'A break restores you; a pause rewires you': Ex-Zomato exec’s burnout post goes viral
In his now-viral LinkedIn post, Mridul Anand, a former Zomato employee and IIM Calcutta alumnus, wrote, “Eight years ago, I took a year off to fix my burnout. But six months after I returned, it found me again. Turns out, I’d been fixing the wrong thing”
- Oct 14, 2025,
- Updated Oct 14, 2025 11:30 AM IST
A Gurugram-based professional’s reflection on burnout has struck a chord online after he shared how years of overwork taught him that true healing comes not from “a break” but from “a pause.”
In his now-viral LinkedIn post, Mridul Anand, a former Zomato employee and IIM Calcutta alumnus, wrote, “Eight years ago, I took a year off to fix my burnout. But six months after I returned, it found me again. Turns out, I’d been fixing the wrong thing.”
Anand said his burnout had been “building for years,” driven by the belief that effort always equals growth. “If I just pushed a little harder, I’d get over it. But the overflowing calendar, the fog in my head, and the strain in my relationships finally caught up,” he wrote.
When he finally took time off, he called it a “pause” instead of a break — a decision that he thought would change things. “Back then, ‘breaks’ were viewed with suspicion, so I found my own word for it — a ‘pause’,” he said. During that time, he travelled, read, meditated, and focused on health, but the exhaustion returned within months.
“The ‘break’ had restored me to factory settings, but the operating system was still the same,” Anand admitted. “A break gives you distance from experience. A pause gives you perspective within it. One rests you, while the other reorients you.”
He noted that many professionals today approach career breaks with pressure to make them count. “Breaks do work beautifully if what you’re seeking is a recharge,” he said. “But if you’re navigating a deeper transition in your career or life, you might need a ‘pause’.”
Anand defined a pause as a process of self-reflection rather than escape. “Pause happens in solitude, in silence, in honest attention when you stop changing the scenery and start changing your relationship to it,” he wrote, crediting meditation with helping him “befriend the mind” instead of trying to control it.
The post drew hundreds of responses from professionals who resonated with his message. One user wrote, “This distinction between a break and a pause is beautiful. Most people try to ‘fix’ burnout by stepping away, not realising they’re carrying the same operating system back with them.” Another said, “A break restores energy, but a pause rewires perspective.”
A third user said, "Super relatable! In both the last 2 years, I've taken 6-month breaks. Reading this, I can firmly claim, the second one was surely a Pause. Thanks for sharing this, the same pedigree kinda makes it more relatable 😅"
A Gurugram-based professional’s reflection on burnout has struck a chord online after he shared how years of overwork taught him that true healing comes not from “a break” but from “a pause.”
In his now-viral LinkedIn post, Mridul Anand, a former Zomato employee and IIM Calcutta alumnus, wrote, “Eight years ago, I took a year off to fix my burnout. But six months after I returned, it found me again. Turns out, I’d been fixing the wrong thing.”
Anand said his burnout had been “building for years,” driven by the belief that effort always equals growth. “If I just pushed a little harder, I’d get over it. But the overflowing calendar, the fog in my head, and the strain in my relationships finally caught up,” he wrote.
When he finally took time off, he called it a “pause” instead of a break — a decision that he thought would change things. “Back then, ‘breaks’ were viewed with suspicion, so I found my own word for it — a ‘pause’,” he said. During that time, he travelled, read, meditated, and focused on health, but the exhaustion returned within months.
“The ‘break’ had restored me to factory settings, but the operating system was still the same,” Anand admitted. “A break gives you distance from experience. A pause gives you perspective within it. One rests you, while the other reorients you.”
He noted that many professionals today approach career breaks with pressure to make them count. “Breaks do work beautifully if what you’re seeking is a recharge,” he said. “But if you’re navigating a deeper transition in your career or life, you might need a ‘pause’.”
Anand defined a pause as a process of self-reflection rather than escape. “Pause happens in solitude, in silence, in honest attention when you stop changing the scenery and start changing your relationship to it,” he wrote, crediting meditation with helping him “befriend the mind” instead of trying to control it.
The post drew hundreds of responses from professionals who resonated with his message. One user wrote, “This distinction between a break and a pause is beautiful. Most people try to ‘fix’ burnout by stepping away, not realising they’re carrying the same operating system back with them.” Another said, “A break restores energy, but a pause rewires perspective.”
A third user said, "Super relatable! In both the last 2 years, I've taken 6-month breaks. Reading this, I can firmly claim, the second one was surely a Pause. Thanks for sharing this, the same pedigree kinda makes it more relatable 😅"