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For the past few months, EastEnders has been quietly building one of its most powerful storylines in years, and no, I’m not talking about the explosion, the wedding, or the massive character exits that marked the show’s 40th anniversary. I’m talking about Phil Mitchell. The slow unravelling of a man who’s spent decades bottling it all up, trying to carry everything on his own, until he just couldn’t anymore.
His breakdown didn’t come out of nowhere. You could see it coming in the small details: the silence, the isolation, the weight of unspoken grief. And then, during the anniversary week, it all cracked open. About a month later, we pick up Phil’s story again and see what his time in the mental health unit has been like. In one scene, he’s in a group therapy session, being asked what he would do if he were carrying a car part that was too heavy. He replies, “Put it down.”
That moment, realising you’re carrying something that’s too heavy and choosing to let it go, is exactly what the Ten of Wands represents in tarot. It’s a card that shows up when you’ve been pushing through with too much on your plate. When you’re carrying burdens that are quietly wrecking you from the inside. It’s not about failure. It’s about the warning signs we ignore until something forces us to stop.
That moment got me thinking, not just about Phil, but about all the times I’ve seen the same thing play out in real life. In clients. In myself. In the cards. That’s what this post is about: how Phil’s story lines up with the Ten of Wands, what that card means, and why it matters. Tarot isn’t about telling you what’s going to happen. It’s about holding up a mirror to what’s already happening, even if you haven’t admitted it yet.
How EastEnders Built Phil Mitchell’s Breakdown Storyline
Phil’s Suicide Attempt in the Middle of the Anniversary Chaos
EastEnders didn’t just give us one storyline for its 40th. It gave us everything. The Queen Vic exploded. Billy and Honey finally tied the knot. Sonia gave birth to baby Julia. Martin Fowler died. Every episode was packed. But while all the chaos exploded around the Square, Phil was quietly falling apart.
He’d been off for a while. Distant. Snapping. Sleeping less. Struggling to keep up the act. The end of his marriage to Kat hit him hard, and watching Sharon move on with Teddy didn’t help. Ben being in prison added to the weight, and the ghosts of his dad, Eric, never really went away.
This wasn’t a sudden mental health crisis. It was a slow erosion. A man who’s spent a lifetime trying to be the strong one finally running out of strength.
Linda Was the One Who Found Him
In the middle of all that chaos, no one really saw it coming. Not until it was nearly too late. Phil disappeared, leaving behind suicide notes for Ben, Louise, Grant, and Sharon. It was Linda who found him in The Arches. Alone. Broken. Ready to give up completely.
She called for help. That’s how he ended up in a mental health facility. Voluntarily, as an informal patient. And for once, he wasn’t dragged somewhere against his will. He went because he had nothing left.
What followed was one of the quietest and most honest portrayals of male mental health I’ve ever seen on TV. No melodrama. Just stillness, silence, and slow, uncomfortable truth.
Nigel Helped Him Speak for the First Time
One of the most important parts of the story came not from a doctor, or a therapist, or even his brother. It came from Nigel.
Nigel Bates returned to the Square for the first time in over two decades, bringing with him his own struggle with early-onset dementia. Living with Phil now, Nigel’s quiet understanding of what it’s like to face difficult truths helped Phil confront his own buried pain. Their shared vulnerability created a space for Phil’s breakthrough
And it’s Nigel, not Grant, who finally gets through to him. He doesn’t do it by force. He just sits beside Phil and talks about what he’s going through. Quietly. Honestly. And that space, that honesty is what starts to unlock something in Phil.
The Mental Health Unit Episode Showed the Turning Point
One of the most moving episodes aired on Thursday 20th March, giving us a rare look at Phil’s month inside the mental health unit. It was quiet, gentle, and deeply reflective. We saw him in group therapy, sharing space with others who’d been through their own storms. During a group therapy session, Phil was asked by the therapist what he would do if he was carrying a car part that was too heavy. He answered, “Put it down.”
