When the Loop Feels Endless: A Coaching Reflection on Burnout, Awareness, and Choice

Walking the Central Park Reservoir recently, I found myself thinking about burnout—the kind my clients describe when they’re looping through their days on autopilot. The path around the Reservoir is 1.58 miles, contained, rhythmic, familiar. It looks like you’re in motion, but it can also feel like you’re circling the same view again and again.

Yet, I know there are exits everywhere. Gates open to the bridle path, turns lead to the Loop Drive, paths spill you right back into the city. Still, for someone experiencing burnout, even visible options can feel out of reach. That’s the paradox—burnout isn’t about not seeing choice, it’s about not having the energy or clarity to act on it.

From an ICF coaching perspective, burnout shows up in three key dimensions:

• Emotional exhaustion or energy depletion—where rest doesn’t restore.

• Mental distance and cynicism—where meaning begins to erode.

• Reduced sense of efficacy—where competence feels replaced by doubt.

Layer on the common causes—lack of control, unclear expectations, conflict, overload, isolation, or a collapsed work-life balance—and the loop tightens. You keep walking because you can’t yet imagine how to stop.

This is where ICF coaching becomes transformative. The coach partners with the client to reawaken awareness, to hold space for inquiry and reconnection. We might ask:

• What are you noticing about your current rhythm?

• What boundaries or supports might allow you to rest while still honoring your commitments?

• Where might you be holding the belief that you can’t change direction?

• What would renewal look or feel like for you right now?

These questions are lanterns to illuminate the exits already there.

The Reservoir reminds me that burnout is a loss of perspective. The exits never disappear—you just stop seeing them. Coaching helps you pause, look up, and choose again from restored awareness.

Sometimes the most powerful move isn’t pushing harder around the loop—it’s stepping toward the gate you’d forgotten was open.