It would be incredible if every time you were burned out, you could stop working and run off to rest in a magical Cinderella fantasyland where talking mice take care of all your problems. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most of us. It is not always possible to stop working when you are burned out, and actually by staying, you may be doing yourself a favor in the long run. If you take a break from the toxic environment that was causing your burnout and then try to go back when you are feeling better, it is likely you will end up burned out all over again. This is because regardless of how well rested you may feel, you did not take the time to do the work required to change the behavior that caused you to become burned out originally. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains how to recover from burnout while still working and why it may actually be a good idea to continue working while healing from burnout in certain cases.   There are both internal and external burnout causes and it is important to take a look at all of them when assessing how to move forward with burnout recovery. Cait recommends doing an Internal/External Burnout Risk Factors Assessment which can be found on the FRIED website in order to determine first steps. Some internal factors to consider are people-pleasing behaviors and perfectionism, whereas external factors are things like micromanagement and mismatched values. By taking a look at what factors are actually influencing your burnout, you can narrow it down and pick the easiest place to begin making changes. Instead of trying to do everything all at once and maximize your burnout recovery, slow down and take a step back. Focus on just one burnout cause from the list and make one small shift in your life at a time. The caveat to this is that if the external causes of your burnout are due to an inherently toxic work environment, you will need to formulate an exit strategy eventually. It is not possible to completely recover from burnout in a work environment where your mental health is perpetually under attack.   If you are burned out and unable to leave your job even temporarily, there are still ways to work on burnout recovery. Determine which internal and external factors apply to you and start making small shifts in your life based on those results. This way you are making small, manageable changes and not taking too much away from your energy that it leaves you depleted at work. By making the necessary behavioral shifts while still in your work environment, you may have a more smooth transition into burnout recovery than if you had taken a break or left your job. Quotes · “If you removed yourself from a situation that was requiring you to act in certain ways, and you didn't have to practice acting in better ways and shifting your behavior to protect yourself better, then when you go back into that environment you might not be prepared even if you're rested.” (4:58-5:16 | Cait) · “If you can't take time off work, you might really be doing yourself a favor by staying and working through some sh*t on the fly.” (8:15-8:22 | Cait)  · “The trick here, once again, is to do the easiest thing first. Allow it to have impact, and then move to the next easiest thing on the list. If you fill out your list, and you're not sure how to tackle any of your items, choose one of them and ask the Facebook group for ways to shift that behavior.” (15:12-15:30 | Cait) · “Asking for help and asking for other people's perspectives is one of the main ways we build resilience. So don't go this alone. If you're not sure what the answer is for you, let's do it together.” (15:36-15:49 | Cait) · “You cannot long term stay in a toxic environment and heal fully from burnout. Your physical and mental health will continue to deteriorate…Your best bet is to do everything within your power within the situation and then use whatever energy you create by making those changes to formulate a graceful exit strategy.” (17:00-17:33 | Cait) · “You're not going to find motivation when you're burned out just by looking for it. You're going to create energy by caring for yourself differently and by shifting the way you interact with your environment.” (19:40-19:52 | Cait)   Links    https://cuely.ai/FRIED https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/ https://bearaby.com   XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Becca Powers is an award winning fortune 500 high tech sales executive, founder and CEO of Powers Peak Potential, a best selling author and a speaker. With over 20 years of high level sales experience, she spent most of her life being an overachiever and unwittingly drove herself into major burnout. Becca’s burnout came after a particularly challenging sequence of 12 hour work days in a job where she was majorly overextending herself and unable to spend any time being there for her family. In hindsight, she recognizes that there were signs from her body mere months into the position telling her that it was not the right fit, but she dismissed those signs at the time. It took falling apart on the floor of her bathroom in a complete nervous breakdown after feeling like she was letting her children down for Becca to realize that change was overdue.    “Burnout ignites in feeling ‘undered’ and whether that's undervalued, underpaid, under-resourced, under-recognized, under-appreciated. I mean, you can put the under attached to it but it triggers our worth or it triggers deeper feelings of being unseen, unheard and feeling like we don't matter. And when that happens, we ‘over’,” shares Becca Powers. Becca grew up with hippie parents who were very involved in their band and party scene. She learned as a child that in order to gain her parent’s love and attention she needed to overachieve. This feeling unknowingly followed Becca into adulthood and caused her to overcommit at work which ultimately led to her feeling undervalued. The pattern of going over and above and then feeling the ‘unders’ is one that is very intrinsic to the burnout experience. The ‘overs’ and ‘unders’ can put you into a feedback loop that is difficult to extract yourself from.    When you find yourself feeling underappreciated, undervalued, or under-resourced, it is a sign that you need to implement healthy boundaries and take control back over your own energy. You do not have to overextend yourself constantly in order to have worth and it is okay to say no or ask for help. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Becca Powers about how the ‘unders’ lead to the ‘overs’ and what you can do to pull yourself out of that loop.  Quotes · “So many of us have the full plate and we don't really get to talk about it and we kind of be like, ‘Oh I'm okay’. Well, are you really? You got a full plate, it's okay not to be okay.” (4:53-5:03 | Becca) · “When I was broken on the bathroom floor, all of a sudden, I remembered that I was the CEO of my life… I remember thinking, ‘If I'm the CEO of my life, then I'm a lot more powerful in this situation than I thought’.” (7:45-8:09 | Becca) · “Is what I'm doing serving me or is it sabotaging me?” (9:54-9:56 | Becca) · “Burnout ignites in feeling undered and whether that's undervalued, underpaid, under resourced, under recognized under appreciated, I mean, you can put the under attached to it but it triggers our worth or it triggers deeper feelings of being unseen, unheard and feeling like we don't matter. And when that happens, we over.” (11:59-12:24 | Becca) · “For me to get the attention, love, and acceptance I wanted from my parents I had to overachieve. I had to do. I had to over a lot.” (15:19-15:29 | Becca) · “Burnout is a very external response to us seeking externally what we weren't able to either give ourselves internally or like you said to our childhood just didn't get. It's not programmed in us to know that we have the innate wisdom within to give ourselves everything that we need.” (20:16-20:37 | Becca) · “In hindsight, what I have learned is when I was surviving, my kids were surviving. And when I'm thriving, my kids are thriving.” (26:51-27:00 | Becca) · “By building boundaries, you can create space for other people's growth and success.” (34:25-34:31 | Cait) · “What is your role? And are the actions and responsibilities that you're doing supporting the role that you have and want in your life, whether it's at work or at home?” (38:19-38:31 | Becca)   Links   https://cuely.ai/FRIED https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/   Connect with Becca Powers https://www.instagram.com/beccapowers1313/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccapowers1313/ https://www.beccapowers.com/burnout XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Quiet quitting is not a new concept, but has gotten a lot of attention recently after the pandemic shook up the job market. The basic idea of quiet quitting is being disengaged from your work and this can often be mistaken for burnout. The key difference is that quiet quitting is intentional, whereas if you are burned out, you are likely to be disengaged as a result rather than as a choice. