Quote reflection: Loneliness isn’t just emotional — it’s biological. It erodes our sense of belonging and resilience, making burnout more likely and recovery harder. If connection is medicine, who can you reach out to today?

"Everything we were thinking about before it accelerated in front of our eyes. We’ve had what felt like an acute emergency that’s lasted almost two years. That’s 20 straight months of macro stress that inevitably burns people out."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Sustained stress changes us. What began as a sprint turned into a marathon with no finish line — and our nervous systems never got to recover. Burnout isn’t a personal failure; it’s a natural response to prolonged crisis.

"Burnout shouldn’t be a problem that you have to deal with yourself on your own time."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Burnout isn’t a personal project — it’s a shared responsibility. When recovery is treated like an after-hours task, it reinforces the very system that caused the exhaustion in the first place. Real prevention happens on work time, not just personal time.

"I write a whole chapter about good intentions gone wrong in my burnout book, including these so-called perks. On-site laundry and meals-to-go aren’t actually perks if all they do is keep you at work longer."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: When perks blur the line between work and life, they stop being benefits and start becoming traps. Convenience without boundaries only deepens exhaustion. Real well-being isn’t about staying longer — it’s about having the freedom to leave.

"I’m a cautious optimist, not an irrational optimist, but yes. First, more conversations at work about mental health will reduce burnout, as will the adoption of telehealth and teletherapy."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Optimism matters most when it’s practical. Talking openly about mental health — and making support easy to access — normalizes care instead of crisis. Every honest conversation is a small step toward healthier workplaces.

"Overwork is responsible for about 2.8 million deaths a year, so it is catastrophic, but there’s more to burnout than that."

— By Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: The cost of overwork is staggering, but burnout isn’t measured only in lives lost — it’s also in the quiet erosion of joy, creativity, and connection. The real crisis is how normalized exhaustion has become.

"I get so frustrated to see companies touting a week off for burnt-out employees. Do companies not understand that employees will come back in a week to the exact same workplace that burned them out in the first place?"

— By Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Time off is only a temporary patch if nothing changes when people return. Rest without reform just resets the countdown to the next burnout. Real recovery starts with fixing the conditions that caused the exhaustion, not rewarding people for surviving it.

"Wellness and well-being are valued more than it was before; one survey found that of people leaving jobs, only four percent now are leaving because of money. What matters to us has changed. And now we’re changing our actions."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: The Great Re-Evaluation isn’t just a trend — it’s a shift in priorities. People are redefining success around health, balance, and meaning. When well-being becomes the metric that matters most, work has a chance to become truly sustainable.

"People are rallying around the idea that burnout is an organizational problem, not a personal problem. People’s feelings of burnout and fatigue are validated when we all feel them together. Organizations are no longer going to make this a personal problem."

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Collective acknowledgment changes everything. When burnout is recognized as a systems issue, not a personal flaw, empathy replaces blame — and that’s when progress begins. Healing starts the moment we decide to fix the environment, not the individual.

“Inferring that someone’s burnout is entirely their own doing, lacks empathy and compassion and entirely removes any responsibility from the systems and frameworks that we work within.”

— Jennifer Moss

Quote reflection: Blaming individuals for burnout misses the point — and the cause. It’s not a character weakness; it’s a signal that the system is unwell. Compassion means asking why the environment failed, not why the person couldn’t endure it.

How to Use These Quotes

These quotes aren’t meant to decorate your screen — they’re reminders to pause, reflect, and reset your expectations of yourself and your work. Each one highlights a truth about burnout: that it’s not a personal shortcoming, but often a systemic failure of culture, workload, or support.

Use them as conversation starters in team meetings, or as personal check-ins during high-stress weeks. If a quote stings, sit with it — discomfort can reveal what needs attention. If one gives you hope, share it; connection is one of the best antidotes to burnout.

And if these words resonate a little too closely, remember that awareness is a step toward recovery. You don’t have to fix burnout alone — and you shouldn’t have to. Reflect, reach out, and when you’re ready, take small steps to rebuild energy and meaning.

Additional Quotes by Jennifer Moss

"We’ve had what felt like an acute emergency situation that’s lasted almost two years. That’s 20 straight months of macro stress that inevitably burns people out”.

— Jennifer Moss

“One of the most important economic shifts we’re seeing right now is a desire to change the workplace.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We’re going to see a lot of big organizations start to fail at recruiting and retaining people.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“If we invest in well-being and employee happiness, it translates into high performance in every job.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We’ve been measuring for so long with this antiquated metric of employee engagement.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“When you look at purpose-driven jobs, employee engagement is high.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We’re not catching things like compassion fatigue, empathy fatigue, depletion, stress, anxiety and that’s killing our workforce.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We can look at how well-being and employee health and happiness contribute to goals.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“As humans we tend to over-complicate solutions.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We’re not doing a good job of understanding that it’s about individual experiences at work.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“Every single organization has a different culture than another.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“What is the secret sauce for organizations that drives and motivates people?” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“In a lot of organizations, trust and communication is one of the biggest happiness detractors.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“We have a fairly disengaged global workforce.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“You can’t ask someone to meet certain expectations if you’re not going to give them the tools to meet them.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“When you look at the key traits to being happy, mastery is a very important part of that.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“Life is a bit of triage and priority setting.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“You can have anything, not everything.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet

“It’s our flexibility and resilience that’s going to make us have the most successful lives.” -Jennifer Moss Click to Tweet