The Human Machine: An 1876 Warning on Burnout

Men often have their hands full, are overcrowded with business, and drive hurriedly along at it, but they may not be overworked. We cannot always tell when we are overworked. A man does not always know himself, no more than he knows the strain on the mainspring of his watch that will break it. But there comes a time when it breaks—a click, a snap, and the watch stops. Men break down in this way. They go on day after day, the pressure being harder on each successive day, until the vital force gives out, and the machine stops. It is a great pity that the indications of this state of things cannot be seen beforehand, and if seen, regarded. It is one of the last things that men will admit to themselves, much less to others. They flatter themselves that it is only a little weariness of the flesh, which will pass off with a few hours’ rest, when in fact, every nerve, power and resource is exhausted, and the system is driven to work by sheer force of the will. When the oil in the shaft or in the oilbox is exhausted, every revolution of the wheel wears on the revolving part, and soon will ruin it. The same is true of the human body.