Difference Between Burnout, Depression, and SAD

If you’ve been feeling exhausted, flat, or just not like yourself lately, this episode will help you understand why.

In Episode 184 of Wellness in Every Season, we break down the important differences between burnout, depression, and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) — three experiences that can look similar on the surface but have very different roots. In a culture that celebrates hustle and productivity, it’s easy to label everything as burnout. But what if it’s deeper than that? Or what if it’s simply your body responding to the darker months?

We explore how burnout is often tied to prolonged stress, how depression feels heavier and more pervasive, and how SAD follows seasonal patterns linked to sunlight and circadian rhythm. You’ll hear reflective questions to help you tune in to your own energy patterns, including the “vacation test” and simple ways to start noticing whether your exhaustion feels tense, flat, or hibernating.

This episode offers clarity, compassion, and practical next steps — because guessing delays relief. If you’re unsure what you’re navigating, this conversation will help you approach yourself with curiosity instead of judgment.

For more wellness tips and exclusive content, join my newsletter! Sign up now at https://wellness-in-every-season.kit.com/5-days-to-mastering-mornings-and-evenings receive a free 5-day guide called "Awaken and Unwind: 5 Days to Mastering Life's Mornings and Evenings."

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Burnout, Depression, and SAD
• 3:43 Understanding Burnout
• 4:40 Symptoms and Effects of Burnout
• 7:28 Addressing Burnout
• 13:25 Exploring Depression
• 16:16 Symptoms and Effects of Depression
• 19:33 Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
• 24:47 Symptoms and Effects of SAD
• 26:23 Comparing Burnout, Depression, and SAD
• 29:02 Treatment and Support Strategies
• 31:44 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

Episode 184 burnout, depression, and sad or seasonal affective disorder.

[00:00:00] 

This is episode 180 4, today we are talking about burnout, depression, and sad or seasonal affective disorder.

 Welcome to Wellness. In every season, we talk all things wellness, to help you align yourself, align with your goals, find balance in your life, and just recalibrate yourself if you are listening for the first time. Welcome, welcome. I'm so glad you're here, and let's get started in the rest of the podcast.

And for people who are wondering what that is, what sad is, it is something that happens during winter when you don't have as much sunlight. You're not getting as much vitamin D, you're not getting out as much, and from somebody who grew up in Southern Arizona and then spent time in Utah and [00:01:00] now lives in Maryland.

Wow, it is a big deal and I am somebody who definitely thrives off sunlight. So let's talk about this, and I have notes right in front of me. So you will see me looking down to go through this. I am scrolling up on my notes to get to the beginning of this. So you might be asking yourself, am I burned out?

Am I depressed? Is my body responding to the season? Do you see how question goes with each kind of category here? In a culture that celebrates overworking, especially if you live in the United States, which are most of my listeners, it has become socially acceptable to say, I'm burned out. It feels productive, responsible, almost noble, especially when we ask somebody, what do you do?

And it. Goes into a career and we talk [00:02:00] about all this stuff and all this busy making, right? But what about if you're saying, I think I might be depressed? Feels heavier. Right? More vulnerable, more personal. And then there's the seasonal piece when November hits and everything feels slower and darker. In places where I've lived, it's actually more October than November, but November and December is when it starts to really hit in, and then January comes and it's just kind of the spray train, right?

Slower, darker. And we wonder, is this just winter? Or is something actually happening, something actually wrong? And this is where we're gonna go on further. We're gonna separate the three of them. Because the root cause determines the way forward. So let's talk about here. There's burnout is a context.

Depression is a condition. Sad is timing. [00:03:00] And if you look at it very medical, clinical, it's very much time-based. Whether you're going to get one diagnosis or another is how long is this lasting for? And. Honestly, you can have layers of all of this on top of anxiety to it, chronic pain or chronic whatever else with this, and it just makes it heavy.

So let's talk about this a little bit more. Sometimes there's the same symptoms. Sometimes there's different routes and sometimes there's different solutions. 

So let's talk about burnout to begin with. And if you are wondering more about burnout, I'm not gonna cover a ton because I have at least three episodes off the top of my head that have been recorded and that are live within this show that you can go back to Just search [00:04:00] burnout.

You'll find them, they pop right up. A lot of people who come on the show and have experienced. Burnout, wanna talk about it? So there's a lot, it happens within the medical field, it happens within parenthood, it happens within life, just lifeing and it's hard. It's so hard and it can take more than a vacation to overcome it.

