beyond burnout diaries

July 5 - July 12, 2025

I blinked and it’s July?

Some weeks, the recovery feels like you’re going nowhere but up - you’ve never felt better! Life is good! And then the next week is full of hiccups and speedbumps, and, my god, is it always going to be like this?

It won’t. It’ll pass. Recovery is a real one-step-forward, little shimmy-back kinda deal. So here’s what that little dance can look like, in real life, for a 20-something woman with a 9-5 and a burgeoning side gig:

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Listen. I was not feeling it this week. So instead of recounting the meh-ness of it all to you, I decided to share all the Stuff (books, shows, and a concert!) I took in instead. Heads up, if you click a book link, I may get a small commission from bookshop.org at no extra cost to you.

Enjoy!

Saturday

• Saturdays are for the girlies at

  Writing Club
  and getting my weekly essay posted (quite proud of this one!).

• I journaled in my notebook and then worked through some of the prompts from

  Sam Burgess
  ’s Summer Revenue Dashboard¹. It is SUCH a good resource!

• In the evening, we put on our Hawaiian shirts and went to a Yacht Rock show at the Broadside. I have no photos of the evening. We just embraced the fact that it was stupid hot and jammed through the sweat. 10/10

Sunday

• I’m doing

  Anna Seirian
  ’s Big Magic book club and read the section on Enchantment. I hadn’t read Big Magic before, and I’m really enjoying reading it, very purposefully, just a section at a time.

• This post from Maggie at

  early bird
  made me miss the turkey bacon, apple, and cheddar sandwiches on rye from the coffee shop I worked at all throughout high school and most of college summers.

• I listened to Cult Flav’s AMA on YouTube while puttering around the house. I love their stuff, from cookbook reviews to super nerdy cookware explanations, and I love their approach to community-building. Like, they’re literally building their own website to do it. So cool.

• I played Another Crab’s Treasure (NG+) and maxed out my fork upgrades. It’s a silly but not silly game that really clicked for me.

Monday

• I am a horoscope girlie and I always start off with the weekly readings in the Chani app.

• I learned about the Salt Path Scandal from

  The Sophist

• On the walk back to the car after work, I started listening to Bailey Sarian’s piece on the Menendez brothers. Then it got too sad, so I switched to

• A Spotify Yacht Rock playlist. Listen, the show on Saturday was GOOD.

• I finished the NG+ playthrough of ACT while my husband was playing DND. If you have game suggestions, send them my way! We have a PS5 and a Switch

Tuesday

• I listened to We’re Your Girls on the way in to work. I love them. Taryn and Tiffany WILL have you laughing.

• I finished Bailey’s Menendez brothers video. Ugh. Those poor guys.

• I wanted to read, but didn’t want to think too hard. So I downloaded Fourth Wing. And promptly stayed up til 2:00AM just… inhaling it. Whoops.

Wednesday

• Finished Fourth Wing. It is not one that’s meant to be read in less than 36 hours! Do not do what I did! But it was fun!

Thursday

• Listened to

  Internet People
  ’s second installment of their Substack 101 podcast series.

• Watched an episode of Drawfee on YouTube

• Went to bed super early, and fell asleep listening to Nothing Much Happens (per usual)

Friday

• This piece from

  Ese💕🌸
  broke my heart

• I realized I hadn’t listened to Josh Johnson’s new video so I giggled to that (can you name a harder working comedian?)

• My brain felt fried, so I watched an episode and a half of How It’s Made. You know, the show where they spend about 8 minutes showing you how something random is made, and then pop over to something totally different? I learned about bread, fertilizer, and something else but I can’t remember. Again, the brain was fried. (How It’s Made is available truly all over the place).

Saturday

• I dutifully logged in for another session of Writing Club and published this week’s piece, and then read

• This essay from

  offline crush
  , which had me seriously considering my relationship with Spotify and other internet forums.

• We finished the evening with this Yacht Rock Dockumentary on HBO (Max? whatever). It was, unironically, very good. Guys, this house is a fan of yacht rock, what can I say.

art by ToonJoosenArt, found on Pinterest. Their work is available for purchase on Etsy.

What did you enjoy this week? Recs are always, always welcome.

Your friend,

Emma

1. This is not sponsored. I genuinely had the BEST time working through Sam’s resource. It’s so thoughtful and well-organized and actionable. Highly recommend!