Dame Jacinda Ardern says she wasn’t dealing with burnout when she stepped down as prime minister earlier this year.
The 43-year-old made headlines around the world when she announced her decision in January to resign from the role, saying she "no longer had enough in the tank" to do the job justice but there were colleagues who could.
In an interview with Good Morning America yesterday, the former world leader said her decision to step down from politics was not due to burnout.
“I could have kept going but for me, having been through a period where we did experience a lot of crises in New Zealand, it was whether or not I had enough to do the job well,” she explained.
“The answer for me, personally, was no. It was time for someone else, so a bit different than burnout.”
She said she was "overwhelmed" by the response around the world following the announcement of her resignation.
"It triggered a discussion about how we make these decisions, and I’ve had – particularly a few women – say to me ‘thank you for showing me that it’s OK to say that I’m tired’ or ‘it’s OK to say I don’t have enough in the tank anymore to do a job well.’
“I think we carry a huge sense of responsibility to just keep going.”
Since leaving politics, Dame Jacinda has been in Boston, in the US, where she has taken up three fellowships at Harvard University, and is continuing her work with the Christchurch Call.
She has also been working on spending more time with her family.
“One of the things I wanted to do was to be more present for my family, so I’m certainly trying to do that.”
In June, Dame Jacinda announced a book was in the works.
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