Especially, it depends on how long you've been struggling through burnout and just trying to ignore it and put those bandaid solutions on. So I feel you, I'm totally working through that myself. 

And with burnout can come a lot of stress. So if you live in stress and you thrive off of it and you are somebody who is a workaholic, and that's your identity, that perfectionism and showing up all the way and everything needs to be just [00:05:00] think of like stacking paper together and making sure it's all nice and straight. It is rough and just, okay, so along with that comes less sleep. And when you get less sleep, you are more irritable. And if you're busy working, you're not eating enough. And if you're not eating enough, you have those energy crashes.

You eat too much. You have tons of sugar in there, and then you crash back down and goes like this, and then you carb load, you eat extra carbs because you need the extra sugars to help bring up your energy levels, to bring up your mood and to, instead of really listening to your body and really tuning into what are my emotions?

What emotions am I feeling, you're using food for that. We've all done it one way or [00:06:00] another. If you haven't, are you human? But some people struggle with that more than others. Of course. And as we continue along with this, I wanna take a moment and find each of you that we all struggle with something and usually it's more than one thing.

You are human, you are seen. And the really great thing about this life, and it could feel really lonely, but the great thing is that we don't all struggle with the same things, which means that we can reach out for help and have somebody else lift us up, and we can do the same thing for them and for other people.

Because we all have differing strengths and weaknesses. And along with this, we can find other people who are struggling with the same thing and create a support network so you're not alone. At the same time, not everybody has all the exact same problems and history that you do, [00:07:00] so you get a unique blend of people who can really help you and you can get out of that whole echo chamber thing where you just get stuck and everybody is in that same muck and nobody can really lift each other out.

I don't know if you've experienced that, where. You have people that just don't feel like they're trying to scrape themselves out and they're kind of pulling you down. This is the idea. Find other people. 

So with burnout, when you're trying to find other people, especially if you're a workaholic, you don't get enough sleep and you can be a workaholic, even if you're a stay at home parent.

I'll leave that with you for a second, and you can also be a workaholic if you don't work really hard at your. Job that pays you money, but you're working hard in your hobby or your other passions. And that's also the idea that if you tune in with yourself, you can realize this hobby is no longer working for me.

It's not bringing [00:08:00] that balance and that energy that I want actually draining me. And the thing is, we can get so stuck in our workaholism and in our going and doing and being. We don't tune in to realize this isn't working for me. Sometimes even within our career, we feel like we are so far advanced in it.

Maybe it pays really well or we've been doing this for so long that we don't feel like we can pivot. We can always pivot. And I will put in, if you're watching it on YouTube video, if I can find it, pivot by Ross, and friends with the couch. If not, imagine that pivot. He's yelling at you. He wants you to pivot your life if you need to.

So burnout is situational. Going back to my notes so you get less a D, D for me. It usually comes with prolonged stress in a specific area. For some people it's multiple, but if you really drill down [00:09:00] to it, it's similar, so it gets to where it feels more specific. And a lot of times if you really dig down, think of that whole iceberg analogy and you're really digging down deep, it's usually something childhood and.

It really shows up in work in caregiving, business ownership, chronic responsibility, the list can go on, but these are like the really big ones. If the stressor lifts, the symptoms often lift, so sometimes you need to do deep therapy on it, but sometimes you just need to have that pivot. Sometimes you need to call in more help.

I really like. I think it was in a book I read. I consume way too much information. He talked about, he writes down the things that he does not like to do. He's a business owner, [00:10:00] this person I'm talking about, and like the busy work and stuff like that, that needs to be done. And he starts to highlight that in his calendar or in a notebook and he'll start to hire out people for that.

Sometimes we can't do that. That's where you can have interns, you can delegate within the organization that you work at. You can delegate within your household, or maybe it's really not important and it can just fall off your plate and just, nobody takes care of it because nobody cares, right? We have certain traditions that we do that nobody cares about.

We don't even wanna do it. But we have put on the shoulds hat, so we continue doing it. There's that thought. What does burnout feel like? Irritability, loss of sleep, cynicism, resentment towards tasks, feeling ineffective no matter how hard you try. That one resonates the most for me right now. [00:11:00] Being tired but unable to fully relax.

Yes, somebody's been watching over my shoulder for this line. It's often about doing your nervous system is wound tight. Have you ever noticed when you go on vacation, it takes a couple days to unwind? That could be an indication you were exhausted, but wired. Anybody else experience this? Classic signs depersonalization, feeling like you're watching your life instead of living it?

