Good analogy presented here, except some situations can be far worse - what he's describing is best case scenario. You can very easily end up in toxic teams/situations or with a toxic boss that makes every day miserable for absolutely no reason. Plus all that other stuff.

Burnout is real and if I get a whiff for it I immediately seek other options. Having experienced it before, it took about 6 months to recover. There are a lot of warning signs I had ignored when it happened.

Unlike the author, I don't find any particular joy in programming for the sake of it. It is difficult though, sometimes you can have an extraordinarily complex task that requires a flash of inspiration to solve. The kind of rumination that leads to these flashes typically comes to me in non-working hours, so I feel like I am never "off." You can't just force that kind of thing. If you're burnt out, that dynamic is even worse.