10 signs your soul is exhausted and desperately needs rejuvenation

Last Tuesday, I found myself staring at my laptop screen for twenty minutes without typing a single word. My oat milk latte sat untouched beside me, going cold. I wasn't stuck on what to write. I just couldn't seem to care about any of it.

That's when it hit me: I wasn't just tired. My soul was running on empty.

We talk a lot about physical exhaustion and mental burnout, but soul exhaustion is different. It's that deeper depletion where everything feels muted, like you're watching your life through a foggy window instead of living it.

Here are ten signs your soul might be desperately asking for a break.

1) Everything feels like an obligation

Remember when you used to actually want to do things?

When soul exhaustion sets in, even activities you once loved start feeling like items on a to-do list. Your Saturday farmers market trip becomes a chore. Photography walks feel forced. That book you were excited about sits unread on your nightstand because opening it feels like work.

I noticed this a few months back when my partner suggested we try a new vegan restaurant I'd been wanting to check out. My first thought wasn't excitement but something closer to "do we have to?"

That's not normal fatigue talking. That's your soul waving a white flag.

2) You're going through the motions

You wake up, make coffee, answer emails, eat lunch, work some more, cook dinner, watch something, sleep. Repeat.

The routines that once grounded you now feel like you're on autopilot. You're doing all the right things, checking all the boxes, but there's no presence behind any of it.

It's like being a passenger in your own life.

When I catch myself photographing a sunset without actually seeing it, just trying to get the shot for content, I know something's off. The doing has replaced the being entirely.

3) Small things feel overwhelming

Someone asks you a simple question and your mind blanks. A minor inconvenience, like forgetting your reusable bags at home, feels catastrophic. Responding to a text message takes three days because you can't find the energy to form words.

Soul exhaustion strips away your capacity to handle even basic demands.

Your grandmother calls and you let it go to voicemail, not because you don't love her, but because you can't muster the emotional bandwidth for conversation. A friend suggests grabbing dinner and the thought of coordinating plans makes you want to curl up in bed.

Everything becomes too much.

4) You've lost your sense of purpose

Why are you doing any of this again?

When your soul is depleted, the meaning drains out of everything. Work that once felt important now seems pointless. Goals you were excited about feel arbitrary. That thing you were building toward? You can't remember why it mattered.

I spent three years as an aggressive vegan evangelist because I had such clear purpose. Then I burned out spectacularly and spent another year questioning everything. Without purpose, I was just a guy who didn't eat cheese. So what?

Purpose is soul fuel. When you're running on fumes, it's the first thing to disappear.

5) You can't access joy

Good things happen and you feel... nothing.

Your nephew's birthday party is adorable, but you're numb. An indie band you love releases new music and you can't get through the first track. Someone brings you your favorite dessert and you eat it mechanically, tasting nothing.

It's not depression exactly, though there's overlap. It's more like your emotional range has narrowed to a flat line somewhere between "fine" and "tired."

Joy requires energy. When your soul is exhausted, there's simply nothing left to feel with.

6) You're avoiding everyone

Canceling plans feels better than keeping them.

You've stopped initiating conversations. Group chats go unread. You've perfected the art of the Irish goodbye. The idea of being around people, even people you love, feels draining before it even happens.

This isn't introversion or healthy alone time. This is hiding.

I once lost friendships during my evangelical vegan phase by pushing too hard. But I've also lost connection by pulling too far back, by deciding it was easier to disappear than to show up depleted. Neither extreme works.

7) Your body is trying to tell you something

Headaches. Tension in your shoulders. That persistent knot in your stomach. Sleep that doesn't refresh you. An immune system that seems to have given up.

Your body and soul aren't separate entities. When one is exhausted, the other speaks up.

I've mentioned this before, but I learned this lesson hard when I first went vegan eight years ago. I was so focused on the ethical transformation that I ignored the physical signals my body was sending. Turned out, my soul needed rest as much as my diet needed B12.

Physical symptoms aren't always physical problems. Sometimes they're your soul's last resort for getting your attention.

8) You're numbing out constantly

Scrolling for hours. Binge-watching shows you don't even like. Eating when you're not hungry. Shopping for things you don't need. Anything to not feel the emptiness.

We all have our ways of checking out. But when numbing becomes your default state, when you can't sit with yourself for five minutes without reaching for a distraction, your soul is telling you something.

There's a difference between rest and avoidance. Rest restores you. Avoidance just delays the reckoning.

9) Nothing sounds appealing

"What do you want to do this weekend?"

"I don't know. Nothing really."

When your soul is exhausted, desire itself disappears. You don't want to go anywhere or do anything. But you also don't want to stay home. You're not hungry but nothing sounds good. You want something to change but you lack the energy to imagine what.

It's a peculiar kind of paralysis. Not quite depression's heavy blanket, but more like everything has been drained of color and you're waiting for someone to tell you what matters again.

10) You feel disconnected from yourself

Who even are you anymore?

The things that used to define you feel foreign. Your values seem theoretical. When someone asks what you're passionate about, you draw a blank. You look at old photos and barely recognize the person staring back.

Soul exhaustion creates this weird distance between you and yourself. You're present but not quite there. Going through life but not quite in it.

I experienced this deeply after my crisis moment at my grandmother's Thanksgiving when she cried over my rejection of her food. I'd been so sure of who I was as a vegan warrior that when that identity crumbled, I had no idea what was left underneath.

Conclusion

Soul exhaustion isn't a character flaw or a sign of weakness. It's what happens when you've been giving more than you've been receiving for too long.

The good news? Souls are remarkably resilient. They want to heal. They're just waiting for you to notice they need help.

If you recognized yourself in these signs, consider this your invitation to pause. Not to fix everything immediately or optimize your way to wholeness, but simply to acknowledge that you're running on empty.

Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is admit you need rest.

Your soul will thank you for it.