Right? Reduce efficiency. Nothing feels like enough. Stress-based headaches can be from grinding your teeth. I am totally a tooth grinder. Stomach issues, jaw tension, the grinding teeth jaw tension, the clenching trouble turning off at night.

How long does it take you to fall asleep? [00:12:00] And these are just classic signs. There's so much longer to this list, right? So take the minute, well, maybe not a minute. Take a little bit and just think about this. Are you showing any of these signs? And if there was, think of like a gas gauge, where are you at on this?

On the burnout scale especially because this is coming out in early February mid-February. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. Where are you at on the burnout scale?

And then here's your question. What do you wanna do about it? Here's the next question. There's want, and then what are you willing to do about it? Stronger, right?

What can you let go of right in this moment?

At least let go of some shoulds, please. [00:13:00] It makes things feel so much lighter. And with this, let's take a really deep breath in and then slow breath out like that breath work episode, like you're breathing through a straw, right? Big breath in, slow breath out, like you're breathing out through a straw. You can push your lips while you do it.

Okay? 

Now let's talk about depression. This is a big one, right? There are so many people who are clinically depressed, situationally depressed. There's so many different types of depression here. This is a area where all of us would love to invest in because we could make some money off it, right?

It's pervasive. It is not limited to work. It does not just lift because you go on vacation. Otherwise, we'd all be on vacation like all the [00:14:00] time, right? And the heaviness follows you. And sometimes depression can last for a short amount of time in a long amount of time. I have absolutely experienced this.

Postpartum depression was not, was awful, and. I tend to get depression after having surgery when getting off the meds. It's gotten a lot easier being not living in a toxic environment like I grew up in and having my husband, I love him, and also ger, he takes me off the heavy narcotics faster than I ready to, so I'm still in a lot of pain and very crabby towards him, but.

He knows that my family, there's a lot of addictive personalities and addicts in my family, so he makes sure that I get off them early. He knows that's what I want, but I also don't like being in pain. Anyway, it also has helped me not sink into that post-surgery [00:15:00] depression. So many reasons why we can sink into depression.

And I have seen this that people, some people, it can be situational as well. When they are in, they have family members that live with them or that constantly need them, that,

what is the best way to word this, that deplete them like soul depletion almost. And. It can shift from doing to being, and it sounds like I am not enough. What's the point? Nothing feels good anymore, and there can be a loss of energy for some people. It can show up so differently, which makes it really hard and really a sensitive topic, and I know I'm not doing it any justice by any [00:16:00] means.

Part of that is on purpose because I am not the professional for this and there are science still coming out about this. So no matter what, how much research I do, it still won't be totally correct because of the research. 

And also, I'm not the medical professional for this, but I'll give you a little bit, it can feel like slow down energy, which is similar to burnout, which is similar to sad deep fatigue.

Same thing, numbness or persistent sadness. So here's the biggest thing is it's the length of time. It's the, you've changed lots of things in your life and you're still feeling this. It's the, I really can't get out of this and I need help. And sometimes you end up getting professional help and it's for a limited amount of time until something changes.

And sometimes it's long term, you never know. But [00:17:00] before I continue with my list, know that I see you know that others see you, know that you are so loved, and that you absolutely have a light and that depression can make it feel like part of your light or all of your light is being covered. We see you.

You are unique, individual and needed. If you are struggling, deeply struggling, reach out for help. You are not alone. So many of us have gone through and can understand it. Even people who suffer with burnout and sad and understand where you're at. The problem is that sometimes they think that you can just snap out of it if only, right?

Okay, but. Depression. There's a loss of pleasure in things you used to love. [00:18:00] And there's a word that goes with us that I cannot pronounce, but I will spell it for you so you can Google it later. It's A-N-H-E-D-O-N-I-A. And I can even do, like, pronounce this for me and try and do it, but it, it's Latin enough that I would get it wrong.

It's like trying to tell. Anyone what medications you take. I can never pronounce this anyway. Significant sleep or appetite changes can be a really big indicator. Excessive guilt or worthlessness. Interesting that that's similar to anxiety. Burnout is tired and tense. Depression is heavy and flat. Lemme repeat that 'cause it's very interesting.

Burnout is tired and tense. Depression is heavy and [00:19:00] flat.

Do you feel those tune in with your body for a second somatically and see if you can feel the difference in those words? Burnout can absolutely turn into depression if it goes unaddressed long enough.

I'll let that settle for a second and they can overlap, which shows you how it can take a very long time to untangle this ball of yarn. 

