The tug-of-war between money and mental health is so real. If you quit, who pays the bills? If you stay, who pays for your mental health? It is a tough trade no one talks about enough. How do you find balance when both choices feel wrong?

Grind & save, then you can take time to gain back your mental health. Need to ebb and flow it somehow. Or work multiple income streams and quit for a longer time. I used to always be worried about quitting; if your work qualifications are good and you have a large savings you can really take control of your own life and quit on demand. Even knowing that you can quit and you’ll be fine gives a huge mental boost. Good luck!

A big thing for me is learning to set boundaries and to stop caring. If I'm not loving my job and I'm not invested in it, I'm not going to pour my heart and soul into it. But I'm also not going to leave before I'm financially in a position to.

Survival will always trump mental health.

It comes after not before

Honestly, if I was any good at finding balance, I probably wouldn’t be experiencing burnout. I think this tug-of-war as you call it is pretty apt. We don’t have the ability to find balance.

I just work and make that money, and take care of myself mentally and physically out of work

The struggle is real! Burn out happens when you don't set clear boundaries and make time for yourself. No more working crazy overtime when your mental health is struggling. I used to get sucked into working 80 hour weeks on salary. I learned to set boundaries and be firm in saying "I am available until *specific time*" Anything else can wait for tomorrow. There will always be deadlines and always other people pushing you to do more. At the end of it all - this is business. Don't invest so much emotion into it. Take pride in your work but don't let it keep you up at night. Also, check and see if you have an EAP (employee assistance program). Sometimes they offer things like counseling. Especially if there are other factors weighing on your mental health. Better help was a good option for myself. Sometimes you need to just talk it out with someone and set the weight you're carrying down for a moment.
The bills will always be due but finding work/life balance and not investing so much of your time and emotions is so important. Hope this helps someone

Maybe work has free programs?

Don’t have high standards so you don’t want so much money , find a easy going job and get paid enough to make a living

Anyway, thank for always contributing and helping community members with whatever opinion/idea you've in every topic being discussed here! We're because you're....!