Blog by Adrien Skow for George David 17/Nov/2025.
I used to think that growth meant acceleration—more action, more hustle, more control.
But the truth? That mindset almost destroyed my drive.
I was pushing so hard to grow that I stopped noticing what I was growing into. Every "yes" became an obligation. Every plan became pressure. And what used to feel like purpose started feeling like survival.
That's the paradox of ambition:
You can chase growth so aggressively that you end up killing the very energy that creates it.
Let's be real—we live in a world addicted to speed.
We glorify exhaustion and call it success. We measure growth in output instead of alignment.
But forced growth has a cost:
You stop listening to yourself.
You stop noticing what's actually working.
You burn through passion faster than you can replenish it.
It's like pulling on a flower to make it grow faster—all you do is tear it from its roots.
That's what burnout really is: not just fatigue, but resistance against your natural rhythm.
I know this intimately. There was a period in my life where I had convinced myself that if I just worked harder, if I just pushed through one more time, everything would click into place.
I was waking up at 5 AM, going to bed at midnight. Every hour was accounted for. Every day was "productive."
And I was miserable.
My body was exhausted. My mind was foggy. My soul felt empty. And my spirit? It had checked out months ago.