“Cool, this is an emotion, but what is it telling me? What is the information?” asks Nicole Maitland, host of the podcast “Yarns for the Soul” and today’s guest on this episode of FRIED hosted by Sarah Vosen. The same high level of sensitivity that made Nicole an effective human rights lawyer in her native New Zealand made her vicariously vulnerable to her clients’ trauma, and her people-pleasing tendencies drove her to give her best to those clients even as her body was screaming for her to stop. Today, Nicole explains how she is learning to give herself the time, space and permission to feel her feelings without guilt or judgment, and what’s more, to learn to determine the message and information her emotions are trying to deliver. She compares emotions to waves, and the messages the emotions contain, to boats. When we let the waves wash over us and pay attention to the boats, we can receive the message that ultimately helps us bring ourselves more into what Sarah calls “soul alignment”— the lack of which is what leads to burnout in the first place. Nicole also talks about listening to the messages your body is trying to tell you, either through the symptoms of burnout, or in the subtle ways your gut and heart are trying to lead you in the right direction. Currently, Nicole is living the life of a “slow nomad,” and in turn is learning to let her soul be a “free and easy wanderer.” Learn more about her journey, how working with a naturopath changed her perspective and what she learned about life from growing up on her family’s farm. Quotes“As I look back now, that was kind of the last domino to fall. I can see that I was already chronically stressed probably from when I first started as a lawyer, even maybe before, when I was studying at university. And then I kind of just kept pushing because I didn’t know what else to do.” (6:13 | Nicole Maitland)“Riding those waves, you can see if there’s a boat that’s coming along and so, the wave itself is a certain emotion—it could be anger, sadness or whatever it is—but if you detach from the wave and look at the boat, which is a message…What is it trying to tell me?” (18:54| Nicole Maitland)“I know some people aren’t label-oriented, they don’t need a diagnosis but I think, for me, that’s where I’ve struggled because I find those labels helpful… now having the words of ‘highly sensitive person,’ I can use that as a lens to reflect back on everything, particularly my work as a lawyer and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s why I was different. That’s why I functioned differently,’ kind of bringing kindness to previous versions of myself.” (31:20 | Nicole Maitland) “Physically, it can come from different places. It’s the heart, or the gut, possibly. The heart is, ‘What am I really feeling? What feels aligned?’ The gut is more the intuition, those things that you maybe can’t explain, but a little message or a tap on the shoulder, ‘I don’t know why, but let’s follow that.’  (44:18 | Nicole Maitland)LinksConnect with Nicole Maitland:https://nicole28j.wixsite.com/nicole-maitland-1https://www.instagram.com/yarnsforthesoulnicole/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-maitland-4544706a/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“What’s more important: being happy for having some stupid business card?” Asks Bryan Huhn, who joins FRIED today to discuss the relationship between financial stress and burnout, particularly when we allow the money we’re making—and the money we think we can’t live without—to convince us we need to remain in jobs that are making us miserable even to the point of illness. Bryan spent years valuing what people thought of him more than his own genuine passions and in an effort to people-please, pursued a career in finance rather than his dream of becoming a baseball coach. This led to a toxic cycle where his self-worth was tied to a job he had no passion for and therefore didn’t excel at, the stress of which, he believes, contributed to a cancer diagnosis in 2015. With what he’s learned, he wants to help others make the most of their money so that they can create the best lives for themselves, and don’t have to spend another minute in jobs that they hate. As he explains to host Cait Donovan, this requires being brutally honest with yourself about where your money is going, what that says about what you value, and how you can start financially planning so that you can buy your freedom without wasting any more of that resource that is perhaps more valuable than money: your time. This requires getting real with yourself, while at the same time refraining from judging yourself or comparing yourself to anyone else. Join today’s episode of FRIED to learn how your approach to financial planning will help you start to live your best life. Quotes“That’s one thing I would say: Don’t ever compare. If there’s something you’ve been through, even if it seems really minor, it has a major impact on your life and the way your brain works. So, having that self-compassion, I think, is really important.” (4:43 | Bryan Huhn)“Money is imaginary. It literally is not real. We, as humans, just decided, ‘Hey, this thing, this piece of paper, this U.S. dollar is worth