The High Cost of Burnout: Career Transitions for Women Leaders and Our Aging Parents

Burnout isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like overachievement. Sometimes it wears a smile, even when the tank is empty. For many women leaders, especially those at the peak of their careers, burnout is a quiet companion, made heavier by the unspoken weight of caregiving, aging parents, and the invisible labour of holding everything together.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on my own choices. For years, I worked nonstop, partly because I loved working with my team, but also because I felt the need to prove myself. To show up. To work twice as hard. I told myself it was temporary, that the effort would pay off. But the toll it took on my health crept in slowly, and by the time I truly noticed, the damage was already there.

I thought I’d finally go on vacation to rest. But instead, I found myself on an emergency trip to Sri Lanka to bring my father home. While sitting in 40-degree heat, drenched in sweat, surrounded by the weight of reality, I had a lot of time to think. To reflect on all the times I’d nearly burnt out, but pushed through. This last one, though, might be the kicker I needed to change my ways.

Now, I find myself in another demanding role, caring for another aging parent. Managing their health while trying to preserve my own. It’s a humbling, emotional, and often exhausting experience. And I know I’m not alone in this.

A Perfect Storm of Pressures

For Gen X and elder millennial women, the demands are colliding:

• Aging parents needing more care, often without a support system in place

• Children entering new stages of life that require emotional and logistical investment

• Careers that have demanded everything for decades and now, little left to give

Add to that the cultural expectations of being the "strong one," the "capable one," the "resilient leader." The result? A high-achieving generation at risk of burning out in silence.

Career Transitions as Self-Preservation

What we don’t talk about enough is that stepping back is sometimes the most courageous move. Not all transitions are about climbing higher. For many women, it's about reclaiming autonomy, choosing consulting over the C-suite, passion projects over politics, or rest over the relentless pace of performance.

These shifts aren’t about failure. They’re about freedom.

The Unpaid Role No One Prepares You For

Caring for aging parents often while managing teams and running departments is a role few workplaces acknowledge. And yet it’s becoming increasingly common.

This caregiving work is often invisible. It’s after-hours calls, coordinating doctor’s visits between management meetings, and quietly crying in parking lots before walking into another presentation. These aren't isolated stories. They’re shared realities for women across sectors.

What Needs to Change

We need better conversations about:

• Flexible leadership paths that don’t punish stepping sideways or down

• Equitable caregiving policies that extend beyond childcare

• Support networks that normalize transitions, especially for women navigating both career and caregiving

• Space for reinvention, where burnout is not seen as a personal failure but a symptom of unsustainable systems

An Invitation to Reflect

Having transitioned from my previous position, I’m now rediscovering my passion projects and the opportunities I once set aside. It’s a season of recalibration, of choosing differently, more intentionally, this time.

If you're a woman at a crossroads, navigating burnout, career shifts, or caring for aging loved ones, know this: you are not alone and are not less than for needing change. Choosing yourself is not weakness. It's wisdom.

We need more leaders willing to speak up, rest deeply, and rebuild on their terms.

To those walking this path: your story matters. And your next chapter may just be your most powerful yet.