Out of the dark: Overcoming Entrepreneur Burnout and starting a new chapter.
I never thought I’d share something this personal. Today, I’m opening a chapter that shaped my life and pushed me to question everything. For years, I carried a weight I couldn’t name. I felt pressure, tiredness, and a constant noise inside me. It pushed me towards a limit I refused to see. Life has a curious way of showing you what you need to face, even when you don’t ask for it.
This is the journey that made me fall, pause, and begin again.
The pressure cooker: When success masks the stress
It all started in 2018, when I decided to pursue a master’s degree. I wanted to grow, level up, and stop delaying my goals. At the time, the agency was still young, and I felt I was still building myself.
I joined a group of 26 people aged 35 to 50. I was the youngest… and somehow the target of constant jokes. I wasn’t used to that kind of bullying, and it trapped me in a heavy atmosphere. I barely remember details from that time—only sensations.
That phase shaped me. I learnt to turn hard moments into fuel. A year later, the agency grew, and I began earning more than I expected. I went from working alone to leading a small team. I felt happy, yet something in me felt empty.
Identifying the signs of Entrepreneur Burnout
By 2020, I had delegated processes and handled the pandemic well. I stepped into the public sector and kept the agency running. I got engaged, then married… and still felt lost. I thought about shutting everything down. I didn’t want to feel that weight again.
On my honeymoon, my body spoke. I shook. I cried. I felt no connection to anything related to the agency. My husband looked at me and said something that broke me open: “You’re burnt out.” We searched online and found the word burnout.
A psychologist confirmed it: impostor syndrome and a deep block that had followed me since 2018. I resigned. I disconnected from everything. I let go.
Healing in nature: My path to recovery
We spent 15 days in Cuenca. A city with a calm rhythm, a rustic charm, and a nature that grounds you. We stayed in Valle Encantado, a small rural place where I could breathe again.
I reconnected with life through simple moments: animals, fresh air, walking barefoot, the sound of water. One afternoon, by a stream, my body released what I had held for years. I screamed. I cried. I sweated. Something loosened inside me.
My psychologist told me to let it out, and I did.
When I walked barefoot through a ravine, I felt a rush through my body; I sweated and cried. The psychologist had recommended that I cry and scream when this happened, and that is what I did. I felt that many things came out of me; I forgave myself and reflected. It was 15 days in contact with nature, without the demands of social media or the frenetic pace of clients. I understood that it was time to make changes.
Quebrada del Valle Encantado
Those days became my reset. I wrote. I read. I listened to silence. That silence returned my balance. When I came back, I continued therapy and realised my refuge had always been nature.
It took me a year and a half to return to the agency.
Business Restructuring: Building a Slow Business based on structure
I came back in August 2022. I rebuilt everything slowly. I adjusted processes and reshaped the business model. I had no clients, so I rebuilt the agency from the ground up: brand, marketing, structure. By January 2023, clients arrived again, and in 2024 I returned to social media.
Am I fully healed? I’d say 95%. The rest is daily work. Life speaks, and the body carries truth.
Since then, I’ve made one firm choice: I’m done with the traditional approach. I don’t want strategies that drain people, create comparison, or force lifestyles that don’t fit me. I don’t reject social media, but I refuse to let it dictate my well-being.
Today, I feel calm. At peace. With a clarity I didn’t have before.
Final thoughts: A new Authentic Leadership
This chapter began in darkness and revealed a light I didn’t know I needed. I learnt to let go, listen to myself, understand who I am, and stay close to what matters. Happiness doesn’t come from pressure or external approval. It comes from calm and coherence with yourself.
If you’re going through something similar, you’re not alone. Sometimes, hitting the bottom opens the door to a new version of you.
Thank you for reading and walking with me through this chapter. Are you building from a place of calm or pressure? Share your perspective below; your story adds value to this conversation.
ツMariffer Ayala
Founder of Creative House • Brand Strategist • Leader Catalyst
Where stories become identity.
