucial to breaking free and fostering healthier, more sustainable lives.

The High Costs of Burnout for Low-Income Workers

Burnout is often seen as a byproduct of high-stress jobs or excessive workloads, but for low-income individuals, it is a persistent reality rooted in systemic inequities. These workers frequently endure long hours, physically demanding tasks, and minimal job security, all while struggling with inadequate pay and limited access to essential resources.

This chronic stress activates survival mode—an informal term to describe when a person is affected by a prolonged stress response. It is actually an ancient, ingenious setting your body has to protect you from danger (fight/flight/freeze/fawn). But too much time spent in survival mode can create a host of unwanted effects, both physically and mentally. F. While survival mode can help address immediate threats, prolonged exposure takes a significant toll on both physical and emotional energy. For low-income workers, this relentless state of heightened stress not only drains their capacity to perform at work but also pushes them toward burnout.

Prolonged survival mode exacerbates energy depletion, making it increasingly difficult to meet job demands. This often leads to reduced work hours, diminished productivity, or even job loss. For many, the consequences spiral further, with burnout triggering health crises that can result in mounting medical bills and lost income. Ultimately, this cycle deepens financial instability, creating a direct pathway to poverty.

Burnout and the Poverty Trap: A Vicious Cycle

Burnout doesn’t just result from poverty; it actively perpetuates it. Here’s how the cycle unfolds:

  1. Chronic Overwork and Exhaustion: Low-income workers are often required to work multiple jobs or excessive hours to make ends meet. This leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, leaving little time for rest or recovery.
  2. Decline in Productivity: Burnout diminishes focus, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. Workers may miss deadlines, perform poorly, or struggle to keep up with job demands, risking job security.
  3. Health Consequences: Chronic stress and burnout often lead to severe health issues, including cardiovascular diseases, depression, and anxiety. For those with limited access to healthcare, untreated illnesses exacerbate financial strain.
  4. Financial Losses: Missed work due to illness or diminished performance can lead to reduced wages or job loss, further shrinking already precarious incomes.
  5. Escalating Costs: Financial instability forces individuals to prioritize survival—often at the expense of long-term stability, such as skipping preventive healthcare or investing in education. This perpetuates poverty and reinforces the burnout cycle.

The Mental and Physical Toll of Burnout-Induced Poverty

The consequences of burnout extend beyond the workplace, deeply affecting overall well-being. For individuals living on low incomes, the mental, emotional, and physical tolls of burnout are particularly severe:

  • Mental Health: Chronic stress from financial insecurity contributes to anxiety, depression, and a sense of hopelessness. Burnout erodes self-esteem and fosters feelings of inadequacy, making it harder to seek better opportunities.
  • Physical Health: Low-income workers often delay seeking medical attention due to cost concerns, allowing preventable conditions to worsen. Burnout further weakens the immune system, leading to recurring illnesses and chronic conditions.
  • Social Isolation: Financial stress can strain relationships and create feelings of isolation, as individuals may withdraw due to shame or lack of energy to maintain social connections.

Breaking the Cycle: Addressing Burnout to Alleviate Poverty

To escape the burnout-poverty cycle, systemic changes are essential, but individuals can also take proactive steps to reclaim their well-being. Programs like the R.E.S.U.R.G.E.N.C.E. Program offer tools and strategies to help individuals regain vitality and create pathways to resilience. These steps include:

  1. Mindfulness Practices: Techniques such as meditation and deep breathing can help manage stress and create moments of calm amidst chaos.
  2. Accessing Support Systems: Building community networks or seeking support from organizations can provide resources and emotional encouragement.
  3. Positive Neuroplasticity: Training the brain to focus on positive experiences helps build mental resilience, even in challenging circumstances.
  4. Financial Literacy and Advocacy: Understanding financial management and advocating for equitable policies, such as fair wages and better working conditions, can help individuals and communities break systemic barriers.

A Call for Systemic Change

While individual strategies can help mitigate the effects of burnout, the larger issue lies in addressing systemic inequities. Employers, policymakers, and communities must prioritize fair wages, healthcare access, and work-life balance to prevent burnout from perpetuating poverty. Investments in mental health services and affordable childcare can also create opportunities for low-income workers to thrive.