That moment, the clarity of it, the honesty was the breakthrough. It’s exactly what the Ten of Wands represents in tarot. The moment you stop pretending you can carry it all and finally admit you can’t.
By the end of the episode, Linda, Nigel, Billy and Lexi arrived at the unit to visit Phil, only to find he wasn’t there. He’d gone to his parents’ graves. And it’s there that Phil finally lets go. Of the anger. Of the guilt. Of the years of trying to be the man his dad never was. He puts it down.
That’s it. That’s the Ten of Wands. Right there.
Understanding Burnout Through the Ten of Wands Tarot Card
The Ten of Wands Is Tarot’s Ultimate Burnout Card
In the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, Pamela Colman Smith draws the Ten of Wands as a figure hunched over, barely able to carry the weight of a bundle of sticks. They’re not lying on the ground. They’re still going. But you can see it in their posture, they’re seconds away from collapse.
In the Fifth Spirit Tarot, it’s even more visceral. The Ten of Wands is a bonfire. Everything’s burning. It’s not just about carrying too much. It’s about the point where you start to lose parts of yourself in the process.
That’s what this card is about. Not weakness. Not failure. But the moment you realise you’ve been holding more than you can bear.
Burnout Builds Slowly, Then Breaks Everything
Most people don’t see their burnout coming. It creeps up. You start skipping meals. Cancelling plans. Forgetting small things. You get snappy, or numb, or both. You tell yourself you’re fine. That you’ve handled worse. That you can keep going.
And then something tips it.
That was Phil. Functioning, until he wasn’t. Showing up, until he couldn’t. That’s what makes this storyline so relatable. It’s not about someone who ‘goes mad’. It’s about someone who keeps trying to hold it together until the effort becomes its own kind of collapse.
Tarot Doesn’t Predict, It Points to What You Already Know
The Ten of Wands doesn’t come up to tell you the future. It shows you the present. It reflects what you’re dragging around. And sometimes, you don’t even realise how heavy it’s gotten until a card puts it in front of your face.
That’s why I find this card so powerful. It doesn’t say “This will happen.” It says “This is happening.” And if you don’t put something down soon, you won’t be able to keep going.
My Personal Experience With Burnout and the Ten of Wands
I Crashed Without Seeing It Coming
Back in 2022, I was working for a certain fruit-themed tech company. I was in therapy. Trying to buy a house. Dealing with undiagnosed autism and ADHD. From the outside, it probably looked like I was doing well. I kept telling myself I was fine. If I just got through this week, this month, this one big task, things would settle down.
They didn’t. I went on holiday and everything caught up with me. My body gave out. My brain stopped working the way it used to. I wasn’t just tired, I was completely burnt out. I didn’t bounce back quickly. I didn’t bounce back at all. For eight months, I was out of action. Couldn’t work. Could barely think straight.
And it was only in that silence that I started to understand what was really going on. That I was autistic. That I probably had ADHD too. That I had been masking for years, bending myself out of shape to survive, and it had finally broken me.
Even the Stuff You Love Can Weigh You Down
Now I work for myself. I do readings, I write, I create content that means something to me. And honestly? I’m much happier. But it’s still a lot. Because it’s not just reading tarot. It’s designing websites, writing blog posts, editing videos, managing bookings, answering emails, and keeping up with social media. All of it lands on me.
There’s this myth that if you love what you do, you’ll never burn out. But that’s bullshit. Passion doesn’t protect you from exhaustion. Sometimes it even makes it worse. Because you care too much to stop. You don’t want to drop the ball on something that matters to you.
And when you’re neurodivergent, it’s easy to hyperfocus your way into burnout without even noticing it. You say yes to things because you can do them, not because you should. You take on too much because you’ve done it before. You forget that you still have limits.