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains quiet quitting vs. loud quitting, and the way resentment fuels disengagement.    Resentment is the primary emotion that leads to quiet quitting. This could be resentment for how you are being treated at work, resentment for being forced back into the office, resentment over your job role not being clear enough, or any multitude of reasons. If you are disengaged because you really don’t feel like your current position is a good fit for you, it is best to loud quit rather than sticking around and growing more resentful. That resentment builds over time and can lead to burnout, so planning an exit strategy and leaving your job may be the best option for your long term mental health. If you need help working to transform your resentment and make a plan for moving forward, Cait has created the Resentment Journal specifically for that purpose which can be accessed from her website.   Sometimes your job or the company you are working for won’t be the best fit for you. It does not always mean that there is something inherently wrong with you or the company. In those situations, it is best to form an exit strategy and leave to find a better fit. In other cases, your company may be willing to work with you to help better meet your needs, and it may come down to having a conversation with your boss or an HR professional to see what can be done. Regardless of the reason causing you to disengage, it is always best to loud quit versus quiet quitting, because in the long run quiet quitting will increase resentment and damage your mental health.   Quotes • “There are going to be situations where you and a company are just not a good fit. And it doesn't mean that either of you are bad or good.” (4:31-4:41 | Cait) • “If something's not a fit, just loud quit, get out of here, go do something else.” (5:38-5:43 | Cait) • “When you are burnt out and you find yourself in a situation similar to quiet quitting, I want you to understand that that's likely a coping mechanism and not necessarily part of an actual decision that you're making.” (6:34-6:46 | Cait) • “Quiet quitting as a short term coping mechanism, acceptable. Quiet quitting as a long term plan for life will destroy your mental health.” (10:15-10:25 | Cait)  • “If we start building enough courage to speak up about our needs, we will find quite often that people are willing to meet them.” (11:47-12:00 | Cait) “The emotion that sits behind quiet quitting is resentment. And the answer to that is creating space for and transforming that resentment.” (13:51-14:07 | Cait)   Links    https://www.caitdonovan.com/resentment-journal   https://cuely.ai/FRIED https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/ XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Newton Cheng is the Director of Health and Performance at Google, a world champion powerlifter, and a father. Throughout his 14 year career at Google, he overworked himself due to people-pleasing tendencies and began getting misaligned from his priorities and values, leading Newton to take a mental health leave in January of 2022. In February of 2021 his symptoms of burnout, anxiety, and depression got to the point where he started to realize just how significant the toll on his mental health was. He found himself struggling to get out of bed and felt a lot of shame for how he was failing to show up the way he wanted to as a husband and father. However, it still took awhile for him to decide to go on leave, because it felt like giving up. When Newton returned to Google after his mental health leave, he decided to share his story and be very upfront about his experiences to help others who may be suffering alone.    “I was raised in a culture where we talked a lot about mental toughness and this felt like the opposite of that. But what I knew was I was not showing up the husband and father that I wanted to be, so something had to change,” shares Newton Cheng. When Newton started talking about his leave at work, he was a little surprised by how many of his co-workers chose to refer to it as a sabbatical. Mental health is still so stigmatized in today’s society that people can feel uncomfortable even just saying the words out loud. However, this does a disservice to everyone who is suffering in silence and who just needs someone to listen and understand what they are going through. Newton had gotten to the point where he was unable to get out of bed and dreading going to work, even though he loved his job and felt his work was important to him. He was not able to be the father he wanted to be or the husband he wanted to be, and the shame ate away at him. As he began to share his mental health struggles more, Newton found that many of his co-workers of all levels across the organization were suffering from similar symptoms of burnout and depression. Many people who burn out in these situations choose to quit their job completely, but Newton’s problem was not with the job, but rather with his approach and how he chose to structure his boundaries or lack of boundaries. Once he stepped back and reorganized his life to align better with his values and put boundaries in place that allowed him to spend more time with his family, Newton was able to break through his burnout and stay on at Google.    Burning out at work does not necessarily mean you have to change your job. Sometimes all you need is to take a step away and restructure how you are approaching your work so that it can align better with the lifestyle you want. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Newton Cheng about experiencing burnout in a corporate setting and how to move forward while keeping your job.    Quotes · “February 2021 was the first time I physically couldn't get out of bed. And I had read about this in terms of others experiences with mental health and depression, but I had never actually felt it. And it wasn't so much like a physical paralysis, it was overwhelming dread. So from there, I started seeing the employee assistance provider and he told me I was exhibiting early signs of burnout.” (7:18-7:42 | Newton) · “I was raised in a culture where we talked a lot about mental toughness, and this felt like the opposite of that. But what I knew was I was not showing up the husband and father that I wanted to be, so something had to change.” (10:13-10:30 | Newton) · “When I told people I was going on leave, people started calling it my sabbatical. And I kept reframing. I'm like, my ‘mental health leave’. And that was very interesting. I’m like, I think you're probably doing that out of respect, because you don't know my boundary there and I very much appreciate that, but I don't think that's helping anyone. It's not a sabbatical and people know it's not sabbatical. But if we call it a sabbatical, we're just reinforcing that we have to hide things.” (28:26-28:56 | Newton) · “If we don't name what's actually going on, we can't actually address it.” (29:18-29:21 | Newton) · “As I have shared my story, the people who have come to me privately to say, ‘I'm suffering too’, they are people like me. They are people junior to me in organizations, they're my peers, they are above me. They're all around us.” (55:22-55:40 | Newton)  · “If you are suffering and you're in a situation similar to me, you are not alone.” (55:49-55:53 | Newton) · “To leaders who are in a position like mine, change doesn't happen, transformation doesn't happen without true leadership. True leadership requires those of us with the privilege to take some risks, to try some things, maybe to take some things and fail. But we got to do it and we got to share what we learn. And that's how we're going to move forward.” (56:06-56:25 | Newton)   Links   https://cuely.ai/FRIED https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/   Connect with Newton Cheng: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newtoncheng/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/newtoncheng/   https://caitdonovan.com/resentment-journal https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/jim-young-ceo-dad-burnout-emotional-gold-digging-and-why-relationships-matter   Resource Newton Mentions: Byron Katie: https://thework.com/ XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Just keep going, it will change.” This is Elizabeth Collins’s burnout story, simplified into six words. The Cait-proclaimed Burnout Witch, Elizabeth now specializes in helping others recover from burnout. However, she was only able to truly thrive in this role after confronting her own feelings of not-enough-ness and developing the boundaries and coping skills she needed to regain a sense of balance in both body and brain.    Elizabeth is the owner and director of The East West Company, an integrative wellness practice specializing in burnout recovery coaching, functional medicine, acupuncture and more. Elizabeth explains that functional medicine is a crossover between biomedicine and Eastern medicine; it uses a wide range of testing to identify and address the root cause of a presenting issue. Because the incredible breadth of functional medicine testing can seem overwhelming to someone who is burnt out, Elizabeth suggests starting simple with a blood panel and a stool test. This approach helps individuals correct any initial imbalances, which sets them on a more manageable path towards burnout recovery.   