Back to School, Back to Burnout: Why “Just Make It Until Christmas” Is Harmful

September arrives with that familiar back-to-school energy. The holidays are over, the weather starts to turn, and in workplaces across the world there’s a phrase that echoes through meeting rooms, offices and Zoom calls:

“Just make it until Christmas.”

It sounds harmless, even motivating. A short-term push to get through the autumn months, fuelled by the promise of rest, festivities, and downtime at the end of December. But let’s be honest, how often does that rest really come?

For many, this mindset isn’t a gentle nudge. It’s a countdown clock to collapse. And I can’t tell you how many clients I speak to at this time of year who know that '“just make it until Christmas” means trying to find energy that they just do not have in the tank.

Why “just push through” is a trap.

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It builds slowly, chipping away at energy, motivation, and health. When leaders, HR teams, or even coaches encourage people to grit their teeth and grind their way to Christmas, they’re reinforcing the very culture that causes burnout in the first place.

The problem with the “push through” narrative is twofold:

1. It normalises survival mode. We start to believe it’s acceptable to live months of our lives in a state of exhaustion, as long as there’s an imaginary finish line in sight.
2. It postpones the inevitable crash. The body and brain can only keep running on adrenaline for so long. By the time December comes around, many people aren’t simply tired — they’re at crisis point.

The September reset that isn’t.

There’s a cultural script around September: new stationery, new diaries, new school terms, new goals (and yes, I have done all of these again myself this year). For adults, especially in the workplace, September often brings new projects, performance reviews, and strategic plans for the next year. It feels like a reset - but if you’re already running on empty, a reset is the last thing your nervous system can cope with.

This is where the burnout cycle tightens its grip:
- New expectations arrive.
- Old exhaustion remains.
- The gap widens.

Instead of addressing the gap, we plaster over it with “Just get to Christmas.” And in doing so, we set people up for failure.

What’s really needed.

Burnout prevention isn’t about endurance; it’s about awareness. Leaders, HR professionals, and coaches need to stop measuring success by whether people can drag themselves through another quarter. Instead, they should be asking:

- What signs of burnout are we missing right now?
- How do we create space for recovery before people hit crisis?
- What needs to change in our expectations, systems, and support?

It’s not about offering yoga classes or resilience workshops. It’s about recognising that sustained pressure with no room for recovery is unsustainable, no matter how strong or dedicated someone is.

A different conversation this autumn.

Imagine if, instead of saying “just make it until Christmas,” we asked:
- What support do you need to stay well now?
- How can we pace this work sustainably?
- What would it look like to finish the year strong without sacrificing health?

Burnout ends with awareness.

Awareness that pushing harder doesn’t create progress - it accelerates decline. Awareness that survival mode is not a strategy. And awareness that people don’t need permission to collapse; they need support to thrive.

So this autumn, notice the urge to grit your teeth and count down the weeks. Challenge it. Replace it. Because your health, your energy, and your future don’t need you to survive until Christmas. They need you to live now.

Kelly

I’m daring to imagine a world where Burnout no longer exists, and if you’re daring to imagine a world like that too, then come and join me.
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