something and we all agree that it is, and that’s how we’re going to interact with one another and get the things we want. It could just as easily be Bitcoin. It’s not real, so why should your goal be to maximize how much of it you accumulate? No, the purpose of it is to live the best freaking life that you can possibly live.” (20:33 | Bryan Huhn) “OK, where’s my money going? So, what am I valuing? Because if you really want to know what someone cares about, look at their bank statement and their calendar. The time and the money. It’s a really good way to measure that. So, it almost forces you to do that deep work that so many people resist.” (27:35 | Bryan Huhn)“There’s no judgment there. It’s just being honest with yourself and I think a lot of times, especially in my industry, they make people feel really judged. It’s kind of cliche to hear a financial planner say, ‘Don’t spend six bucks on your Starbucks coffee every morning. Shut up. Don’t tell people what they should value, but help them figure it out and help them be brutally honest with themselves.” (30:13 | Bryan Huhn)LinksConnect with Bryan Huhn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanhuhn/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Ready to leave burnout behind for good? Join UNFRIED: A Small Group Burnout Recovery Program and start reclaiming your energy and joy. Apply today! https://bit.ly/unfryapply“The problem isn’t you; the problem is the toxic workplace,” explains host Caitlin Donovan on this latest #straightfromcait episode of FRIED, in which she discusses the dangers of returning to a toxic workplace only to repeat the burnout cycle again, as if you never made any recovery progress. Too often we’re led to believe that if we improve ourselves enough, we can develop an immunity against a bad environment, which, as Cait says, simply isn’t true. On today’s episode, she explains why you should reconsider returning to your toxic workplace, and, if you do find yourself there, what to do if you find yourself unsupported. She discusses the common feelings of isolation, loneliness, emotional and mental paralysis and low self-esteem that accompany this scenario, and the devastating effects of bullies in the workplace. You’ve come too far in your burnout recovery to jump back into the very situation that got you burned out in the first place. Join Cait today to learn the importance of being aware of, and listening to your body responses, to better detect and determine if your environment is safe. Quotes“What happens, because of pop culture and pop psychology, is people assume that if they just get stronger, have better boundaries or can manage their emotions better, that somehow they will be able to manage and handle a toxic environment. That would be like saying, ‘If I just meditate enough, I can swim in toxic chemicals and they won’t bother my body.’ That’s just not true.” (2:56 | Caitlin Donovan) “There are a lot of people who explain that they, after something like this happens, are left with really low confidence. They’re feeling worthless, they feel socially isolated. They don’t know how to search for a new job; they’re nervous about searching for a new job. They’re wondering if they’ll ever be able to work again. Their social circle often doesn’t know how to respond, which is not their social circle’s fault, most people are just not educated well enough in the realms of burnout to have these conversations easily.” (6:37 | Caitlin Donovan) “And then that social isolation turns into loneliness, and you feel like the odd one out and you feel like, ‘Oh, my God, why is everybody around me making it in life and I can’t hang, I can’t hack it.’ And then that turns into a general feeling of despair.” (7:08 | Caitlin Donovan)“It only takes one bully, one crappy boss to set things totally sideways. And I know that people who work in HR and leaders don’t want to hear that one crappy boss can really ruin it like that for someone, but they can, and they do, and the cost is magnificent. The cost is immense for this person.” (9:38 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvReady to leave burnout behind for good? Join UNFRIED: A Small Group Burnout Recovery Program and start reclaiming your energy and joy. Apply today! https://bit.ly/unfryapplyPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIED“How do we rewrite the playbook together?” asks Daisy Auger-Dominguez, global leader, workplace strategist and author of the upcoming book “From Burnt Out to Lit Up,” on today’s episode of FRIED. The contemporary workplace is in major flux at the moment. In addition to being in collective burnout that we’ve just been able to give a name to, we’re also in what Daisy calls a “messy middle,” where workers are still learning how to effectively use their voices and leaders are trying to navigate these rapidly changing waters with archaic methods. So, how can leaders gain the skills to lead high-performing teams, shift workplace culture, and drive performance without causing more burnout? By showing up differently, modeling vulnerability and humanity for their workers, so that they feel seen, can heal, and eventually, help change the system from the inside out.Today