Tune into this week’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast to hear more about the intersections between functional medicine and burnout. Learn about the ins and outs of leaky gut, why Elizabeth uses tarot cards to broaden her clients’ perspectives, and why feelings of gratitude and frustration can and should co-exist.   Quotes “I had ‘Big T’ trauma, so that very much set me up for a lifetime of perfectionism, a lifetime of not really understanding that I am worthy of love simply because I exist.” (04:00-04:10) “My burnout story was: ‘just keep going, it will change.’” (07:26-07:32)  “That happens to people who are chronic people pleasers, who are prone to burnout….It’s very easy for you to set aside what you like because you’re more concerned about what needs to happen now, and it’s like, but what you like is what needs to happen now!” (10:49-11:05) “[Functional medicine] is kind of like if biomedicine and Eastern medicine had a baby.” (15:14-15:17) “When we’re in burnout, it’s very difficult to see anything other  than what we’re focusing on, which is usually panic, stress and anxiety. And the benefit when I started reading my own tarot cards again was...oh, this card popped up and it means this. How does that relate to my current situation? What is it about this card that can give me the opportunity to stop focusing on the minutia and look at the bigger picture?” (31:28-31:55)  “Being able to address different aspects of your personality and speak to them directly like they’re individuals gives a sense of agency to the experience, and it really gives people the opportunity to fully integrate those personalities.” (36:28-36:42) “We are complicated enough individuals that we can feel very bad about something that we’re going through and still be very grateful for the good things that it gives us or the other good things in our life….They’re not mutually exclusive, and the idea that we have to inhabit one thing at any given time is unsustainable and unfair and will absolutely perpetuate burnout.” (38:00-38:28) “If you have symptoms or you are living a life that is in your experience suboptimal, but in the greater perspective not catastrophic....you are not crazy, and there is help.” (49:10-49:35)   Links https://insighttimer.com/  www.theeastwestco.com  www.instagram.com/theeastwestco  www.instagram.com/thevintagemystic    XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait

Are you always trying to meet other people’s expectations, even when those expectations may not be completely clear? Unclear expectations for a role, whether that be in relation to a job or a relationship, can reduce feelings of psychological safety and increase the potential for burnout. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains the research behind why external expectations and role ambiguity play a role in burnout and how to ask for clarity when it is lacking.    When you are having to guess at someone’s expectations, you will end up feeling on edge and pushing yourself harder and harder trying to reach that unspecified goal. Research shows that role ambiguity, or a lack of clarity in your job role, can come into play not only at work, but also within relationships at home and with friends. When you are able to predict how another person will react and set up expectations for yourself relative to that predicted outcome, your feelings of safety will increase and your risk of burnout will decrease. By simply having a conversation that focuses on clarifying and setting expectations, you can improve overall communication and increase your own internal feelings of safety.   It is exhausting trying to meet expectations all the time, especially if the expectations you are trying to meet are unclear or simply a guess on your part. In order to gain clarity, improve your relationships, and reduce overall stress, it is important to communicate effectively. Tune into this week’s #straightfromcait episode for a conversation about how to determine other’s actual expectations. Learn why assuming other’s expectations can lead to burnout and how to ask for clarity.  RESEARCH: Maslach et. al. (2001). Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol. 52. 397-422.  Quotes · “If you are feeling unclear about someone's expectations, and you are guessing at them, and you never quite get feedback on whether or not you're hitting the target, you're always going to feel on edge. And you're always going to push for doing things a little bit harder, a little bit more intense, to a better degree, to a higher degree. It'll never stop because you don't know when you've met the expectation.” (3:54-4:20 | Cait) · “Burnout recovery happens when we increase our feelings of safety internally and externally.” (5:41-5:46 | Cait)  · “You are more likely to experience burnout while also experiencing role ambiguity, a lack of clarity in your job role.” (7:06-7:14 | Cait) · “Sharing with someone what your thinking is behind the situation gives them a better idea of how you're looking at it and what's happening in your world, so that they can respond appropriately.” (10:33-10:44 | Cait)   Links    https://caitdonovan.com https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcast XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Farnoosh Torabi is an award winning personal finance journalist, author, keynote speaker, television reporter, and host of the So Money podcast. She uses her 20 years of experience to help people master their money. While living in New York City with her husband, she realized that changes needed to be made to their lifestyle to reduce stress and improve their overall quality of life. They ended up deciding to move out of the city to save money, which ultimately reduced stress and opened up more time for other opportunities. Now Farnoosh helps everyone from entrepreneurs to influencers learn how to manage their finances and make the most of their money.   “When I was a little girl, I thought two things equaled freedom, and I don't think I was wrong. Money in the bank and a driver's license,” shares Farnoosh Torabi. She explains that having money literally puts you in the driver’s seat of your own life. It provides you with agency over your decisions that no one else can question. A lot of entrepreneurs are glamorized for taking big risks, maxing out their credit cards, and starving themselves while they try to get their business running. This should not be the norm at all. Instead, it is better to not treat it like a race and to spend as much time as necessary building financial security prior to starting a business. There are many opportunities to earn money nowadays outside of a traditional 9 to 5. You can make extra money by taking up an hourly gig, pet sitting, selling unwanted items on Facebook Marketplace, babysitting, or in any number of ways. The most important thing is to reframe your idea of success and of what a job is supposed to be and recognize that a job can truly be just a job. You do not have to monetize your passions or be extremely emotionally invested in your job.    There are a lot of misconceptions about finances and it is important to be innovative when it comes to finding ways to make and save money. People are living longer and retirement at 60 is no longer the goal for everyone, nor is it necessarily attainable. However, a pension is not the only way to secure financial stability for your future and it is vital to save money regardless, because that pension is not guaranteed in today’s world. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Farnoosh Torabi about how to build financial safety, when to quit a job and when to stick it out, and creative ways to make extra money.    Quotes · “I remember picking up a book called The Upside of Stress. Because I was like, I need to learn how to live with this. I don't think this is going away.” (7:09-7:17 | Farnoosh) · “Changing your definition of success is one of the key factors in creating a burnout proof life after you've recovered. Because you can't go back to the system that you were in. You are not going to build enough resilience to live in that system as it is unless some of it changes.” (14:44-15:02 | Cait) · “When you are burned out at work, maybe the response is not to quit, but rather, ‘Have you even had a conversation with your manager?’ And so you don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater. You don't have to think, 'Well, my only option is to quit and lose everything that I've worked towards.'” (20:46-21:02 | Farnoosh)  · “When you feel behind in your 40s, don't let that discourage you from just continuing the good work of putting the consistent money into that bank account, into that investment account, because it is never too late.” (28:47-29:01 | Farnoosh) · “When I was a little girl, I thought two things equaled freedom, and I don't think I was wrong. Money in the bank, and a driver's license.” (41:22-41:30 | Farnoosh) · “Don't tell me that money doesn't earn you safety. It at least buys you the opportunity to make choices for yourself that nobody else can enforce. It gives you agency.” (43:40-43:51 | Farnoosh) · “Sometimes it's really about a reframe, and thinking like, ‘Okay, well, this job, I'm grateful for the fact that I can do it. The paycheck comes every two weeks. I get benefits. I get some paid time off. And then I can go and live the other life that I have.” (47:18-47:33 | Farnoosh)   Links   Connect with Farnoosh Torabi: http://www.somoneypodcast.com http://www.instagram.com/farnooshtorabi https://www.cnet.com/feature/signup-so-money/ https://cuely.ai/FRIED  XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

