Running on empty, and still running

• Tired at the thought of the day, before any of it has actually happened.
• Emptied out after a long stretch of strain, with nothing left over for anyone.
• Still going well past the point of being able to, because stopping is not something you do.
• Ordinarily competent, and currently buried by the size of what is in front of you.
• Wound tight, unable to slow down even on a day off.
• Irritated by how slowly everything and everyone moves.

None of this is fixed by a flower essence, and a website that suggests otherwise is selling you something.

Burnout is usually a fact about your circumstances rather than about you, and the useful move is often a change to the circumstances. What a consultation can do is help you name the state precisely, which tends to make the circumstance easier to see clearly.

Bach separated exhaustion after a long effort from weariness at the thought of starting, and both from the driven tension that cannot slow down. They feel similar from the inside and they are not the same thing.

A selection is personal, so this is not a list to work through yourself. It is here so you can see the distinctions the system actually makes, which are finer than the single word most of us use.

• Olive

  Insufficient interest in present circumstances

  Emptied out after a long strain, with nothing left for anything.

• Oak

  Despondency or despair

  Still going, well past the point of being able to, because stopping is not a thing you do.

• Elm

  Despondency or despair

  Ordinarily capable, and momentarily buried by the size of the responsibility.

• Hornbeam

  Uncertainty

  Tired before the day begins. The weariness is at the thought of it, not the doing.

• Vervain

  Over-care for the welfare of others

  Wound tight, running on conviction, physically unable to slow down.

• Impatiens

  Loneliness

  Everything and everyone moving too slowly, and the irritation that comes with it.

A consultation is about 60 minutes online, in English, Hindi or Punjabi, for ₹400. You can read what actually happens in one before deciding, and what the research does and does not support.

• AnxietyWhen the worry will not switch off
• Children's emotionsWhen your child’s feelings are bigger than they are
• Sleep and overthinkingThe thought that starts when the lights go off