Daisy talks about what it takes to do such healing. It includes being conscious of your sacrifices, weighing the pros and cons of your decisions, replenishing your social battery and staying on top of your cultural debt. Many leaders fall into the trap of thinking they’re needed everywhere 24/7—when delegating not only eases the leader’s burden but lets capable workers shine. Daisy explains how we can acknowledge the undue burden many groups experience in the workplace while exercising agency that helps not only us thrive but others as well. By rewriting the stories we tell ourselves, we help remodel the current paradigm of workplace culture into something better. Quotes“That’s what we’re hoping for from our leaders. We’re hoping that they will help us, get us to the other side, and that they will do so vulnerably; that they will do so with humanity; and that they will do so in a way that allows us to feel seen, validated and understood so that we can deliver to our best capacity.” (9:24 | Daisy Auger-Dominguez)“I do believe that when you tell the world that you have boundaries, you tell the world that you matter. But I also think …what I do for me is also what I model for others so that—they don’t have to do what I’m doing, but they can create the conditions where they can thrive.” (20:40 | Daisy Auger-Dominguez)“One of the practices in the book that I share is about reframing our narratives, reframing our stories, because for a long time, the story I told myself was, ‘As a woman… As a woman of color…’’ all these ‘only’ characteristics that you have, I needed to show up differently. And to be fair, and this is to your naysayer listener, I had to. I really did have to.” (24:07 | Daisy Auger-Dominguez)“I know the system has failed me, but how do I exercise my agency to figure out how I thrive in this way, and by doing that, help change the system? Because by my figuring out, ‘How do I show up differently, and ‘How do I help others show up differently,’ we help build that new leadership. We were just talking about how most leaders are using the same old playbook. Well, how do we rewrite the playbook together?” (27:02 | Daisy Auger-Dominguez) LinksConnect with Daisy Auger-Dominguez:https://www.daisyauger-dominguez.comhttps://www.instagram.com/daisyaugerdominguez/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/daisyaugerdominguez/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIED“What kind of 85-year-old do you want to be?” asks Cathy Richards, exercise physiologist, wellness coach and best-selling author of “Boom! Six Steps to Living a Longer, Healthier Life” who joins the podcast to help us learn what we can do to protect our brains against neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. The habits we build now—starting with as little as just five minutes a day—will help, in large part, to determine the quality of our later years.The best thing you can do? Get moving. This doesn’t have to mean exercise. Cathy and Cait discuss the power of movement to not only yield physical benefits such as weight loss, but helps to promote neuroplasticity that will help us develop healthier thoughts and, ultimately, belief systems. The point is to build small consistent habits over time.The future is coming faster than we think. Though none of us has entire control over it, we can begin today to form the best version of ourselves in the future.Quotes“I will say that I think that sleep is one of the biggest things we can do…I don’t think in general that sleep is protected as much and it’s not part of American culture to get enough sleep, I would say, in my opinion. I feel like we’re always deciding if we have more to do, we just stay up late and we get up early.” (9:32 | Cathy Richards)“Totally modest investment of time can yield enormous benefits. It doesn’t have to be a lot, it doesn’t have to be complicated and we really can’t afford not to. That’s the thing, if we could prescribe movement, whether it’s for migraines, or whatever it is, or whatever your problem, movement can fix it, or can help fix it. Almost every single solitary time.” (17:30 | Cathy Richards) “People get stressed out thinking, ‘What do I need to do to prevent my heart disease?...what do I need to do to protect my brain?’ Guess what? It’s all the same list…Moving your body has more impact on your brain function than anything else you could do.” (33:18 | Cathy Richards) “You don’t turn into the kind of 85-year-old that’s in a nursing home versus traveling the world at 84. We’re building the kind of 85-year-old we want to be right now.” (47:52 | Cathy Richards)LinksConnect with Cathy Richards:https://www.cathyrichards.net/blog/taking-a-year-to-inspire-vitality-in-yourself https://www.cathyrichards.neet https://www.instagram.com/inspiringvitality https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathymrichards/ https://www.cathyrichards.net/brainpower.html https://www.facebook.com/groups/intentionallivingandlongevityConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“We really need to break our limitations of what we say rest is,” says Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine physician, internationally renowned thought leader on well-being, and