There are many risk factors for burnout. The good news is that each risk factor is multidirectional and by working on any one of them, you are likely to positively change others. It can feel overwhelming to confront all of the risk factors for burnout, so in today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait breaks them all down into six overarching categories. These categories are workplace, family, self, culture, environment, and health.    Here in the United States there is an extreme amount of pressure and importance placed on hard work and individuality. The issue with these being the major cultural values is that overworking can and does quite literally cause death through having an overall negative impact on long-term health. In addition, relying completely on yourself to accomplish every single thing and not leaning into the strength of our communities is a large contributor to eventual burnout. When considering burnout, the majority of research comes from workplace studies, however, there are several other categories to consider for a broader view. How you were raised, the family you have currently, the environment you live and work in, and your physical and mental health conditions all contribute toward burnout in their own ways. By setting aside time for self care, making necessary lifestyle changes, and really considering each of the burnout risk factors that you identify with, you can make lasting and significant changes that help you to prevent or heal from burnout.    The risk factors for burnout are too numerous to count, but they do all tend to fall into six main interconnected categories. By making improvements in one area, you are likely influencing several others at the same time. Tune into this week’s #straightfromcait episode for a conversation about the six categories of burnout risk factors. Learn what to keep an eye out for and what changes to make in order to positively influence your burnout recovery or even to prevent burnout before it occurs.    Quotes · “We might be talking about some sort of family trauma, and you have to know that that affects your environment. And that also affects your health. And it also affects your sense of self and how you function in the world. Right? So there's a lot going on here. Everything affects everything else.” (4:28-4:45 | Cait) · “A study that was combined between the World Health Organization and the International Labor Org showed that working 55 plus hours a week resulted in approximately three quarters of a million deaths over the course of a year through stroke and heart attack mostly. And this was shown to be especially true for those over 45.” (5:38-5:59 | Cait) · “If it is an epigenetic change, we can affect change on it. Because epigenetics are fluid, right? We can move them, they can change. But it does require a lot of self care.” (12:20-12:31 | Cait) · “If you did not have access to or take advantage of access to green space, being in nature, your overall health will suffer and your energy will suffer and increase your risk of burnout.” (12:58-13:09 | Cait)   Links  https://caitdonovan.as.me/free https://caitdonovan.as.me/inquiry   These references should be in the show notes: REFERENCES Bar, M., & Maital, N. (2007) Visual elements of subjective preference modulate amygdala activation.” Neuropsychologia. 45(10). pp. 2191-2200. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.03.008. Berk, L. (2019). Exploring Adult and Adolescent Development. Pearson. Cht 3. Huberman Lab. (2022). Using light to optimize health. https://hubermanlab.com/using-light-sunlight-blue-light-and-red-light-to-optimize-health/ Ishizu, T., and Semir Z. (2011). Toward a brain-based theory of beauty. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021852. Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W.B., Leiter, M.P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Reviews of Psychology. 52. 397-422 World Health Organization. (2021). Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke. https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2021-long-working-hours-increasing-deaths-from-heart-disease-and-stroke-who-ilo XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Nicole Kalil is a speaker, leadership strategist, respected coach, author, and podcast host. She spent 15 years working for a financial planning company where she was frequently the only woman in the room. After so many years of working hard for promotions, pushing down her feminine qualities in favor of leaning into more stereotypically masculine traits, Nicole realized she no longer even knew who she was authentically anymore. She had become so burned out that she hated her job, hated the people around her, and had lost herself in endless people-pleasing. Now Nicole helps other women to put aside gender expectations, regain their confidence, and learn to hear and trust their inner voices so that they can live authentically.    “Our confidence lives inside of us, and it's accessible anytime we want. We have just been socialized and received messaging to the contrary pretty much our whole lives,” explains Nicole Kalil. Due to the way girls are often socialized while growing up, many women falsely believe that confidence is something that exists externally. So much of societal conditioning tells women that confidence can be found by dressing a certain way, behaving a certain way, having perfect children, or having the right job. Nicole refers to this as the ‘confidence con’, because the truth is that confidence exists within everyone and it is accessible as soon as we choose to trust ourselves. The first step to regaining confidence is to learn how to listen for your inner voice and how to differentiate it from ‘head trash’ or how Nicole refers to the bullying voice that exists within our minds, usually consisting of mean statements from others. The easiest way to differentiate head trash from your true inner voice is that head trash is always mean. If you are speaking to yourself in a way that you’d never speak to a loved one, that is head trash.    We have been conditioned all our lives to believe that confidence exists externally and that we have to fit into certain societal standards in order to deserve it. The truth is that we are all deserving of confidence and it lives within us, ready for us to tap into at any time. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Nicole Kalil about the confidence con, how to differentiate head trash from your inner voice, and how to compost or recycle head trash into something that can help rather than hinder your growth.    Quotes · “I didn't know who I was authentically anymore. And I was hating my work, was hating the people I was doing it with, through no fault of their own, just because I had put myself in this position where I tried to show up and please everyone else, but myself.” (5:49-6:06 | Nicole) · “I think women far too often are waiting to be ready. They're waiting for the fear and the nervousness to go away and only have excitement and readiness. And I'm like, oh, gosh, we're waiting too long.” (12:34-12:48 | Nicole) · “Our confidence lives inside of us, and it's accessible anytime we want. We have just been socialized and received messaging to the contrary pretty much our whole lives.” (13:45-13:55 | Nicole)  · “I would encourage you to think about how you build trust with another person or how somebody else builds trust with you. That's probably going to give you the best insight into how you build trust with yourself.” (38:47-38:57 | Nicole)   Links   Connect with Nicole Kalil: www.nicolekalil.com https://nicolekalil.com/book https://www.instagram.com/nicolemkalil/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolekalil/ http://eepurl.com/gOrQLL Join our community!      XOXO, C   If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait   https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Highly sensitive people often assume they are simply wired that way from birth and that there is nothing that can be done to change their sensitivity. In this week’s #straightfromsarah episode, FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen discusses changes in her sensitivity levels that she has experienced since recovering from burnout and the potential for negative effects of high sensitivity to lessen as the nervous system heals.  