How To Get Your Spark Back After Burnout

We are so back!!!

Apologies for the radio silence, I might’ve taken an unintentional break from my blog over December and January to enjoy a 6-week-long trip around Australia and New Zealand.

The thing is, when you write about burnout recovery for a living, at some point, you need to take your own advice.

So, that’s exactly what I did. And boy, did I need it.

2025 drained me a lot.

I still can’t put my finger on why, but by November, I was ready to burn my entire business down to the ground. Lol. Turns out I was just being dramatic and needed to take a step back from everything and regroup.

So here I am… 2 months later… feeling refreshed and ready to hit the ground running just in time for the year of the horse.

And look, obviously, going on a 6-week trip every time you’re burnt out isn’t relatable so I’m not going to spend the next 1000+ words convincing you otherwise.

I’m all about realistic advice that you can seamlessly implement in your day-to-day life, so I’ve put together a lil framework on how to get your spark back (whether you’ve been feeling burnt out, lost, or just flat out meh).

Let’s dive in…

P.S. If you’re new here, hey! I’m Thalia. I help burnt-out girlies in their 30s unf*ck their life through 1:1 coaching and self-paced tools. Every week(ish), I share content on burnout recovery, self-development, finding joy, and career growth. Subscribe here so you never miss a debrief.

Signs you’ve lost your spark (aka your mojo for life)

After years of following the hustle culture, feeling the pressure of societal expectations, and hitting burnout far too many times, I feel like it’s 100% normal for every woman in their thirties to lose their spark for life at least once (if not multiple times).

It’s like we’re always searching for more meaning.

We climb the corporate ladder, build successful careers, but it’s not enough. We get married, buy a house, have children, but there’s still something missing. We feel constantly lost and behind in life without really knowing why.

Maybe it’s because we’ve outgrown the life we’ve been living — I mean, was it really what we wanted, or was it just to please others?

I lost my spark at 27 after giving way too much of myself to a toxic job to the point where it became my life. I’d lost who I was as a person, struggled to get excited by anything, and had zero clue what I enjoyed.

But it also looked like:

• Scrolling on Instagram for hours and digging a self-pity-shaped hole
• Waking up and immediately dreading the day
• Cancelling on my friends because I couldn’t face them (also known as social anxiety)
• Running on autopilot and not caring about any of it
• Losing my shit over the smallest things and crying about it
• Feeling like I was failing at everything — not just work, but friendships and life in general
• Having zero hobbies or motivation to exercise
• Questioning my life choices on a daily basis

If you’re nodding along thinking, “this is literally me!” then I want you to know that you’re not alone.

There are so many other 9-to-5 girlies who are going through the motions, too. I was one of those women, but I managed to break through the barriers keeping me stuck and find my spark again.

Here’s how…

5 things to do to get your spark back after burnout

One of the main reasons why I travel is because it allows me to feel inspired. I’m out in the world seeing and exploring things that make me feel alive. I’m not just sitting in the same four walls of my co-working space day in and day out.

But travel isn’t always the cure. Whether I’m in Bangkok, Athens, or Bali, I can sometimes struggle to find my spark, too, especially when I’m exhausted.

So instead of constantly relying on travelling every time I feel a little meh (escapism at its finest), I’ve put together the below framework to help you reconnect with yourself and rediscover what lights you up.

It’s not quick, but it’s simple and easy to implement. And I 10/10 suggest you bookmark this page so you can refer back to it whenever you need to.

1 | Slow down

I know this one sounds ridiculously obvious, but hear me out.

When you’re burnt out and lacking motivation to do anything, your first instinct is to probably keep pushing through because that’s what we’ve been conditioned to do.

But let’s be real, you can’t find your spark when you’re rushing through life at 100mph.

Slowing down doesn’t mean quitting your job or completely overhauling your entire life overnight. It means creating little pockets of space where you’re not constantly doing, achieving, or proving yourself.

For me, slowing down looked like saying no to things I didn’t want to do (even if it disappointed people), taking actual lunch breaks instead of eating at my desk, and getting comfortable with staying in rather than partying.

Action steps

• Block out at least one hour a day where you have zero plans or commitments
• Get out in nature and just listen to the sounds around you
• Practice saying no to things that drain you (even if they seem important)
• Delete one task from your todo list that doesn’t actually need to be done
• Give yourself permission to do nothing without feeling guilty about it

2 | Romanticise the little things

Okay, so this one might sound a bit cringe, but stick with me.

When you’ve lost your spark, everything feels monotonous and meh. You wake up, go to work, come home, scroll, sleep, repeat. There’s no joy in any of it, and you feel completely numb to everything else around you.

Romanticising the little things is basically finding moments of beauty in the mundane parts of your everyday life that you’d normally overlook.

It’s noticing the small stuff that makes life feel a bit more worth living. Like actually enjoying your morning coffee instead of chugging it down while checking emails. Or putting on a playlist you love while you cook dinner. Or buying yourself fresh flowers just because. Or taking a different route home from work to see something new.

It sounds simple, but when you’re burnt out, you forget that life can actually feel good in these tiny moments. You’re so focused on the big picture (career, money, relationship status, life milestones, etc.) that you miss all the little things happening right in front of you.

