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Burnout Almost Broke Him. How Jon Rose Got His Life Force Back.
Is burnout killing your life force?
Are you afraid changing things up will blow things up?
And could burnout be driven by emotions we’re trying to avoid?
In 2012, Jon Rose appeared on The New Man. At that time, he had stepped away from professional surfing and found his calling as a humanitarian. Everything seemed to be on track, except that the experiences in disaster and war zones were creating a disaster within him. Today, we dig into what burnout looked like for him, how he had the rug pulled out from under him, and what ultimately helped him get his life force back.
In this interview:
- Dealing with burnout
- First responders and trauma
- The toll of 47 disasters and 5 conflicts in 15 years
- Believing emotions are bad
- The difficulty of admitting burnout
Plus:
- What’s the one thing you need to do this work?
- The body knows before the mind admits it
- Nature and psychedelic therapy
- “The best decisions I’ve ever made.”
- What had him stop drinking
- How do you get your wholeness back?
- “The more you lean in, the better it gets”
Learn more about Jon Rose and his Healing the Helper keynote.
Click here to listen to Jon’s interview from 2012.
About Jon Rose
Jon Rose is a former professional surfer, humanitarian leader, and founder of Waves For Water—one of the world’s most respected clean-water organizations, responsible for helping millions of people across 51 countries and responding to more than 40 major disasters.
For over 15 years, Jon operated on the front lines of humanitarian crises, from the Haiti earthquake to the conflict in Afghanistan to the devastation in Nepal. His approach—rooted in what he calls “guerrilla humanitarianism”—led him to design agile, ground-tested systems that deliver support to some of the hardest places on earth. But the relentless pace and accumulated trauma eventually came at a profound personal cost, leaving him operating at what he describes as “10% life-force capacity.”
Stepping back from active disaster response marked the beginning of a new chapter. Today, Jon shares the insights, failures, and hard-won lessons from a life lived in extremes—bridging the worlds of humanitarian work, leadership, wellbeing, and human resilience. He does this through keynote speaking, his advisory and consultancy practice Odyssey 45, and a new docu-series, Unpacking.
Whether in corporate boardrooms or global disaster zones, Jon brings the same clarity, composure, and conviction that guided him through life-and-death decision-making. His work continues to inspire organizations, leaders, and individuals navigating pressure, purpose, and transformation.