Chronic stress can cause our nervous system to get stuck in a feedback loop of more and more stress that ultimately leads to burnout. If you already have a higher level of sensitivity, burnout is going to be an even more likely result of chronic stress and troubling experiences. Sarah explains the six defining characteristics of highly sensitive people and how these characteristics have diminished throughout her healing journey. These characteristics are needing more time and space for processing experiences, differential susceptibility, overstimulation, empathy, emotional responsiveness, and awareness of subtle stimuli.  Although some aspects of high sensitivity may not entirely go away upon healing from burnout, there is strong evidence to suggest that as healing occurs, certain characteristics decrease. Tune into this week’s #straightfromsarah episode to learn more about each of the six characteristics of highly sensitive people and to discover how they relate to your own journey as you are healing from burnout.  Quotes · “If we have had troubled lives, we are more susceptible to feeling the things we deem negative stronger and are prone to more anxiety and depression than others. But if we've had an easier life, we are more susceptible to feeling the things we've labeled as positive like joy and happiness more strongly.” (7:43-8:00 | Sarah) · “When you step back and look at your life, has the course of it had an overall ongoing positive trend or continuously negative one? Since we're all here and fried, perhaps the latter resonates most which would qualify us as an example of differential susceptibility.” (8:28-8:44 | Sarah) · “There's a part of our brain that determines whether our nervous system responds sympathetically or parasympathetically due to our present circumstances. It's called the reticular activating system and it's a part of the brainstem.” (9:48-10:00 | Sarah) · “When we're chronically stressed, this part of our brainstem gets stuck firing the sympathetic pathways, keeping us in the stress loop, which fries our nervous system and leads to the burnout we have all experienced. In order to stop this cycle, we need to give our brain location info about our body and space.” (10:15-10:31 | Sarah) · “In my recovery process, it's now easier to discern what I can control and what I am responsible for taking care of. I still can't witness a struggling human or plant right in front of me and not want to help. The difference is that I have awareness of my savior tendencies and I know how to ask people if they want my help instead of offering unsolicited advice.” (13:07-13:29 | Sarah) · “I've realized that as much as I used to feel validated by the idea that my high sensitivity was just how I was wired and wasn't something that I needed to fix, I am currently pleasantly surprised and quite relieved that the hardest parts of being highly sensitive have minimized.” (18:36-18:51 | Sarah) Links  Holistic Biomechanics classes: https://transformationspdx.com Highly sensitive person website: https://hsperson.com Sarah's contact: sarahvosen@gmail.com Book a call with Sarah: https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Crystal Frazee is a burnout recovery and stress resilience coach with 16 years of experience. She grew up in the South raised by strong, independent women with the ingrained mindset that women were supposed to take on everything themselves and be able to have it all. She spent many years working as a yoga teacher and yoga therapist and had a keen sense of bodily awareness. When she started to notice a disconnect between being able to feel and notice her own bodily sensations and emotions, Dr. Frazee knew something was wrong. She was suddenly unable to even feel her young children against her on the couch and that being a big wake up call. She was working in healthcare on the frontlines at the height of the pandemic while also running her coaching business, raising two kids, being the breadwinner, and managing chronic illness. Trying to take on everything by herself, as she was raised to think she had to do, was causing Dr. Frazee to mentally disconnect from her body.  “The more we stand up for ourselves, and understand our own limits, and why this is so important, and why we don't need somebody else from outside to give us permission for this, we claim it and that's how the change happens,” explains Dr. Crystal Frazee. Burnout recovery truly takes place within the body and in order to heal, you must get out of your head and reconnect with your bodily sensations. Women in particular have grown up attuned to the needs of others and told to be quiet and not get in the way, so there is relearning required to begin allowing yourself to have boundaries and standing up for your own needs.  Women, especially those who are high achieving, often train themselves to ignore their bodily needs and signals which contributes to burnout. In order to begin really healing, it is vital to reconnect with your body and really become literate in how it communicates with you. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Dr. Crystal Frazee about body literacy, combating internalized scripts, and learning to actually fulfill your own needs.  Quotes · “When I was laying with my small children, which at the time were like one and almost four. I couldn't feel them. Like I couldn't feel the connectedness with their body from my body, which I had always previously been able to feel and that was kind of a real big like, wow, what is going on here?” (4:35-4:58 | Dr. Frazee) · “You could do a body scan, you could list off lots of physical sensations and people are usually really good at pointing out pain. But also, there's an emotional layer to your being. So what emotions are you feeling? Which can be conflicting, you can be grieving and you can have gratitude at the same time.” (11:33-11:51 | Dr. Frazee) · “We're not intended to live in crisis management as a lifestyle. It’s a short term response. I think it was just really like, I've got to do this by myself and it's all on me. That was just kind of what I kept coming back to.” (23:19-23:35 | Dr. Frazee) · “That work of getting support with your burnout means that you're not just living in your head, that you can be in your body, and that you can learn what those signs are that you really do need to pay attention to.” (29:11-29:21 | Dr. Frazee)  · “The more we stand up for ourselves, and understand our own limits, and why this is so important, and why we don't need somebody else from outside to give us permission for this, we claim it and that's how the change happens.” (37:47-38:01 | Dr. Frazee) Links Connect with Dr. Crystal Frazee: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/drcrystalfrazee/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcrystalfrazee/ Website | https://crystalfrazee.ck.page/ XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the process of burnout recovery, you are likely to overdo it and cause yourself to feel fatigued. This is perfectly natural as you are re-learning how to interact with your environment, relationships, and your body in a healthier way. As you explore these boundaries to your own energy, you will slowly start to recognize them more and more and be able to better understand your body’s signals. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains how to handle the frustration that comes with feeling fatigued and how to test the limits of your energy.  Recovery is not only about resting, but also about re-learning how to interact with the world around you in a way that does not leave you totally drained. It is inevitable that you will end up bumping into these boundaries many times along your recovery journey and this can cause problems if you allow frustration to be your main take away. Instead, look at these instances as learning opportunities for you to collect data on how your body works. The more times you bump into those boundaries, the more you will start to recognize them and understand the messages your body is trying to send you.  Being in burnout recovery does not mean that you will never experience fatigue or overwhelm again. It is completely normal to find yourself hitting the limits of your energy at times. Tune into this week’s #straightfromcait episode for a conversation about learning how to be more in tune with the energy within your body. Learn how to turn frustration into curiosity, so that you can ultimately benefit from feeling those invisible boundaries.  