Now, let's talk about SAD.

That seasonal affective disorder. I wanna say it again. You notice I took a really big exhale with that one. It's something that is layered for me right now because we are having stronger winter than normal. Like I said, [00:20:00] sun shine, girl. I thrive off sunshine, which I love that Maryland, it has so much more sunshine than Utah.

Utah has this like weird inversion stuff, which basically means, and it does not happen well in my hometown, it doesn't happen as much, but it can happen in Arizona too. It's when you're in a bowl, so there's mountains around you and then you have a valley, and with inversion it has to do with the cold air and hot air.

It makes this air pocket where all the smog just sits there in the valley. It's disgusting and it's thick enough that you can fill it in your lungs in Utah. So when you wanna visit, check the air quality where you go to Utah, there are actually studies on, um, lungs and like that be in Utah. And I heard that on the radio when I was moving to Utah.

It's like, oh good. I moved to a great place where [00:21:00] they're doing lung studies anyway. So yes, it very much affected me there. I got into snowshoeing, which made a huge difference. I would go up in the mountains with my husband and our two dogs and breathe fresh air, get some, a little bit of vitamin D from it, only a little bit because everything's covered, right?

Only a little bit right through here in my face. But it made such huge difference because I was able to move and exercise and I felt great for days. And our dogs, their cattle dogs, we have another set that are cattle dogs now, but they would sleep for several days afterwards. They'd be nice and relaxed.

Leave us alone and great here. There's a lot more sunshine. Like I said, it's a harder winter. I know that so many of you are dealing with harder winters, either metaphorically or literally. We have a lot more snow that it lost snow to a [00:22:00] decent amount several weeks ago, and it's still here. So it's icy, which means can't go out and play with the dogs.

Kids really can't go outside. It's really affecting all of us in our family. So it's not winter blues, it is biology. The reduced sunlight effects, circadian rhythm, serotonin levels, melatonin regulation, sleep, when to sleep is circadian.

Serotonin is also along with that. It affects a lot. And the thing is with sad, a lot of it has to do with there, there's a high prevalence of sad in say Michigan. I have a friend who's from Arizona, known her since high school. My husband's been from Smith, her since middle school. I've been friends with her since high school and she moved to Michigan for several years and it was awful for her.

So she moved back to Arizona and through talking to her and doing some research [00:23:00] back in when I was talking to her years ago. High prevalence there, higher than here because it gets cloudy for a lot of the winter. It'd be very interesting. I'm sure there's tons of studies in of all places, Alaska, right, where you get sunlight a lot of the day during the summer and then you get.

Darkness a lot of the day during the winter. I can't imagine living there. Shout out to anybody who has lived there and loves it. I would love to visit during different times of the year. I would never wanna live there, though. I don't think the sunshine girl could handle it. The idea of sunshine for most the day also sounds awful because it would just throw off my rhythm.

So think about that, that there are times in the year that. Throw this off. And there is a reason why we're supposed to rest more during the winter and there are so many books and [00:24:00] studies and Ted talks and everything out there talking about how we need to go back to wintering and that idea of back before electricity.

When people slept more and they relaxed more because they weren't outside farming. 'cause there's nothing to farm in the winter. I'm looking at my windows over here. I love gardening. There's nothing to garden out there right now. So your body clock shifts when this happens. But we live in such a technology society where we can easily turn on all the lights and pretend like it's daylight outside.

We have all these blue screens around us. We're constantly on a screen. We're totally ruining our natural rhythm. 

So here are some of the distinguishing features of sad. With that in mind, it's the hibernation instinct. Heavy limbs, almost like gravity is stronger. Desire [00:25:00] to cocoon, social withdraw specifically in darker months.

I'm totally resonating with all of these carb cravings. Unlike typical depression, which often reduces appetite, that often increases cravings for carbohydrates, sugar, and starches. And I can tell you I went into those hardcore right before and after snowshoeing, so I still struggling with that even though I was feeling better.

Your body is trying to compensate for low energy. Isn't that interesting? I wonder what that was like back in the day before electricity, trying to make a bunch of carbohydrates, right When they had jerky. Please tell me, all of you have read stories about this, this time in life, and I'm not the only one going back and thinking about they prob they made bread, but what else did they have during that time?[00:26:00] 

There's also predictability. This is if you feel like yourself every May, but you sink every November, and that's that idea of wintering. And there is a book all about wintering. That is a really great book. I highly recommend it. The predictability is a clue with this. 

