What Burnout Taught Me About Threat Modeling My Own Life

01_BACKGROUND

I did not notice the burnout immediately. It built up through late nights, weak boundaries, too many new projects, and the habit of treating rest as optional.

02_VULNERABLE_SOURCE

1while (awake) {2    // BUG: no rate limit on self3    take_on(new_project());4    skip(rest);5}

Threat modeling my own schedule felt absurd, but it gave me a way to start. I wrote down which commitments were draining me, where one bad week could break the whole routine, and which limits I kept ignoring. That turned a vague sense of dread into a list of things I could change.

The biggest change was learning to treat rest as part of the work rather than time stolen from it. I still catch myself making exceptions, but I am more careful about how quickly “just this once” becomes the normal schedule.