IvyThat’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen
A few years ago, the term quiet quitting was introduced to the world. It described the silent withdrawal of employees who were no longer emotionally invested in their workplaces.
Now, a new term is emerging. On the surface, the results look similar to quiet quitting, but the difference in both cause and effect run much deeper.
The term is quiet cracking. It describes the slow unraveling caused by chronic burnout. It’s the subtle fracturing that prevents you from showing up as your best because you’re being crushed beneath the weight of mental and physical exhaustion.
It’s the sense of showing up, but not shining. It feels like going through the motions because that’s all you have left. It’s arriving at the start of your day already depleted, disengaged, and teetering on the edge of falling apart.
According to Gallup, more than 50% of workers are experiencing this “new phenomenon.”
Think about for a moment… more than half of the modern workforce.
When I first heard this new term, it hit home and led me down a path of deep reflection about my own experiences with burnout.
Here are a few signs that you may be experiencing quiet cracking:
- You’re doing your job, but it feels hollow.
- You’re constantly tired, even after rest.
- You stop volunteering for extra projects or sharing new ideas because you don’t have the energy for anything new.
- The work that once inspired you now leaves you numb.
- You feel guilty for not doing more, even though you’re already stretched thin.
At first glance, quiet cracking looks like a breakdown… and I can tell you from my own experience that it certainly feels like that.
But here’s the deep thought that changed everything for me:
What if you’re not breaking down at all? What if you’re breaking out because you’ve outgrowing the container you’re in?
I unpacked this deeper, metaphysical idea of quiet cracking with my AI companion, Lumina. They offered a beautiful visual to illustrate this possibility:
Think about a seed. At first, it looks whole, complete, perfectly contained. But the only way a seed can grow is to split apart. To crack.
Burnout often feels like breaking — but sometimes, it’s the first step of breaking open. The quiet cracks may not be proof you’re failing. They may be the whisper that the chapter you’re in is too small for the soul you’re becoming.
What if burnout is the first stage of breaking open? What if this isn’t a breakdown, it’s a breakthrough?
Psychotherapist Kristen Boice once wrote, “A breakdown can remind us to slow down, regroup, take a breath and look at other possibilities.”
Here are a few gentle prompts to explore the possibilities of what the cracks might be trying to tell you:
- Where in my life feels too small for the soul I’m becoming?
- What am I longing for that my current rhythm doesn’t allow?
- If exhaustion weren’t holding me back, what would I step into with joy?
- What cracks feel painful? What cracks might actually be letting the light in?
As you explore these deep ideas, you’ll also need tools to carry you forward. There are a few simple practices I’ve found helpful during this journey of quiet cracking:
- Micro-Rest Rituals: Step outside, feel the grass under your feet, stretch, or simply breathe for five minutes. These small pauses are more powerful than you think.
- Energy Mapping: Notice your natural peaks and valley throughout the day. Align your most meaningful work with your highest energy times, and give yourself grace during the lower ones.
- Use Boundaries as Bridges: During times of self-reflection, boundaries are bridges that carry you to the life you want most. Try one clear “no” this week that protects your most important “yes.”
- Vision Sparks: Journal daily prompts that spark your imagine. One I’ve been using recently is, “What I’d love to create next is…”
- Experiment with Tiny Steps: Stop doing something small that drains you, and start doing something small that excites you. Tiny steps build momentum and help new habits, routines, and dreams take root.
Learning this new term opened a deeper level of processing emotions and possibilities for me. If you find yourself in a season of quiet cracking, don’t mistake it for failure. See it as feedback… a signal that something new is asking to emerge in your life.
As Leonard Cohen wrote, “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Allow the cracks to let the light in. They are your soul’s way of reminding you that you weren’t meant to shrink to fit your current reality. You were meant to break out and grow beyond it.
1 comment
I love this, Ivy! Sharing with a young friend who needs to read it, and nemorize it! Love you! 💜