I am a rabbit trapped in the headlights

I can’t see the wood for the trees

It’s all become such a tangled web of a mess and a blur

My mind is awash and a whirr

A swirl of thoughts

That I can’t straighten out

That I can’t make sense of

That I can’t sort through

There’s too many to hold inside

That they’re seeping out

They’re overwhelming me

A veritable deluge

That has become so huge

It’s threatening to sweep me away

You’ve overloaded me to the point I can’t cope

I can’t function any more

I’m a shell of my former self

A bundle of bones and frayed nerves

A wreck crashed up and broken on the shore

There’s nothing left inside

I’m empty

I feel like I’ve died

You’ve burned me out

You’ve snuffed out my light

The one that shined so bright

That was so excited and full of joy

To have found my dream job at last

The one that everything I had done in the past had led to

My hobby, my passion, my bliss

How could it reduce me to this?

You’ve pushed me to the brink

I can no longer think

Straight

Or concentrate

My thoughts are muddled and confused

They’re racing away

Like a deer

In fear for its life

I can’t sleep

I can’t eat

I can’t face another day

I feel sick

I feel nauseous

At the thought of going in to work

I’m becoming more and more ill every day

I’m slowly fading away

Buried under a pile of things to do

And emails to respond to

I am swamped

Drowning in a quagmire

My situation is that dire

That it is suffocating me

And I can’t come up for air

I can’t breathe

And I can’t take any leave

I have to just keep soldiering

And plodding on

Hoping

Kidding myself

That somehow I’ll manage

I’ll get through

I’ll get it all done

You piled it up

And heaped it on

You didn’t consult me or ask

You just gave me any old task

You didn’t want to do

Because I was clearly so competent and able

But now I’ve become unstable

I’m rocking and reeling

From yet another blow

But I’ve got nowhere else to go

I’m between a rock and a hard place

I have no room to manoeuvre

You’ve boxed me

Cornered me

And hemmed me in

To the point where I’m unravelling

Like a ball of string

I’m so taut

And wound up tight like a spring

A Jack-in-the-Box

I’m restless

I can’t focus

I can’t sit down

Or stay still

And now I’m frozen

I’m rooted to the spot

I am on the verge of collapse

I don’t think I can take or handle this anymore

I am exhausted

You’ve worn me down

And out

I am flat out for the count on the floor

I know you’re trying to push me out the door

I know you want me to go 

I’ve become so reliably unreliable

Such a liability

Isn’t it a pity

That someone who made such a promising start

Who had such capability and potential

Has fallen apart

So you make it untenable

You find my Achilles heel

The one that would prove the last straw that broke the camel’s back

You knew exactly the right button to push

And when push comes to shove

I’m gone

I resign myself to a cruel, cold, heartless fate

I had too much on my plate

More than anyone could bear

And you didn’t care

So I give up

I give in

I quit

You’ve won

I’m done.