Burnout Worsens Systemic Inequities

Therefore, burnout not only stems from systemic inequities in the workplace but can also trap workers in a vicious cycle of poverty, as it often leads to reduced productivity and loss of work hours. Low-income workers are often required to work multiple jobs or excessive hours to make ends meet. This leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, leaving little time for rest or recovery. As burnout diminishes focus, creativity, and problem-solving abilities, workers may miss deadlines, perform poorly, or struggle to keep up with job demands, putting their job security at risk. For people of color, this can worsen their professional reputation, leading to further stereotyping, microaggressions, and an increase in stress. The added pressure of these challenges can create a harmful cycle, exacerbating both burnout and racial inequities in the workplace.

At the Deep Listening Path, I have spoken with several women, including women of color, black, and indigenous women who have left traditional 9-to-5 jobs to pursue careers as independent artists, consultants, writers, changemakers, and more. Many expressed interest in taking the RESURGENCE program, which is designed to help women navigate burnout. However, they could not afford to enroll due to their low-income situations despite being given the option to take the payment plan. What was particularly striking was that even when I offered to reduce the program’s cost from $1,199 to $349, they shared that they were not earning that much in an entire month.

In addition to experiencing burnout, these women also faced the stigma of poverty, compounding their challenges. In Canadian society today, the cost of living has risen dramatically, making it even more challenging for women earning such meager incomes to access essential resources for their well-being and professional growth. This stark reality highlights the financial vulnerabilities faced by many women who have transitioned to independent work, underscoring the urgent need for accessible support systems.

Empower Yourself with Rest

To break the cycle of burnout and begin the healing process, it’s essential to anchor yourself in rest. As a wellness coach and creator of the Rest Planner, I encourage women to prioritize rest as a powerful tool for self-empowerment. While rest may sometimes feel like a privilege, and internal barriers may arise, it is, in fact, a necessity for your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Without rest, it becomes increasingly difficult to advocate for yourself in toxic workplace situations, set healthy boundaries, and avoid draining people, places, or situations that don’t deserve your energy.

Reclaiming time for rest allows you to rejuvenate, restore balance, and reignite your creativity. Empowering yourself with rest means healing from burnout, practicing self-compassion, and integrating moments of joy into your daily life. These moments, when transformed from fleeting experiences to lasting traits, will help you not only navigate burnout but break free from it entirely. Remember, rest is a tool for renewal—giving you the strength to thrive in all aspects of your life.

As a  founder and CEO of The Deep Listening Path, I invite you to explore our mindfulness-based programs and REST Planner to help you manage stress and support mental health and wellness. Our programs help reduce stress, improve collaboration, and promote well-being, ensuring that teams remain resilient and capable of delivering impactful services. We take a compassionate, intersectional approach to well-being, ensuring our programs are inclusive and culturally sensitive. With recognition in CEO-Weekly and Mental Health Today, I’d love to explore how we can support your team’s mental health— schedule a call to discuss how we can help you as an individual worker and/or your organization.

About Author /

Dr. Shumaila Hemani is an internationally acclaimed artist, changemaker, educator, and certified Positive Neuroplasticity teacher, recognized for her transformative work at the intersections of music, mental health, and well-being. She was the runner-up in Alberta Blue Cross' Face of Wellness (2023) and has been featured in Canada’s National Observer (2023), CBC’s What on Earth (2022), BBC News (2022), Global News (2023), U-Multicultural (2023), the Mental Health Today podcast (2024), CEO Weekly (2024),, Dr. David Susman's Hope and Resiliency blog (2020), and OCD Recovery Diaries (2024),, Map the Systems (Canada Finals 2024) to name a few. Her song "Anticipating" was featured in a cross-Canada tour for Suicide Prevention Awareness and Hope (2020) further amplifying her commitment to mental health advocacy. As the founder and director of The Deep Listening Path, Dr. Hemani integrates deep listening, mindfulness, and self-compassion in her coaching programs, offering 1:1 and group sessions to help changemakers prevent and overcome burnout and restore vitality. Certified in Positive Neuroplasticity by Dr. Rick Hanson, and a founding support member of the Global Compassion Coalition, she empowers organizations and individuals with systems thinking and builds emotional resilience. In her contributions to Wellbeing Magazine, Dr. Hemani will offer insights into mental health, self-compassion, and systemic strategies for self and collective care, empowerment, drawing on her diverse experiences in the arts and mental health advocacy. www.deeplisteningpath.ca

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