There’s a misconception that mediums live in a constant state of calm clarity, effortlessly tuning in whenever we want. People assume we’re immune to stress, chaos, or emotional overwhelm. As if our spiritual life overrides our human one.

Let me say this plainly: mediums are human. And yes, we burn out.
Deeply. Completely. Sometimes to the point where the connection you’ve spent years building suddenly feels out of reach.

This year, I experienced that firsthand.

My Year Became a Perfect Storm

It all started around February. One thing didn’t just happen. Everything started unraveling at once, like a chain reaction I couldn’t stop. My France trip, which I’d been looking forward to for months, fell apart halfway through because of lies and manipulation. I ended up stuck living with someone who treated me terribly, trying to navigate a situation I couldn’t control.

From there, it was nonstop motion. I flew back to LA searching for a new place to restart, found nothing, flew back, then went to Asia and back again to New York, all while trying to keep my life together. Somewhere in the middle of this chaos, my mother’s cancer came back. Even though my relationship with her has always been complicated, hearing the news hit me like a truck – another layer of stress I didn’t have space to process.

Then came the move. I spent an entire month hauling most of my things myself: fragile, heavy crystals, my altar, and everything else that mattered, even though I technically had a mover. You know how careful we are with our crystals and sacred items. Day after day, I was physically drained and mentally on edge. On top of that, I launched my spiritual YouTube channel, committing to weekly videos that demanded focus, energy, and presence, all while my body and mind were screaming for rest.

And just when I thought I might finally catch a break, the water heater at my new home broke for a full week, and dealing with my landlord felt like surviving another level of chaos altogether. It wasn’t just stressful; it felt like life had staged a perfect storm to see how much I could endure.

What Burnout Feels Like as a Medium

My entire upper body felt like solid stone. My neck, shoulders, back, jaw, and head, all locked up from months of bracing.

And my mediumship? It flatlined. Not weakened. Not “a little off.” Completely off. It got so bad that I had to perform an emergency shutdown of my practice and stop taking clients just to prevent mistakes. My connection, my clarity, my usual flow, everything was gone. For the first time in years, I had to admit that my gift wasn’t functioning under the stress I was living through.

When a medium burns out, it’s not your soul that shifts first, it’s your nervous system. Your body is the instrument, and when life becomes nonstop chaos, it tightens, shields, and shuts down.

For me, it started quietly. My mind got louder. The inner space I usually drop into for readings vanished. I’d sit to connect and feel… nothing. No presence, no pull, just tension in my chest like concrete. My intuition faded. The visuals I rely on became dim or blank. Impressions I used to get easily felt muffled, like I was listening through a wall. Spirit wasn’t gone , but my system was just too overloaded to hear.

Months of moving, traveling, conflict, and hauling heavy things had turned my upper body into armor. Shoulders locked, jaw clenched, mind scanning for the next disaster. Armor is great for survival, terrible for mediumship.

When I finally tested my accuracy? Completely off. Humbling, even after years of practice. But that’s the reality of this work. You know when your connection is sharp, and you know when it isn’t. You can’t force a channel that’s past its limit.

Burnout doesn’t disconnect you from spirit. It disconnects you from your own instrument. Mediumship isn’t gone; it just can’t break through the noise when life has taken everything out of you.

The Human Side of Mediumship

Behind the spiritual insight, the clear messages, the guidance, there is a human being managing a human life, just like anyone else.

Mediums aren’t floating on air every day. We deal with grief, fear, instability, exhaustion, and relationships that hurt us. We still have to move homes, travel, argue, process, survive, and pick ourselves back up. The difference is that our work requires energetic precision, and when life becomes too heavy, that precision gets disrupted.

It’s not unprofessional. It’s human. And being human is what makes a psychic or medium trustworthy in the first place.

Burnout Doesn’t Erase a Gift. It Asks for Rest

I’ve spent years reaching 99% accuracy, training, refining, and dedicating myself to my craft. A year of chaos doesn’t undo that. It simply pushed my system past its limit.

Now that I’m finally sitting down, truly sitting. Life has finally given me a chance to slow down, to pamper myself, and to reconnect with my own energy through my energy healing work. My body is still releasing the shock of this year, and the channel is quiet, but not gone.

Mediumship always returns when the medium returns to themselves.

And that’s where I am now: coming back to myself……

Kari Light ❤

© 2025 karilight.com. All rights reserved.

Photo taken in Nice, France 2025.