23/05/2026
Day 2 of the Global Burnout Summit went somewhere deeper.
If Day 1 helped us name burnout, Day 2 asked:
�“What now?
How do we rebuild a life, body, identity, and way of working we no longer have to survive?”
We started with attention.
In our panel with Yann Ghisalberti-Roux, Concetta Cucchiarelli, and Dagmar Hopf, we explored burnout in the age of overload, AI, , and constant stimulation.
One powerful reminder:�What looks like procrastination or “not trying hard enough” can actually be a trying to stay safe and function in environments never designed for human limits.
Zoi Mylona spoke about the grief of : leaving behind language, routines, belonging, and familiar versions of ourselves.
One thing stayed with me:�Maybe belonging is not about adapting 100% to the new place. Maybe it is about becoming 100% true to yourself.
With Ioana Vieru, we explored what happens when success stops feeling good, when achievement brings relief instead of joy.
Samantha Verouden guided us into breath, body, and nervous system awareness, reminding us the body is not broken. It is communicating.
Alexandra-Maria Iurian helped us experience self-compassion not as an idea, but as something we may need to learn slowly.
Paola Elena Brignoli reframed ambition beautifully:�Ambition is not the enemy. Unsupported ambition is.
And Alina Porumboiu opened the conversation around slow burnout after separation, grief, and emotional loss, because burnout is not only about work.
Finally, Joana Esteves brought us to the root of burnout and self-worth:
Many people are not burned out because they are weak, but because they learned they had to prove, please, perform, and keep going to feel worthy.
Question for you:�If burnout is not a failure but an adaptation, are those who burned out the ones who adapted too well?
Because they gave themselves permission to listen to where the pressure needs to stop.
With warmth (and some exhaustion),
Vassia Sarantopoulou�
Founder of AntiLoneliness & The Therapy Business Circle�
Psychologist, Specialised in & Healing the Wound