Freedom without boundaries is just burnout in better light

Share on LinkedIn

Remote work sold you “freedom” - now you’re working Sundays in sweatpants. No commute, no cut-off. Just blurred lines and burnout in HD. Peace of mind > Paycheck. Simplicity > Status. Set your own metrics or die by someone else’s. Success isn’t a salary. It’s space.

Remote work killed the commute - but also your boundaries.

At first it felt like freedom. No traffic, no cubicles. Just “flexibility.” But now you're answering Slack at 10pm, half-working through weekends, and wondering why burnout still found you in sweatpants.

Here’s the truth:

Freedom without discipline isn’t freedom. It’s a trap with Wi-Fi.

I had to get disrupted - hard - to realise success isn’t just revenue or reach. It’s stillness. Clarity. The kind of peace you can’t earn, only protect.

So I stopped glorifying grind.

I started tracking a different ROI:

  • Time off the grid
  • Work I don’t resent
  • Energy I don’t need to numb
  • Sleep I don’t have to recover from
  • Quiet

Simple things. But they’re the real flex.

Because if you don’t define success for yourself, someone else will - and you’ll burn out chasing their metrics, not yours.