I Still Carry Too Much, But I Know When to Stop Now
The Ten of Wands still comes up for me. Not in a scolding way, but as a reminder. A gentle nudge from the universe to check what I’m carrying.
These days, I try to listen. To notice the signs earlier. To rest before I hit the wall. I’m not perfect at it. I still take on too much sometimes. I still push myself when I should pause. But I’m learning.
The card reminds me that I’m allowed to let things go. That I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. That my worth isn’t measured by how much I can carry.
And I share that not because I’ve got it all figured out, but because maybe you’re in that space too. The space between functioning and falling apart. And if you are, you’re not alone.
The Reading I Posted Before Phil’s Breakdown…
The Social Media Reading I Did for Phil
In August 2024, I recorded a mock tarot reading for Phil Mitchell and posted it on social media. It was a creative way to show how I read cards without using a real client. It wasn’t meant to be serious or predictive, just a bit of fun and a chance to explain how I interpret the cards.
It wasn’t meant to be serious. But the cards didn’t mess around.
The Cards Were a Warning, Even If He Wasn’t Real
I pulled the Eight of Wands, the Moon reversed, and the Seven of Cups reversed. Instantly, I saw it: overwhelm, avoidance, despair. The Moon reversed is classic emotional suppression. The Seven of Cups reversed feels like drowning in confusion. And the Eight of Wands, that speeding energy, felt more like chaos than momentum.
Together, they screamed: this person is carrying too much, and it’s about to come crashing down.
And then six months later… well, you saw what happened.
I Don’t Think Tarot Predicts, But It Always Reveals
I’m not saying I saw it coming. That’s not what tarot is. But those cards? They reflected something very real.
Tarot doesn’t show you the future. It shows you your now. And if you listen to it, sometimes you can make different choices before it’s too late.
Phil didn’t get that chance. But maybe someone else will.
Why Tarot Helps Us Spot Burnout Before It Hits
Tarot Helps You Say the Stuff You’ve Been Avoiding
Saying “I’m not okay” out loud feels terrifying. Even to yourself. Especially when you’re used to being the strong one, the one who holds it together. So instead, you tell yourself it’s not that bad. That you’ve handled worse. That if you just keep pushing, it’ll pass. And that’s when it gets dangerous.
What tarot does (when it’s done right) is give shape to the things you haven’t been able to name. It reflects things back to you that your brain has been trying to bury. When a card lands that says, “You’re carrying too much,” it doesn’t come as judgement. It comes as recognition. A mirror held up to your soul.
And that’s why it works. Because it’s not someone else telling you what to feel. It’s something in you recognising the truth of it.
The Ten of Wands Gives You Permission to Stop
There’s so much pressure to keep going. To be productive. To stay strong. Even in healing spaces, even doing work you love, it’s easy to believe you have to keep grinding.
But the Ten of Wands doesn’t reward that hustle. It interrupts it. It tells you that enough is enough. That you’ve carried more than your fair share. And now it’s time to stop.
It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re human. And you deserve rest.
Phil needed that message. He needed to hear that he didn’t have to be the one holding everything together anymore. That he could let go. That it was safe to fall apart. And so do we. Every one of us who’s been taught to carry more than we were ever meant to.
Don’t Wait Until You’re in The Arches
If you’re resonating with any of this, if you feel like you’re running on fumes or quietly drowning under responsibilities you didn’t ask for, you don’t have to wait until you break.
Phil’s story hit hard because so many of us live like that. We pretend we’re fine until something explodes. But what if you could spot it sooner? What if you could listen to the whispers instead of waiting for the scream?
That’s what tarot is for. It’s not fortune-telling. It’s insight. It’s an emotional x-ray. It’s a way of looking at your life and saying, “Right. What needs to change before I lose myself in this?”
Book a reading. With me. With someone you trust. Sit with the cards. Let them show you what you’ve been holding. And then choose what to put down.
Because if even Phil Mitchell can ask for help, maybe you can too.