Quotes · “In the beginning of recovery, you will need to try to find your boundaries when it comes to energy. This means that sometimes you're going to overdo it and that will help you learn what overdoing it feels like in this recovery state. You'll have to bump up against boundaries to know where they are.” (2:10-2:28 | Cait)  · “Part of burnout recovery is resting and understanding that your body actually needs that rest. But part of burnout recovery is relearning how to interact with the world in a way that will not drain you so much.” (3:43-3:56 | Cait) · “You might not be able to feel anything or describe anything right away, but with practice, you'll start noticing some clues that were previously hidden that you can now use to help yourself.” (5:42-5:55 | Cait) · “The more time you spend bumping up against these invisible boundaries to your energy, the more fluent you will become in the language of energy in your own body.” (6:18-6:31 | Cait) · “Recovery is not just about rest. It's about relearning how to interact with your environment, with your life, with yourself, with your friends, with your relationships. It requires upgrading and in order to upgrade, we need to know where our baseline is. And in order to know where the baseline is, we need to be paying attention to it. So bump up against those boundaries. You aren't really starting over, you're just learning.” (7:48-8:20 | Cait) XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcas, https://caitdonovan.com/speaking https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martha Bodyfelt is a divorce recovery coach with an extensive military background. She spent decades suffering from burnout after enlisting in the military at 23, dealing with immigration difficulties for her Iranian now-ex husband, and experiencing secondary PTSD from handling the internal allegations of sexual harassment and assault made by fellow female military personnel. After a terrible training accident where she injured her spine so badly that it was a miracle she was not paralyzed, Martha was medically discharged from the army and moved to DC where she took on a job as a defense contractor. Her own burnout combined with that of her then-husband resulted in divorce, because they both knew they would be unable to heal if they stayed together. After the divorce, she took time away from work to travel around Asia and try to reset herself. However, when she returned she found herself back in the same stressful work environment in DC and realized something drastic had to change. She quit her job and spent time working on herself in therapy and ultimately decided to lean into her side hustle, divorce coaching. Now she has helped thousands of women empower themselves and prides herself in giving a voice back to the women that are often ignored or silenced by society. “You always have options. Your career will sometimes gaslight you into thinking that you don’t, but you do,” shares Martha Bodyfelt. In order to embrace burnout recovery, it is important to put yourself in an abundance mindset; because if you remain in a scarcity mindset, you will be resistant to change. Working a job that treats you poorly and causes both your relationships and health to suffer is just going to do more damage the longer you stay. You have permission to create an exit strategy and to get out of that toxic situation, whether it is a job or a relationship, and to start living for yourself.  Women are often disempowered in the workplace and in their relationships, because of societal pressures to always behave a certain way. In order to heal from burnout, you must put yourself first and reclaim your voice. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Martha Bodyfelt about life after divorce, toxic workplaces, and saying goodbye to the “good girl” mentality.  Quotes · “The divorce coaching and the dating coaching was calling to me, but there's that ego because I want to make that money and it might be a while before I recoup that. And so working with energy work and with human design folks, and things like that, and even my therapist saying, your body's gonna let you know when the time is ready. And I was like, Well, I don't know what that means, though. But in one fucking weekend, I started having that PTSD and anxiety attack. And I'm like, well, it's ready.” (17:40-18:11 | Martha) · “I think the best advice I can give is, no job is going to love you back.” (23:16-23:23 | Martha) · “Think about putting yourself in abundance and not scarcity and understanding that you always have options. Your career will sometimes gaslight you into thinking that you don’t, but you do. And that's the same with relationships, too.” (28:51-29:05 | Martha) · “You have the right and, at this point, the responsibility to get to the fucking point and let people know what you want. Because nobody's here to save you. Nobody but you is going to advocate for you.” (41:32-41:50 | Martha) Links Connect with Martha Bodyfelt: Website | https://marthabodyfelt.com/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/marthabodyfelt/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/coach-martha-b-306516215/ Schedule time with Martha | https://marthabodyfelt.com/schedule XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guided meditation is a great way to center yourself by reconnecting with your body and the Earth around you. Meditation provides a safe space for your body to heal and replenish itself while keeping your mind clear enough for you to receive messages from your heart. In this week’s #straightfromsarah episode, FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen guides listeners through a meditation for grounding, filling up the body with energy, and creating a protected space.  Often burnout occurs after a long period of ignoring the messages being sent by your body. When you slow down and meditate, those messages can actually come through and provide clarity on situations where you may have otherwise struggled. Meditation does not require you to have perfect posture or to measure your inhales and exhales. It is best to get into whatever is the most comfortable position for you. Really listen to what feels right for your body and go with it. Use your inhales and exhales to bring the nourishing energy from the Earth into your body and to release the negative energies that are no longer serving your interests. When your mind is quiet and you have created a sphere of protection around yourself, then is the best time to ask yourself any question that you need direction on. Listen for the answer from your body, from your heart, instead of from your mind. It may not sound like a conventional answer, so be open to receiving answers that may seem illogical or that may appear in sounds or pictures in your brain rather than clear thoughts or words.  Meditation is a great method for reconnecting with yourself, because it can be done from anywhere and requires no tools. Tune into this week’s #straightfromsarah episode to experience a guided meditation and learn how to use meditation on your healing journey.  Quotes · “The best way to do this meditation is however you will be the most comfortable in whatever position provides you with relief in this moment.” (2:05-2:13 | Sarah) · “If you have a question that's been spinning around or a decision that you need to make, answering it from this meditation space is often much easier. Because we're not being bombarded with other people's shoulds and energy. We can just ask ourselves the question and we can just listen for the answer. See if you can listen for the answer to just arrive from your heart, from your body, rather than from your mind.” (13:43-14:14 | Sarah)  · “Sometimes, when we get answers from our body, from our heart, the answers come in pictures, or colors, or sounds rather than words.” (14:50-15:00 | Sarah) · “Trust that what you get is correct for you.” (15:19-15:21 | Sarah) Links  https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sophia Lepage is a feminine embodiment and leadership coach who has spent the last 4 years helping women break free from the good girl mentality, reclaim pleasure, reconnect with their femininity, and recover from burnout. Sophia lived her entire early life trying to be a “good girl” at the expense of herself. She got so caught up in people-pleasing to avoid conflict and the potential of being the outcast that she lost sight of who she was and what she really wanted for her life. When an affair ended her marriage, the good girl facade fell apart, and Sophia had to start listening to her true deeper feelings and desires in order to rebuild her life into one that actually reflects her own goals and values. She went traveling and began an internal healing journey that ultimately led not only to her own recovery, but to helping others. She now lives in Bali with her second husband and helps women by teaching them to reconnect with their feminine power.  “When we come into that space of alignment then it's easier to attract those people who are our tribe. And it's easier to not get caught up in these other people who don't agree with you, because you're not going to please everyone,” shares Sophia Lepage. The pressure of always having to be the “good girl” causes many women to hide their true selves around others. This leads to burnout, because it is a huge energy drain to live out of alignment with yourself. By tapping into feminine energy, reconnecting with your intuition, and really listening to your body, you can break free from burnout and live a more authentic life. Often by the time burnout occurs, the body has been sending distress signals for ages. It is vital to learn how to be fully present in your body in order to recognize the signals coming from within.  