> now work at essentially my dream job at a growing and successful startup I had what I thought was my dream job for a number of years, also growing a startup,

> now work at essentially my dream job at a growing and successful startup I had what I thought was my dream job for a number of years, also growing a startup, and I slowly realized it actually _wasnt_ my dream job. Building a company takes a varied set of skills, like sales, management, marketing. I was stretched so thin in all those directions I burned myself out, in part because I persisted in the false belief that I liked this job. Eventually it dawned on me it wasn’t a good fit, and really I enjoyed a fraction of what the role offered me. I was hung up on title and status. Further, it was hard to fill a 40 hours just with the work I wanted to do. > I have sleep issues, and my various medications have not seemed to help. I am (or was) typically a very passionate, motivated person. I was always reading stuff to learn, was very dedicated in school, was always thinking of side projects to work on, etc... I started a medical leave from work a month ago because I couldn't handle starting work each day. Since then, I've felt no motivation to do anything, and an extreme dread at the idea of returning to work. Wow I also had sleep issues during this phase. I attribute a lot of what was happening to the cognitive dissonance of being attached to a role I wasn’t a good fit for. > It's so hard to look at other people objectively suffering from poor working conditions, low income, and other common problems, and say "well _I_ deserve to relax." Would you say this to a loved one having the same issues? “Oh sorry you don’t deserve to relax”. Of course not. Be kinder to yourself! Everyone deserves to have their needs met.