No one collapses at their desk in my experience. What I see is quieter.
The music you stop putting on. The friend's call you let ring. The hobby that becomes "someday."
You're still performing. Deadlines met. Smiles produced. From outside, nothing has changed.
Inside, the colour has been leaving slowly, like a photograph in the sun.
One pattern I've noticed: burnout announces itself first through subtractions, not symptoms. Things quietly stop mattering before anything visibly breaks.
The body is not failing. It is budgeting. When reserves run low, it cancels everything non-essential — enthusiasm first, since enthusiasm is expensive.
Sometimes the cause is workload. Sometimes it's work without meaning. Sometimes it's meaning without boundaries. The fading looks identical.
What have you quietly stopped doing this year?
Return one small subtraction. Play one song you used to love, fully, doing nothing else. Notice what happens.
If cynicism, exhaustion and detachment have set in deeply — or if getting up feels impossible — this deserves professional support. Burnout is recognised for a reason.