People-pleasers tend to end up burned out, because they live based on the desires of others instead of honoring their own values and desires. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Sophia Lepage about reconnecting with feminine energy, reclaiming pleasure, and saying goodbye to always having to be a “good girl”.  Quotes · “The thing that helped me was discovering feminine embodiment practices, discovering pleasure practices. That's what helped me get back into connection with my body, started listening to her rhythms. Once I learned how to circulate pleasure, it opened up these wells of vitality and radiance that I didn't know that I had the capability to feel.” (5:00-5:22 | Sophia)  · “I've invested so much time and energy into making sure that everybody likes me. But do I like me? Who am I doing this for?” (10:22-10:34 | Sophia)  · “When we come into that space of alignment, then it's easier to attract those people who are our tribe. And it's easier to kind of not get caught up in these other people who don't agree with you, because you're not going to please everyone. It’s just impossible.” (15:55-16:11 | Sophia) · “The deeper longing of my soul, the real desire, was to really reach my full potential in this life, which isn't about getting all the A-pluses, it's about being fully expressed.” (22:22-22:37 | Sophia) Links Connect with Sophia Lepage: Website | https://sophialepage.com/     Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/sophia_le_page/ https://sophialepage.com/fem-embodiment-for-burnout/ XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one likes to feel guilty. Most often people will choose resentment over guilt, because it feels easier to blame someone else than it does to process their guilt. Resentment takes a large toll on relationships and overall mental health and can worsen burnout. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains how to skip over the resentment stage and instead process your guilt in order to be better protected from burnout long term.  Resentment occurs when you do an action you don’t agree with in an attempt to prevent guilt. By choosing guilt over resentment, you can avoid a lot of extra stressors. Guilt occurs when you choose to do an action that goes against your internalized morality. However, often what we think of as our morals are not actually entirely our own. They are influenced by what we have been taught, by our culture, our family, our education and experiences and may not reflect what we actually believe in our hearts to be true. In order to process your guilt, you’ll need to examine your morals and really think about which ones you still align with. Write down the action that has caused you guilt, examine whether or not it is actually immoral to you, and explore why you feel that way. Then give yourself the grace in that moment to realize that you are still a good person regardless of your findings and that you don’t always need to feel guilty for choosing yourself over your preconceived morals.  Tune into this week’s #straightfromcait episode for a conversation about resentment and guilt. Learn why it is better to choose guilt over resentment and how to properly process guilt when you experience it.  Quotes · “The more you are able to shift away from actions that breed resentment, the better your relationships will be, the less burned out you'll be and the more space you'll have to be generous in whatever way suits you best. So I want you to avoid choosing resentment when you can, because it will help protect you from burnout long term. But if you're like most people, you choose resentment, because feeling guilty feels like too much to bear.” (2:13-2:40 | Cait) · “If you know that you're going to end up resentful over doing this thing, skip right over it, go straight for the guilt, and process the guilt.” (5:32-5:39 | Cait)  · “My goodness is inherent and I love to give with gusto when my physical, mental and emotional energy allows. I also love to grant myself the permission to refuel when that is the thing that I need.” (11:38-11:55 | Cait)  · “I want you to understand that the fact that something is sacrificial for you doesn't automatically make it morally good.” (13:01-13:12 | Cait) Links  https://caitdonovan.com/resentment-journal https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah https://caitdonovan.as.me/free References: Mancini, A., Granziol, U., Migliorati, D., Gragnani, A., Femia, G., Cosentino, T., . . . Mancini, F. (2022). Moral orientation guilt scale (MOGS): Development and validation of a novel guilt measurement. Personality and Individual Differences, 189, 1. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111495 XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rebecca Kase is a licensed clinical social worker and expert in EMDR. She experienced her worst burnout when working with a nonprofit organization in community mental health. A combination of toxic authoritarian leadership, unsafe work environment, and clinically challenging patients was the perfect recipe for burnout. Rebecca started to fall into maladaptive coping behaviors and received signals from her body that it was time to change paths. She realized she could not fix the problems with the mental health system that she was part of and instead needed to find ways to help others that would also allow her to also better serve herself. Through a greater understanding of how the nervous system works and how to use EMDR as a biohack for healing from trauma, Rebecca has found a way to help others that still aligns with her own values. Tune into this episode to learn more. “I think of EMDR as kind of like Drano for the brain-o. Like an antacid for your nervous system,” shares Rebecca Kase when explaining how EMDR helps to clear away old, harmful memories, patterns, and feelings from where they have become stuck in the nervous system. EMDR or eye movement desensitization reprocessing is an evidence-based treatment approach that is the standard treatment for PTSD, but also helps with anxiety, chronic pain, depression, and a myriad of other conditions. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation through visual or auditory cues to cause a patient’s eyes to move back and forth in a way that is similar to how our eyes move during REM sleep. This helps patients to reprocess traumatic memories in a healthier way so that they can finally move forward and their nervous systems can get unstuck.  Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Rebecca Kase about using EMDR to heal from trauma. Learn more about the three different states of the nervous system, how neuroception works to keep us safe, and how sometimes the best self care is a box cake.  Quotes · “One of my self care items is I make myself just a cheap box cake and I just go to town on it for about a day. So my husband always knows when he sees the self care cake. He's like, ‘Oh, that's where we are. We're calling out the big guns’.” (4:21-4:38 | Rebecca) · “My number one tip is reframe your burnout as a sign that your nervous system is working as it's supposed to and it’s not always something to fix, or mend, or self care gratitude journal away.” (6:27-6:39 | Rebecca)  · “It's not meant to be like toxic positivity or spiritual bypassing, because it's not saying, ‘shits not on fire’, yes, shits on fire, and the birds are singing while it's burning down. It’s about being able to find the balance, the dialectic of life, that I think is really important and helpful when our neuroception is like, ‘danger, danger, danger’.” (13:38-13:58 | Rebecca) · “All of our strategies that we go to when we are out of that window of tolerance are all attempts to cope, whether they’re adaptive or not, everything you do throughout the day is an attempt to regulate yourself.” (20:46-20:57 | Rebecca) · “There's a shortage in the mental health community and in the medical profession. I see that as leverage. That is leverage. So therefore, you do not have to settle for some shitty deal that is not good for your wellness, your sanity, your body, your mind, heart, brain or your family.” (27:13-27:31 | Rebecca) Links Connect with Rebecca Kase: https://rebeccakase.com  https://instagram.com/rebeccakase.co  https://emdria.org  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists?search=emdr  XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you having a hard time recognizing whether you’re recovering from burnout due to the ebbs and flows of the healing process? Healing is not linear and at times you may feel worse before you feel better. In this week’s #straightfromsarah episode, FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen talks about how to recognize the signs that you are in fact recovering and explains that healing is not linear, because nothing in life is linear.  