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Meghan McCain Laments 'Overworking' Her Entire Adult Life: 'I Have Been the Queen of Burnout'

meghan-mccain
meghan-mccain

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Meghan McCain is calling on more people to adopt a healthier work-life balance.

The 36-year-old exiting co-host of The View made an emotional plea via Instagram on Sunday to "stop glamorizing overworking" and "burnout," which she has admittedly battled.

"The absence of sleep, good diet, exercise, relaxation, and time with friends and family isn't something to be applauded," her post read. "Too many people wear their burnout as a badge of honor and it needs to change."

McCain elaborated on her position in a lengthy caption alongside the text, specifically noting the difficulty of balancing the drive to work and the need for self-care.

RELATED: Meghan McCain Posts About 'Taking Big Risks' After Announcing Exit from The View

"This has been me my entire adult life," she confessed. "Trust me I love working and the satisfaction I get from it but I have been the queen of burnout for a long, long time. It only took my dad dying of terminal brain cancer, suffering a horrendous miscarriage, a global pandemic where I thought I would most likely die of covid while pregnant and then experiencing first time motherhood isolated and alone in quarantine for me to receive this knowledge and really start believing it."

She added: "Trust me, I believe it now. I also feel my mortality and the finite amount of time a human lifespan is more than ever. Also, that there's nothing in this world guaranteed - most especially tomorrow."

McCain's run with The View will come to an end after nearly four years when the season finishes later this month. She announced her departure on July 1.

"This was not an easy decision," McCain said on the show. "It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer, and talking to my family and my close friends, and, you know, look — COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way, at least for me, the way I am looking at life, the way I'm living my life, the way I want my life to look like."

Sunny Hostin
Sunny Hostin

Jenny Anderson/ABC via Getty

McCain became a permanent co-host in October 2017. She said the experience has been "one of the hands down greatest, most exhilarating, wonderful privileges" of her life.

During her announcement, McCain revealed her late father, Sen. John McCain, was the one that encouraged her to join the show in the first place. It was one of the last things he told her before he died of cancer in 2018 at age 81.

RELATED: Meghan McCain Says Leaving The View 'Was Not an Easy Decision' as She Settles Into Life in D.C.

"I didn't want to join the show, as I think I've talked about in the past, and it was my dad who encouraged me to do it," she said. "He said that I could never give up an opportunity to work on such an iconic show and to work with Whoopi Goldberg, and he was right."

McCain teased her future plans on Twitter a week later: "I pride myself on always taking big risks, rolling the dice, and making unpredictable life and career choices."

Meghan McCain, Dr Fauci, Sunny Hostin
Meghan McCain, Dr Fauci, Sunny Hostin

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic Meghan McCain

In Sunday's post, McCain made it clear that she is working on herself while still focusing on her career, highlighting the importance of balance in life.

"Stop glamorizing overworking," she wrote. "Please."

RELATED: Meghan McCain's Most Memorable Moments on The View

The lockdowns sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic have led others to rethink their own work-life balance as well. Nearly a third of workers (30%) would consider finding new work if they were forced to return to the office full time, according to an international Ipsos survey of 12,500 people for the World Economic Forum.

But a recent McKinsey survey reports nine out of ten organizations are switching to hybrid models, despite employees' increased desire to work from home.

A General Strike is planned for October 15 to promote improved working conditions across the United States.