Pablo Campos has spent years helping people unravel the relationship between stress and identity. As a counselor at NC State’s Counseling Center, he works daily with students navigating pressure, performance and burnout and he’s quick to point out that the warning signs look different for everyone. 

“We all operate with a bit of ebb and flow,” said Campos. “But when those dips start to extend, when it stops being a rough day and starts becoming a persistent low, that’s when it matters.”  The signs can be subtle: irritability, difficulty concentrating, a creeping dread of tasks you once handled easily. “Everything is connected — sleep, focus, mood,” he said. “When one thing starts to slip, you can feel it permeate everything.”

“Decisions made from a place of burnout tend to be reactive, not reflective.”

One of the most underappreciated dangers of prolonged stress, Campos explains, is the moment it starts shaping your career decisions. He draws on a concept from dialectical behavior therapy called “wise mind” —  the space where emotional reasoning and logical thinking meet. When burnout takes hold, that balance collapses.

“Your nervous system is activated,” he said. “You’re in fight-or-flight, and you stay there. Decisions made from that place tend to be reactive, not reflective.” The Great Resignation is a cautionary example: Many employees quit at peak burnout, only to find their financial stress exacerbated the very anxiety they were trying to escape.

His antidote for burnout or when overwhelmed isn’t a productivity hack. It’s self-compassion, a clinical practice with three core components: mindfulness (noticing what you’re experiencing without judgment),  self-kindness (speaking to yourself the way you would a close friend) and common humanity (recognizing that struggle is not a personal failing).

Campos is also careful to push back on the idea that wellness is purely an individual responsibility. “These conversations can put all the pressure on the person to fix themselves,” he said. “But there are systemic elements. Leaders and managers have a role too.” That means creating space for real conversations — not just task-focused check-ins — and building enough trust that people feel safe saying they’re not OK.”

His final word of advice for employees trying to grow without burning out is to understand your “why.“  “I grew up with an immigrant work ethic, always chasing the next thing,” Campos said. “It took real reflection to realize that a lot of what I was looking for, I already had. You can still want more. But when you’re aligned with your purpose, more avenues become possible, and there’s room for hope again.”

Pablo Campos is a generalist counselor and outreach coordinator at NC State’s Counseling Center, offering services in English and in Spanish. He specializes in working with students experiencing addictive behavior concerns.