When Sarah began to heal from her burnout and her adrenaline stopped pumping 24/7, she was left feeling utterly depleted and exhausted. In order to recover from burnout, she had to first allow her body time to rest and rebuild the trust that it was truly safe to do so. When we begin to recover, our bodies go through a lot of internal, subtle changes. We may feel better one day and worse the next due to the processes occurring within us as our bodies relearn how to properly shift between sympathetic and parasympathetic modes. Healing can be a very messy process and requires a lot of patience, but is well worth the wait. When we start truly healing from burnout, our body sends many signals that we can watch out for such as the ability to fall asleep easier and stay asleep, the ability to properly digest food, the ability to say no without feeling guilty, and the return of the sparkle to our eyes that makes us appear more vibrant and alive.  Tune into this week’s #straightfromsarah episode to hear more about why healing truly is not linear. Learn how to recognize the signs that you are in fact healing from burnout, even when it doesn’t always feel like you are improving. Quotes · “It takes time for our body to trust that it actually has time and space to heal.” (2:48-2:51 | Sarah) · “Once the adrenaline stopped flowing all day, every day, I was emotionally, physically, and mentally really low for a few months until the cumulative effect of all that I was doing started to show up. And I had some moments that let me know that I was indeed on an overall upward path towards health, but it was definitely not linear.” (3:57-4:15 | Sarah) · “If your sensory information tells your brain that you aren't safe, it will put you in sympathetic stress mode, which shifts the way your body works so that you can fight, run, or freeze to save your life.” (5:33-5:43 | Sarah) · “Even if you want to pull your hair out along the way, just keep on keeping on through the peaks and valleys.” (18:00-18:06 | Sarah) · “Healing isn't linear, because living life isn't linear.” (18:17-18:20 | Sarah) “We are not straight lines. Our bodies cannot be drawn with straight lines. Nature cannot be drawn with straight lines, and neither can our paths in life, so our healing journey cannot be a straight line either.” (19:55-20:08 | Sarah) · “Healing is a messy process at times, so many tears and so much snot. But when we have been warned that it may happen, we can rest easier when it is happening and trust in the process.” (21:43-21:57 | Sarah) · “When you are coming back from burnout, you have to feel different. Your body will present differently. Your body will change as you heal, because it has to in order to get better.” (23:58-24:08 | Sarah) Links  https://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromsarah-honoring-cycles-to-boost-burnout-recovery  https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah  https://facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcast XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danielle Cobo is a fascinating and inspiring force of a woman. She works as a career leadership and sales performance coach, hosts The Dream Job with Danielle Cobo podcast, and is a devoted military wife and mother. Her challenging life experiences helped her to become resilient and lead her down the path to entrepreneurship after a career in sales. Kidnapped by her mother at the age of 2, forced to grow up faster due to being left to fend for herself often from an early age, and kicked out of the house at 17 with nothing but four trash bags worth of clothing to her name, Danielle knows first hand the importance and power of resilience. Through inspiring amounts of self awareness and perseverance, Danielle has learned to transform her self doubt into confidence and courage. Tune into this episode to learn more. “Either you can fall victim to your circumstances or you can choose the direction that you want to go,” shares Danielle Cobo on how she thrived in spite of the many obstacles she faced. She realized from an early age that she needed to be resilient and listen to her own intuition rather than being held back by the limiting beliefs of those around her. Through her self-awareness, Danielle is able to notice signs of potential burnout early enough to reverse their course such as noticing when her weight changes or her stomach is in knots. She recommends reaching out to family and friends when you are experiencing self-doubt and asking for them to describe you, because often the way we speak to ourselves is very different from how others would.  Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Danielle Cobo about her inspiring story, why resilience is so important for entrepreneurs, and how to recognize the body’s signals about burnout. Learn how to increase your self-awareness and trust your intuition in order to transform self-doubt into confidence.  Quotes “It's through some of these challenges in my life that I've learned to turn some of my biggest challenges in life into my greatest strength and I don't regret my past. I'm very grateful for it because I've learned to overcome self doubt and transform it into confidence and courage” (4:32-4:51 | Danielle) “Either you can fall victim to your circumstances or you can choose the direction that you want to go.” (9:30-9:38 | Danielle)  “It's really listening to your body. Your body is a powerful resource to tell you what's going on.” (12:29-12:45 | Danielle) “Resiliency is essential to being successful as an entrepreneur, because you're on your own.” (16:49-16:55 | Danielle) “The more that you get back to your why and you understand the impact that you can make on others, that's going to help you prioritize where you're spending your time and who you're spending your time with.” (29:40-29:49 | Danielle) “We want to live our life. That mentality of work, work, work, I'll sleep when I'm dead. No, that's not the point, I want to work and I want to make an impact. And I want to be able to live my life and be there and be present for my kids and my friends and not feel guilty about it at all.” (35:06-35:28 | Danielle) “Don't quit on yourself before you even start. If it gets to a point where it's too much, then re-evaluate, but just put one foot forward, take it a day at a time.” (44:00-44:11 | Danielle)  Links https://www.daniellecobo.com/         https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellecobo/?hl=en        https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellecobo/        https://www.daniellecobo.com/company-culture XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During your burnout recovery, it may feel difficult to tell whether you are truly on the right path to recovery or still trapped in the burnout cycle. You will have ups and downs that may cause you to feel that your recovery is slipping back toward burnout again. In today’s #straightfromcait episode, Cait explains five signs to watch for that will let you know that you are on the right path.  Burnout recovery can feel a bit like a seesaw with all its ups and downs, but that is perfectly natural and nothing to be concerned about. The goal of recovery is to start having more moments of feeling like yourself interspersed with fewer moments of feeling burnt out. You will start to feel more like your old pre-burnout self more frequently, begin enjoying old hobbies that you were unable to enjoy while burnt out, and experience less issues with brain fog and memory lapses. You’ll still feel tired, but instead of feeling depleted and empty, you should begin to feel satisfied and good about your day. When you start to realize that you’re laughing more and getting more enjoyment out of your daily life, that’s when you know you are on the right path to burnout recovery.  Tune into this week’s #straightfromcait episode for a conversation about how to tell the difference between burnout recovery and being stuck in the same toxic cycle of burnout. Learn what signs to look out for to know whether you are on the right track with your recovery.  Quotes · “Recovery feels a whole lot like just simply feeling more normal again, interspersed with moments that feel like you're still totally burnt out. What we're looking for is longer and more frequent feelings of normal, of your norm, your old norm, your pre burnout norm and shorter, less frequent moments of feeling burnt out.” (01:27-01:52 | Cait) · “Having a down day does not necessarily mean burnout.” (3:56-3:59 | Cait) · “If you find yourself finding moments of amusement and joy during your days, then you know you're on the right track.” (6:15-6:22 | Cait)  · “The sign that you're recovering is that you're still tired at the end of the day, but it feels like a good, satisfied tired, not a depleted, empty, crappy, tired.” (7:06-7:20 | Cait) Links  https://facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcast https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/resources https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah https://caitdonovan.as.me/freecall XOXO, C If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/quiz Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices