11 Jan 2026 3 min read Wellbeing

Half of Us Are Burning Out.

According to multiple studies, burnout rate among healthcare workers is over 50%. That's half of us. Half of us feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or simply running on autopilot—and many without even realizing it.

A few months ago, I gave a burnout talk to over 100 members of the Alberta Association of Optometrists. The response was incredibly positive.

But of all the feedback I received, two comments stood out to me.

Silent Burnout

I felt happy to know that my talk helped a fellow colleague identify burnout. It's especially gratifying because I also faced a silent burnout, one I didn't recognize until years later.

In healthcare, our job is to put patients first. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in our personal or professional lives; we show up with a smile and do our absolute best for our patients. Every. Single. Day.

But healthcare workers aren’t superheroes... We’re just normal people with our own struggles and flaws. Although school taught us how to take excellent care of others, it didn't teach us how to take care of ourselves.

It's time to have more open and honest conversations about burnout!

Monotony

This one hit just as hard.

Optometry is absolutely an amazing profession, but it gets repetitive very quickly. Same tests and same talking points, day after day.

The more talks I give, the more I realize that burnout is a taboo topic many optometrists want to hear about. So many of us are struggling quietly—either unsure what burnout looks like or convinced that we’re the only ones feeling this way.

But we’re not.

Over and over, colleagues tell me how relieving it feels to know they’re not alone.
Because admitting you’re struggling is difficult. It feels vulnerable. It feels like you’re failing.

But in reality, that first moment of recognition—of being honest with yourself—is where meaningful change begins.