author of the bestselling book “Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity.” By overwhelming demand, Dr. Saundra joins the FRIED podcast to discuss the seven types of rest, which she explains is distinct from—but nonetheless essential to—sleep. She’ll explain how you can determine in which area of your life—from the mental, physical and emotional, to the sensorial, spiritual and creative—-you are experiencing the greatest rest deficit, and how you can begin to fill those empty buckets amidst your busy life, not around it. Along the way she reveals some surprising insights about the nature of rest and unpacks some of our most enduring misconceptions about it. Often what we think of as rest is really more work and when we think we are relaxing we are just indulging ourselves. She explains the difference between fitting in and true belonging, why trauma dumping can actually cause more stress, and why that watercolor painting class is not as creatively restoring as you may think it is. Over 250,000 people have discovered their personal rest deficit with Dr. Saundra’s help. Join today’s episode to learn how you can discover yours and start your journey toward overcoming burnout and living your best life. Quotes“I got to this point where I realized all of the work and energy that I put into building that life that looks so good, I could put the same energy into building a life that actually felt good, and that actually was a life that was satisfying and did give me the things that I desire.” (4:49 | Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith) “Do something. Don’t settle for exhaustion. I feel like that’s the culture we’ve lived in. We’ve settled for, ‘Well this is just how everybody feels. Everybody’s burnt out. Everyone’s exhausted. Nobody’s happy.’ It’s not true. It’s a lie.” (13:51 | Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith)“I think for a lot of people, we feel like sleep is the end all/be all of rest. And so we try to bypass all other forms of stress and just go straight to, ‘Give me six, seven, eight hours of deep, restorative sleep,’ and that’s just not the reality of it. You can pop pills all day, you’re not going to have restorative sleep. It just doesn’t work like that. It’s something that comes when your body, your mind, your spirit, your relationships, all of those components of rest feel safe, they feel rested. So, then it’s like your whole self is able to completely go into the truly helpless state of deep, restorative sleep.” (17:32 | Saundra Dalton-Smith) “Fifty years ago…we trained our brains for memorization, concentration and focus, whereas now we train our brains to multitask.” (21:08 | Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith)LinksConnect with Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith:https://www.drdaltonsmith.com/ https://www.instagram.com/drdaltonsmith https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdaltonsmith/ https://restquiz.com/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“Making yourself feel good in your own space is really important,” urges host Cait Donovan on today’s episode of FRIED, the second in a six-part series dedicated to the various factors that make us more vulnerable to burnout. Following the episode which covered factors in the workplace, today’s episode discusses the impact of our environment—both interior and exterior—on our parasympathetic nervous system and our ability to handle stress. Today, Cait will cover the importance of light exposure—and lack thereof—as well green spaces, clutter piles, and when. You’ll learn why even the way you store your cutlery can change the way you feel in your own space. No matter how much time, energy or money you have to devote to changing your environment—every little adjustment makes a difference. Cait shares research and science behind her suggestions, while also encouraging you to cater to your own individual preferences. She’ll share the three colors that are proven to inspire calm in the home, how to increase the function of your prefrontal cortex and how to create community around you even when you live alone.What small shift can you make in your environment in the next week? With that one small change you will begin to buy yourself the energy you will need to make the larger changes in your burnout recovery. Quotes“A lot of times, this is something that we have a lot of control over for relatively low cost—if not totally free—and we’re not thinking about it because so much of the “self-help” work out there is about fixing your mindset, and managing your perfectionism and doing something about your boundaries. Sometimes, when you can’t do any of those things, I want you to know there is still something you can do, some changes you can make, some influence you can have without having to be focused on doing all this work all the time.” (2:02 | Caitlin Donovan) “When you view the sunrise and view the sunset and your eyes are exposed—there are actually cones and rods in your eyes that are exposed to a particular level of blue light that’s given out during those hours, that help to set off your hormonal cascade, the circadian rhythm of your hormonal cascade properly.” (6:49 | Caitlin Donovan)“When we’re thinking about burnout recovery, we [often think] ‘Go boundaries, and have these conversations and maybe even quit your job or talk to your manager,’ and do all these big life things. Sometimes, the first thing you need to do is buy a round nightstand or something else equally seemingly insignificant in your world that will help lower your stress level so that you can manage the other things in your life with more ease so that you have more buffer in your stress response system to be able to handle the rest of life.” (13:41 | Caitlin Donovan) “You should feel community within your household if there are other people who live with you, and/or around your household. So, if there is no community at all in your neighborhood, even if the only community you have is that you have a dog and the fellow dog walkers say hello to each other when they’re out, that matters.” (17:32 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“I completely lost myself, my physical, mental and emotional well-being, but I lost my identity. I was no longer Claudia, I was the caregiver,” explains today’s guest Claudia Taboada, a holistic wellness and burnout prevention coach, bestselling author and international speaker who joins FRIED today to discuss the experience of burnout by those who care for neurodiverse children. After her oldest son was diagnosed with autism in 2003, Claudia left her job to care for him full time. Soon, not only was she mentally and physically exhausted from trying to be, as she called it, the “autism supermom” but she lost sight of her own goals and aspirations along the way. On today’s episode, she explains how a guide dog who had been gifted to the family to help with son’s development, actually helped her realize how important it is for those who care for everyone else to carve out time to care for themselves, to de-clutter their minds, to get their bodies moving and reconnect with themselves. Of course, for most women, this is easier said than done. Claudia talks to host Cait Donovan about the pressure to people-please, to put one’s own needs last on the list, and the importance of filling your own cup. She also discusses setting mental boundaries against toxic people and influences, while also pushing past our own limiting beliefs and fears, and what she does to foster a growth mindset. Quotes“It was really about decluttering the mind. On these walks, I was by myself—and the dog—but I was into the present moment. They were mindful walks, I called them ‘the mindful walks.’ I was on my stride, and the smells, the sights—everything. So, I was in the present moment and that finally allowed my mind to start decluttering. The mind started to declutter and I started to reconnect with myself.” (9:37 | Claudia Taboada)“I crossed the finish line and that was the moment, that was my epiphany—my real epiphany—where I said, ‘This is it. Burnout stops here. I need to take charge. I need to take charge of my physical, mental and emotional health because I have been neglecting myself and as the mother of a severely autistic child who is going to be dependent on me for the rest of his days, I cannot die. I need to recover from this burnout and I need to stay in peak mental, physical and emotional state to be able to not only take care of him in the long run, but also go after my dreams and my aspirations, which I had lost.” (13:26 | Claudia Taboada) “I also have my own identity now. So even though my life is harder now because I’m by myself, taking care of my son, I’m also feeling fulfilled and I’m doing my things and I have my business and all that. And I have learned how to put my boundaries around my caregiving role so that I can do my own things as well.” (20:15 | Claudia Taboada) “Women, we have been conditioned to give, to be everything to everyone and we put ourselves at the bottom of the priority list, and when we start setting boundaries and when we start saying, ‘Well, maybe I also have needs,’ we feel guilty. Whether it’s at work or it’s at home, we feel guilty.” (22:02 | Claudia Taboada)LinksConnect with Claudia Taboada: https://claudiataboada.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-taboada-216a901bbhttps://calendly.com/claudiataboada/30-minute--gameplan-callConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“Irrational fear is just a sign of depletion,” said Sarah Vosen in a recent conversation with co-host Cait Donovan. This profound insight became the foundation for today’s episode. According to Chinese medicine, the paralyzing anxiety that often accompanies burnout—leaving you disconnected from yourself and others, doubting your intuition, and retreating from the world—stems from a depletion of energy in the kidney system. Citing the book “Rooted in Spirit: The Heart of Chinese Medicine,” Cait explains that when the heart and kidney systems fail to connect and communicate, it leads to insecurity, hesitation, and a loss of perspective on life’s possibilities.So, what can we do about it? Since fear is a physical symptom of a deeper issue, the solution lies in the physical realm. Sarah and Cait discuss dietary changes, exercise, and environmental adjustments that can help restore kidney