I'll sleep when I'm dead.
I used to say.
In 2024, my body decided to take that offer seriously.
Petra Piperati
Writer. Corporate refugee.
Recovering high-performer.
Anti-hustle. Cynical Zen.
Not a guru.
Not a coach.
Just honest.
For about two decades I was a corporate warrior.A versatile expert on strategic projects in finance and tech.I thrived on the pressure, the color-coded spreadsheets and endless meetings that,
could have been emails.
I called it hustle.
My nervous system called it warfare.
Eventually, the receipts of about two decades came due:
7,432 pointless presentations and a PowerPoint allergy.
A heart that tap-danced its way to a hospital bed.
A delightful cocktail of anxiety and insomnia.
A wake-up call that was a full-blown siren.
"Burnout ends
where the trail begins".
My partner, Javier, suggested a "mindful hike" in the Alps. I thought he was crazy since my idea of mindfulness was an app I’d fall asleep to. "in the Alps" though sounded pretty good! So then surrounded by mountains that didn't care about my KPIs, I started to breathe again. So here is the burnout ends. Where the trail begins. My new motto. I discovered the revolutionary concept of "The Power of Now" mostly because my phone had no signal. I traded my PowerPoint presentations for Eckhart Tolle's teachings and my team-building exercises for solo walks in nature. And it feels great.
Stillness is a survival tool.
That stillness did more than just quiet the noise; it gave me the clarity to look back at the chaos I had survived. And in that quiet reflection, the "Burned Out Diaries" were born. It's my attempt to document the absurdities of recovery and maybe help a few other corporate refugees find their own escape route.
The Burned Out Diaries.
A Manifesto.
We are the chronically tired, recovering perfectionists, the ones who have been told to "lean in" so many times we've fallen over.
We are the survivors of a thousand meetings that could have been emails, the veterans of team-building exercises that felt more like cult initiations.
We believe in the power of "no."
We believe that "hustle" is a four-letter word.
We believe that success is not measured in promotions or paychecks, but in moments of peace and quiet.
This is for you.
If...
You've survived at least one meeting that genuinely could have been an email.
You've used the word "bandwidth" to describe your own exhaustion and felt vaguely disgusted.
Sunday anxiety starts somewhere around Saturday afternoon.
You suspect that the problem isn't you. You're right. It isn't.
You want someone to tell you to "lean in harder." Wrong door.
My spiritual Credentials
Certified Corporate Dropout: I have a degree in saying "nope" to hustle culture.
PowerPoint Allergy: A permanent side effect of corporate life.
Professional Over-thinker in Recovery: I'm learning to let go of the need to control everything, one existential crisis at a time.
Student of Stillness: I've embraced the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, finding profound truth in the power of the present moment. It's the only thing that quiets the 1,000 tabs open in my brain.
