If We Don’t Take Care of Our Bodies, Where Will We Stay?

We build tirelessly — careers, networks, reputations. But none of it matters if the only place we truly live collapses.

This Kaapi with Ravi reflection on burnout culture is a reminder — or maybe a reckoning — that the body isn’t who we are, it’s where we stay.

And when we ignore it, we’re not building success. We’re evicting ourselves.

🏚️ The House We Let Rot

We know the sleep we skip. We know the tension we suppress. We know the "I'll rest when I'm dead" lie we call discipline.

These bodies are not us — but they’re the only homes we’ve ever had. If our houses had cracks in the foundation, black mold, leaking roofs, we’d call contractors.

Yet when our own structures deteriorate, we call it "hustle." We push harder. We ignore the signals. We celebrate exhaustion — because our LinkedIn headlines still look good.

But one day, these houses will crumble.

💼 Corporate Wellness Is a Performance

Mental health isn’t ignored in our professional culture — it’s a staged act.

We slap "self-care" on mugs while skipping meals. We post about burnout recovery—from vacation homes paid for by burnout. We applaud therapy, but quietly judge the colleague who takes a mental health day.

We don’t prioritize well-being. We sell the illusion of it. So we keep building externally while the internal scaffolding collapses.

🧠 Our Minds Are Not Servers

We treat our brains like machines — always online, always processing, one crash away from failure.

But what if they’re more like neglected rooms? Cluttered with unfinished thoughts. Dusty from neglect. Moldy with resentments we never aired out.

Would we invite anyone in there? Would we even recognize ourselves?

We think in pings. We rest in notifications. We “relax” by scrolling through more digital noise. This isn’t fatigue — it’s collective self-abandonment disguised as ambition.

🪜 The Moment That Breaks Us

Not an injury. Not an illness. Just silence.

The emails are answered. The projects are delivered. The praise keeps coming.

But we feel nothing. Sleep doesn’t help. Friends don’t help. Nothing touches the numbness.

That’s when we realize — we’ve become efficient, not alive. We’ve maximized output but minimized our capacity to feel human.

And what use is efficiency if the spaces we exist in are uninhabitable?

🔥 The Reckoning

If our bodies collapse, where will we stay? If our minds become unlivable, where will we go?

Forget meditation apps and stress hacks. Are we living in bodies that can hold us? Or are we squatting in ruins, calling it drive?

🔪 What Happens When We Ignore This?

Not today. Not tomorrow. But eventually.

• What happens when our bodies refuse to move the way they used to?

• What happens when our minds no longer function like machines?

• What happens when the warning signs aren’t reversible anymore?

That moment always comes. And when it does — where will we stay?

🩸 This Isn’t a Reminder to Rest.

It’s a demand to answer.

We’ve read hundreds of feel-good posts. Here’s one that won’t tell us to breathe.

Who else needs to hear this before their house caves in?

If this reflection on burnout culture made you pause, you’ll enjoy these other reads from Kaapi with Ravi:

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