energy. They also delve into a specific visualization technique and even suggest the best fashion choices to support this healing process.Join the conversation to discover the surprising and common physical signs that may be linked to the kidney’s energetic system, along with a specific exercise that could bring you the relief you’ve been seeking.Quotes“When you’re feeling irrational fear, it feels like it’s the biggest thing, top priority, it is coloring everything in your world. It’s a big deal.” (2:31 | Sarah Vosen)“It’s just a sign—not to minimize that it feels gigantic, but it’s just a sign—it’s just one of the ways that your body’s telling you, ‘I’m so depleted that I am terrified of everything on purpose. I’m telling you that I’m scared of everything because I want you to sit still. I want you to honor this fear and stop pushing yourself because you are dangerously depleted.’” (3:45 | Sarah Vosen) “This goes both ways: when this communication is disrupted, fear is the result. And also, when there is too much fear, a disruption of this communication can be the result.” (9:11 | Caitlin Donovan)“Your hesitation to take a step forward in any direction because you feel like it’s all wrong and you’re going to hurt yourself and you just don’t know. You can’t trust because you’re disconnected from your heart. Your heart is no longer leading you in the way that it used to. We didn’t even used to think about it, but a lot of times, you just thought, ‘Oh. That feels good. I’m going to do that.’ But when you’re not connected to your heart anymore and this fear is driving you, it actually just drives you straight into the ground.” (10:29 | Sarah Vosen) “Most people don’t necessarily know this but the heart sends more signals to the brain during the day than the brain sends to the heart—this is not Chinese medicine, this is Western research. So, your heart is sending more information to your brain than the other way around. So, your heart has a lot of influence over how you function on a day-to-day basis.” (11:19 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“If you’re ready to recover, understand what’s going on with you, and get a life you love, let’s do this,” says Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, a leading expert on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia. The author of 12 books, including the best-selling “From Fatigued to Fantastic,” Dr. Teitelbaum joins the FRIED podcast to discuss the similarities between these conditions and burnout, including four key symptoms, and how they are distinct. He likens the hypothalamus—a crucial brain area controlling hormones, adrenaline, and thyroid function—to a circuit breaker that trips to prevent the body from “burning down.” He suggests that living inauthentically and ignoring our true needs can trigger these health issues, serving as crucial warnings that we need to realign our lives.Dr. Teitelbaum critiques the shortcomings of a profit-driven Western medical system that often fails to recognize these conditions, despite its claims of evidence-based practice. He and host Cait delve into the benefits of homeopathic and natural remedies, and discuss a common hormonal issue affecting a significant portion of the population.Dr. Teitelbaum also shares his personal struggle with chronic fatigue, which led him to drop out of medical school and briefly live on a park bench. His journey to becoming a healer in his own right is not only a testament to his resilience but also serves as a beacon of hope for anyone on their own path to recovery from burnout.Quotes“Burnout includes the physiology of CFS and fibromyalgia, sometimes, but burnout, to me, is when you’re not being authentic. You’re doing stuff you don’t want to be doing—you’re doing what you should be doing, but you hate it, you’ve outgrown that.” (8:25 | Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum) “Do you see chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia or long Covid as a more extreme place from burnout? Yes. It’s when your body’s giving you a symptom of burnout to say, ‘You’re on the wrong path; Cliff Ahead,’ and getting you to slow down and change direction. The cliff is chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or that part of long Covid. That’s when you go over the cliff because you didn’t listen to your psyche when it said, ‘Wrong Way.’” (12:04 | Caitlin Donovan and Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum) “People need to realize there’s not a single way to get to where you want to go. You can go north and south and get to the same place, you just need to turn west. There are all kinds of ways to get there. In medicine, we’re geared to, ‘What is the most profitable?’ The doctors are almost all really good people who think they’re doing the right thing. They say their catechisms every morning, they say, ‘Evidence-based medicine. Domini, Domini, Domini.’ And the drug reps are these cheerleaders.” (35:13 | Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum) “Steer with some simple things. Number one: how does that feel to you? Your brain is a computer, it’s a product of your programming… It has no clue who you are. Your feelings know who you are.” (43:45 | Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum)LinksConnect with Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum:https://endfatigue.com/ https://www.instagram.com/jacobteitelbaummd/ https://endfatigue.