3 Steps

I could tell you it will be easy and that a simple test of endurance would be how you conquer it, but that would be a lie. True and utter exhaustion that surfaces from only showing the world the appropriate version of you is a self-fulfilling prophecy because by the time you realise you're doing it, you're already deep into your 30s or 40s with a lifetime of practice being this other thing and now you've decided rock bottom is far enough so it's time to undo all of it ignoring the fact that this prophecy is complete.

Good luck!

That's the spectator's wish for you; that it all goes well. It doesn't, it gets harder and harder and the personal definitions that one has worked so hard to craft over so many years slowly become caustic which makes it difficult to breathe no matter the room. Forcing the issue doesn't help either because the required exertion at that point is but a pipe dream. The surest way to engage this process is to withdraw entirely, from the things you believe are you and from the things you used to do to balance.

With those removed, who are you?

We gloss over the effort as a society because it's one of the few aspects of being human that we can't truly describe or medicate using the scientific method. Sure, we have a massive body of work that attempts to describe human psychology and the maladies that follow when fractures appear but what we don't yet know how to do repeatedly without side effects (medicine) is how to issue an instruction to someone who has found themselves in that place, at rock bottom with no guide rope to the top.

Pace, acceptance, and honesty (in that order) is your medicine. What this looks like in practice is as follows:

𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐞 - You must slow down. If you let your ego lead, life will slow you down with force and that is the part that is entirely unnecessary. Drop the ego and slow the fuck down. You do not HAVE TO do ANYTHING! While you may have this perception that everything requires doing, you may have missed the point which is that you are a rhythmic being who grows at mother nature's pace. If you fight with time here you will lose. Do what you must to stay afloat but your primary objective is to slow down. If this paragraph resonates with you then the guess is that you are not in a position to argue with the logic presented here, so heed the wisdom it offers.

𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 - Life will come sit by you, it'll hold your hand, like a long lost friend, and it will invite you to face what you can control and what you cannot. If your ego gets in the way, you will miss the invitation because you'll be so hell bent on pushing through using some finite extrinsic motivation and willpower that you'll find yourself on a ledge with nothing but a mental crimp to latch onto and if that's you then don't expect that grip to hold, it won't. Pace and acceptance are linked because the more you slow, the greater your perspective and this is a gentler path to acceptance than the former where you try force everything. Acceptance doesn't imply that you no longer have preference, it simply means that a piece of your shadow self has surfaced bringing a different story to the dynamic which you can no longer ignore. While you're navigating this acceptance business it also bodes well to consider the parts of you that requires acceptance. It's not sufficient to accept only external things because those do not require your participation. The inner you however; you don't get to escape. Firstly because you've cultivated that version for so many years but also because you're a passenger to it's force and you'll do well to know that it multiplies in strength the longer you let it breathe. Accept what you can and let everything else go; you can re-engage if necessary when the strength to do so has returned.

𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 - What you are dishonest about in times like this becomes the Orwellian machine that surveilles your every move. You will KNOW when you are being dishonest and what is being referred to here is not lying to a friend about why you cannot make a dinner you had planned; but rather how well you are or are not able to manage where you are. If you cannot today, then don't. If you cannot tomorrow, then don't. If you cannot for the next three weeks, then don't. Your sovereign right is to seek, discover, and cultivate balance and if you're dishonest with yourself about how close or how far away you are from that place then you are not in a place where anyone can help you, let alone life itself as a semi-passive witness to your struggle. By being honest with yourself, small tasks become non-negotiable but doable and over time these amount to larger and more meaningful outcomes that compound to rebuild the foundation you lost. 

Life is unfeeling at the best of times but it will always mirror the experience you asked for, whether you agree that you did or not. If it has become clear to you that this is where you're at, then slow down, accept, and be honest. The angels will applaud you.