“If life’s journey is endless…where is its goal? The answer is – everywhere.” – Rabindranath Tagore

This has become the era of the “Great Exhaustion,” widely reported by publications like the Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, and Time Magazine. The problem is written about often, but where are the solutions? This question echoes through boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms alike. This may sound like the ideal entry point for an influencer hocking lion’s mane extract – so rejuvenating, right? WRONG. Your social media scroll is fueling your fatigue.

The commercialization of self-care isn’t doing us any favors either—those over-the-top morning routines on TikTok and the endless checklist of things to do to live longer, look better, and perform at your peak can backfire. Instead of creating space to pause and recharge, self-care becomes just another task on your to-do list—more hustle than healing. I’ve definitely fallen into this trap myself—the kind where “self-care” turns into a pressure-packed checklist instead of something that actually helps you breathe. When every moment of rest needs to be optimized, it stops being restorative and starts feeling like just another item on the agenda.

But we can’t just blame the Gram (or the Tok). It’s a lot bigger of a picture when we are really looking at this from a mental wellness picture.

In this article, I’m not handing you a one-size-fits-all solution—because let’s be real, those rarely work. Instead, I’m sharing a few practical strategies that have helped me and others in high-pressure roles, so you can pick what actually feels doable and fits your life, not someone else’s highlight reel.