Action steps

• Practice gratitude every morning
• Start your day with something that feels good, aka not scrolling social media
• Do something small that brings you joy at least once a week
• Notice one beautiful thing on your commute to work
• Create a “things that made me smile today” note in your phone and add to it daily

3 | Reconnect with what truly matters

This is where things get deep.

One of the main reasons we lose our spark is because we’ve spent so long living according to other people’s expectations that we’ve completely lost sight of what actually matters to us. We’re chasing goals that society told us to chase. We’re trying to impress people who we either don’t know or even like. We’re living a life that looks Insta-worthy, but to be honest, feels empty in reality.

So this step is all about getting back to basics and figuring out what you actually care about — not what you think you should care about.

For me, I realised I’d been so focused on working my way up the fashion ladder and proving myself that I’d neglected my relationships, my health, and literally everything else that made life meaningful.

Reconnecting with what truly matters means taking a step back and asking yourself some uncomfortable questions. What do I actually want my life to look like? Who do I want to spend time with? What makes me feel fulfilled? What would I regret not doing?

And then once you have those answers, you need to start making decisions based on them instead of based on what everyone else thinks you should do.

P.S. If you haven’t done this exercise with me yet, I 100% suggest doing it now and following along with this step-by-step breakdown.

Action steps

• Reflect on your most rewarding, satisfying and fulfilling moments
• Identify the values that were present within these moments and write them down
• Continue to add to your list until you have 10-15 values that deeply resonate with you
• Narrow down your master list to just 5 core values
• Use this workbook to help you apply your values IRL

4 | Rebrand yourself

The reason why you’ve probably lost your spark is because you’ve outgrown the version of yourself you’ve been showing up as. (This was the case for me anyway.) The career you built, the habits you’ve kept, the style you wear — they all made sense at one point, but right now, it all feels off-brand.

A personal rebrand isn’t about becoming a completely different person. It’s about bringing yourself back into alignment with who you actually are now, not who you were five years ago or who you think you should be.

For me, this looked like completely changing my relationship with health and fitness, upgrading my entire wardrobe to reflect the life I’m living now, and even shifting the music I listen to because Taylor Swift’s angsty heartbreak lyrics just don’t hit the same anymore.

Your rebrand might look different. Maybe it’s finally admitting your corporate job isn’t it and pivoting into something that excites you. Maybe it’s clearing out friendships that drain you. Maybe it’s picking up hobbies purely for fun instead of productivity.

The point is, you get to evolve.

And when you give yourself permission to rebrand the parts of your life that no longer fit, you make space for your spark to come back.

Action steps

• Identify one area of your life that feels the most out of alignment right now (e.g. career, style, friendships, hobbies, environment)
• Audit what’s working and what’s draining you in that area — be brutally honest with yourself
• Make one small change this week that reflects who you’re becoming, not who you used to be
• Unfollow accounts or step back from people who make you feel like you’re not enough
• Start a Pinterest board or journal to capture the energy and vibe of your future self

5 | Let inspiration find you

There’s this quote by Cheryl Strayed that I love, and it goes like this… “There’s always a sunrise and always a sunset, and it’s up to you to choose to be there for it… Put yourself in the way of beauty.”

Well, I’m one of those people who like to take a quote and apply it to absolutely everything. And in this case I’m saying… Put yourself in the way of inspiration.

When you’re burnt out, you’re not going to feel inspired doing the same things every single day. Inspiration doesn’t just magically appear when you’re stuck in a rut. You need to actively put yourself in situations where inspiration can actually find you. Because the more you expose yourself to different things, the more likely you are to stumble across something that lights you up again.

And no, I’m not saying you need to book a flight to Bali or quit your job or make some massive life change.

I’m talking about doing small things that expose you to new ideas, new perspectives, and new experiences. Go to that random event your friend invited you to. Try a new hobby you’ve been curious about. Read a book outside your usual genre. Have a conversation with someone you wouldn’t normally talk to. Take a different route. Visit a new cafe. Just do something different.

Action steps

• Create pockets of open time in your week where you have zero plans — just space to wander and see what pulls you
• Find joy in the unfamiliar (book that class, visit that gallery, or finally try that thing you’ve been curious about)
• Reconnect with old hobbies or interests that once mattered to you and see if they still resonate
• Pay attention to what gives you energy when you try new things, then do more of whatever makes you feel alive
• Experiment with showing up differently—whether that’s trying a new look, visiting a new place, or switching up a predictable part of your routine

Final thoughts

Getting your spark back after burnout doesn’t look like having some big lightbulb moment where everything suddenly makes sense.

It’s about making a bunch of small, intentional choices that slowly shift you from existing to actually living.

And just an FYI — it’s gonna be messy.

Some days you’ll feel like you’re making progress, and other days you’ll wonder if anything’s even changed. That’s normal.

What I’ve learnt from going through this myself and working with other burnt-out girlies every day is that your spark isn’t gone. It’s just buried under years of exhaustion, pressure, and living a life that you’ve outgrown.

But once you start doing the work to uncover it, like romanticising the boring bits of life, reconnecting with what actually matters to you, and putting yourself in the way of inspiration, it will come back.

You don’t need to have it all figured out right now. You just need to start somewhere.

You’ve got this.

Thalia xx