Burnout doesn't care about the calendar.

Sad does. That's the key. Burnout, stress load depression, biochemical and life factors. Sad. Reduce sunlight. Timing. Burnout improves when stress improves. Depression is persistent. Sad. Four or five predictable months. Talk about the energy pattern. Burnout is tired but tense. Depression slowed and flat.

Sad. Eby and hibernating. Here's the vacation test. If you [00:27:00] went to a beach for a week with no phone and no responsibilities, would you feel like yourself again, take a minute with me and just imagine it. That's something that my husband and I are doing in a couple weeks is we are going on vacation on a beach and I'm so excited.

So just picture that with me. Isn't that just the heat less clothes. The sand in between your toes. If you like sand, you don't. The towel in between your toes, light breeze, hearing the ocean

away. Sound great.

So here's the question again. If you went to a beach for a week with no phone and no responsibilities. Would you feel like yourself again, [00:28:00] if yes, it's likely burnout. If no, consider depression. If yes, in summer, but not in winter, consider sad. Not diagnostic by any means, but it is reflective. And here's another question.

If you went to the beach for a week with no phone and no responsibilities, would you know what to do with yourself? Would you handle it? Could you literally get your phone out of your hand?

Now we know that these can stack, right? You're working long hours. It can be burnout if it's winter. Sad, reduces your energy further. Cold drops eventually a major depressive episode, if not separate boxes, there layers. That's why clarity matters. That's why really checking in with yourself. And if you feel like you can't dig yourself out, you need to reach out for help.[00:29:00] 

Talk about treatments, burnout needs, boundaries, workload shifts, nervous system regulation. Rest with intention. Reclaiming control. Me. I love working in this. Depression often needs not me. I can work alongside this, but not just me. Professional therapy, possibly medication, if not medication, then herbal supplementation, something else.

Structured support, consistent follow through, and a support group for all of these. Just wanna put that out there. Dad may respond to 10,000 times Lux light therapy. I haven't tried that one. Morning. Sunlight exposure. Movement, vitamin D assessment therapy. If symptoms are severe, different root, different [00:30:00] intervention.

Here's a question. What feels drained? Your capacity or your identity?

Does this shift when the environment shifts? My body's already telling me, yes. What is your saying? Does this shift when the season shifts? I'm already looking forward to more sunlight. When did this start? It's a great question, and with all of this. Curiosity, not judgment.

If my biggest stressor disappeared tomorrow, what would change?

Follow on question. Would you find something else to stress about?[00:31:00] 

What do you wanna do about it? Is my exhaustion tense flat? Or heavy has this happened at the same time of year before?

And with all of this you're seeing, I see you. I wanna help you. You are loved, you have value and worth.

The world needs you, what you're struggling with. 

Remember that burnout is about context. Depression is about condition, and sad is about timing. Same symptoms, different roots, different way forward, and you deserve to know which one you're navigating [00:32:00] because guessing delays, relief. If you're unsure, don't white knuckle it.

Get support. You are not weak for needing clarity, and you deserve the help. You deserve the breath of fresh air. You deserve the sunlight. You deserve to smile and to giggle, and to bring your precious, unique light. To everyone around you and to have it be brighter and brighter, not dimmer.

And I know that there is so much heaviness in the world. Don't let it cloud your own sunshine. Know that life's hard, but you don't need to make it any harder. There is [00:33:00] so much joy to be found. And remember that song Sun will come out tomorrow. I will not sing it to you. You're welcome for not doing that.

That's how much I love you. I won't sing it to you, but the sun does come out and right now a cloud must have passed because the sun is shining a little bit brighter over here too. So look, I was saying the truth, but it gets easier. Sometimes it gets harder before it gets easier. Let me tell you, it is monumentally easier when you reach out for help.

If this is not something you need help with, but you need help with something else, here is your prompting. Reach out for help with whatever you're struggling with. Don't do it alone. You don't need to. I know that shows that we can have strength if we do it alone, but does it show that you have. The smarts because [00:34:00] the smarter answer is to reach out for help.

We don't need to reinvent the wheel. It's already been invented. We can take somebody else's invention and run with it, and that's what seeking help is really. I will see you in the next episode.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope that you found the answers that you needed, and you had some amazing aha moments. Please share this episode with others because it helps us align ourselves and then better align the world so that we can seek the healing that we really are looking for as part of the legal language.

I am a certified life coach with a Bachelor's in Applied Health. That is what I am leaning on for this. This is general advice. Take it as such. See you in the next episode.