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/gifts/3-Steps-to-Happiness-Healing-Through-Joy.pdfConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“We sometimes resist our own healing because it feels like punishment,” says Sarah Vosen in this latest #sarashares episode of FRIED. Today, she discusses the challenge of healing, which despite being good for us, doesn’t necessarily always feel great. And because of this, we are tempted to self sabotage, retreat back into our old coping mechanisms, and continue to sacrifice long term growth and greater reward for smaller, short-term rewards—or merely the illusion thereof. You may recognize yourself in a few of the scenarios that Sarah shares to illustrate how we can backslide down the slippery slope of healing. She also shares her own journey toward healthy eating and forming a new relationship to alcohol, and the incremental success in forming new habits. As with everything in nature and the universe, contraction is as natural an element of the growth and healing process as expansion. So, on our healing journey, for every step forward there may be a retreat back to old, comforting habits, especially when we’re physically and emotionally exhausted. That’s why we must take it slow and steady, show ourselves grace and reward, and look for and accept support. Sarah discusses the subject of “revenge procrastination,” and the big questions that lay at the heart of our resistance to change. With vulnerability and courage, Sarah continues to share her own journey with us so that we can learn more about what it means to heal from burnout and take bold action along our own path. Quotes“Continuing to use only these instant gratification comforts is like choosing a consolation prize that’s depleting over time because they’re like empty calories—sometimes literally—or sometimes more like empty fulfillment, like how a diet soda is sweet but not really. It isn’t exactly satisfying.The real prizes are the ones that healing provides.” (2:33 | Sarah Vosen) “All periods of growth have a retreat following them, just like winter is a retreat of energy from the full out growth period of the summer.” (8:23 | Sarah Vosen) “When you are embarking on a healing journey, remember that in order to change, you have to change, and with change comes growing pains, mostly because you have to shift your habits away from a lifestyle that is the only safety you know, and has been comforting you in some way, for years. Even if it wasn’t helpful for you in many other ways.” (11:52 | Sarah Vosen)“You’ve heard it said before and I’ll say it again: make smaller changes. If you’re very tired, make even smaller changes. I know it won’t seem like enough, but it will add up.” (19:04 | Sarah Vosen)LinksDahlia blooming: https://www.instagram.com/thesusanakennedy/reel/C4IFC-wA3pN/Scheduling acupuncture with Sarah near Minneapolis, MN:https://acusimple.com/access/7008/#/appointments/8888/list/42506/2024-03-14/FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcast/Newsletter sign up for office hours: https://www.caitdonovan.com/newsletter-office-hours1:1 coaching consults for Sarah: https://caitdonovan.as.me/coachwithsarah1:1 coaching consults for Cait: https://caitdonovan.as.me/initialConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“I’m giving you permission to give up,” says Courtney Clark, author of the recent book “Revisionary Thinking,” who joins the FRIED podcast to talk about the power of quitting. After being diagnosed with cancer four times starting at a very early age, she became acutely aware of the demand our culture makes on staying positive at all costs, creating a vacuum around anything even resembling a negative, or even more realistic thought. In workplace and career, this means we tend to stay on a career path past the time we realize it’s not working, convinced there is only one way to do things. Quitting doesn’t mean abandoning your dreams—or just lazing on the couch. Instead, Courtney encourages us to ‘supersize’ our dreams, to realize what you really want in the big picture, so that you can allow for more than one path to get there. And the more paths there are to get to our dreams the more chances we have to achieve them. Most of us have done this type of pivoting in our lives, perhaps without even realizing it. Courtney and Caitlin share their experiences in ‘supersizing’ in their career as well as in their personal lives. Quotes“We’ve very much romanticized the idea of powering through and putting on a happy face and I think part of the reason we like it, and we tell ourselves that story that other people are suffering’, Oh, they’re doing it with so much grace,’ we like that because, I believe, that it allows us to cling to this thought, this hope, that, if it were us, we’d be OK, too. ‘It’s bad but it’s not so bad.’ But the reality is then, that can lead friends, family, the support system to minimize.” (7:33 | Courtney Clark)“I believe we’ve created this culture where if you can’t find positivity, you’re bad and wrong. And if we could just kind of let that go, and maybe just allow two things to co-exist at the same time. You can have gratitude for something for where it got you and what you have because of it and also decide, ‘I don’t have to hold onto this forever.’” (12:23 | Courtney Clark)“There are a lot of people shouting and saying, ‘Change the system so that it’s what I wanted it to be.’ Instead of, ‘I’m going to quit the system and still help people or still engage with people in a way that’s more aligned.’”(18:17 | Caitlin Donovan)“A lot of times when we set what we think is a goal, we’ve really made a plan. And when we realize and we buy into the more ways you have to achieve something, the more achievable it is, then in order to build a lot of paths to something, you need to make a bigger goal. This is a strategy I call ‘supersizing’ your goal.” (23:14 | Courtney Clark) LinksConnect with Courtney Clark:https://www.courtneyclark.com/ https://www.instagram.com/courtney_l_clark/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneylclark/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDHey, FRIED Fam! Host Cait Donovan is back with another #straightfromcait episode, this time discussing the six factors which leave you most vulnerable to workplace burnout. Drawing from leading research, she will explain how you can evaluate these factors in order to make the best decisions for yourself going forward. These factors will be all too familiar to longtime FRIED listeners—or anyone going through burnout recovery. Cait discusses the many ways that values can misalign in the workplace as well as how to respond when you feel your contributions are being under appreciated. She’ll reveal just how many friends the average person needs to have in the workplace, according to research, and how to deal with a micromanaging boss. Tune in to today’s episode where you’ll also learn how to deal with a lack of autonomy and how to determine when your workload is unmanageable. Quotes“If you know these things, then you can start to make some changes, see where things can be shifted and where they can’t be shifted and then maybe make some better decisions moving forward in your workplace.” (1:44 | Caitlin Donovan)“If you have high levels of job strain and low levels of resources, that becomes an unbearable workload.” (2:28 | Caitlin Donovan) “There’s a ton of research that says that you need one solid friend in the workplace in order to feel like somebody’s got your back and to feel connected to your workplace.” (3:08 | Caitlin Donovan)“There’s only so much you can do when someone hasn’t learned how to trust the people that work for them. You can’t change that for them, that’s their own stuff that they’ve got to work through. The only control you have is whether or not you work under this person.” (5:18 | Caitlin Donovan) “If you’re feeling a lack of fairness, you need to know what it’s about in order to decide whether or not you can influence it.” (7:47 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIED“You’re such a light and I feel like your flame is being extinguished,” said Maggie Reyes’ husband when she was experiencing burnout. For many, addressing their partners’ burnout and its impact on the relationship—stress, resentment, uneven distribution of responsibility, feeling unacknowledged—is as challenging as recognizing their own burnout. Today, Maggie, a master certified life coach, modern marriage mentor, and author of the bestselling book “Questions for Couples,” as well as the host of the popular podcast “Marriage Life Coach,” returns to FRIED to discuss how couples can navigate burnout recovery for the benefit of all involved.Maggie will discuss how those suffering from burnout can start to vocalize and recognize their needs and wants, starting with small steps. Women, in particular, often find it difficult to speak up. Maggie will explain when it’s best to be direct and specific, when to be gentle and loving, and how to know when it’s time to take a break.What should you do when both partners are burnt out, but one can’t—or won’t—acknowledge it? Tune in to today’s discussion to find out.Quotes“What are the symptoms or the byproducts of burnout? If you think specifically in a marriage or in an intimate relationship, it’s the stuff you stop doing where the other person has to pick up the slack, so to speak. If you’re feeling a lot of resentment or they’re just piling on one more thing on top of you and you feel overwhelmed on a regular basis. For you it feels overwhelming, and for them it feels like they’re not being seen, they’re not being seen or being heard.” (4:57 | Maggie Reyes) “When we have enough self-awareness to know that we’re in it, there’s no subtlety. It’s ‘I’m drowning. I need help. You may not see it because everything is put together, you’re not feeling the effect of it at all because I’m still juggling all these balls, but everything’s about to drop.’” (8:48 | Maggie Reyes)“What’s hiding in the middle of burnout is, we don’t even know what to ask for because we’re so overwhelmed with everything. But the minute we have any awareness of, ‘I would like it to be warmer,’ then that’s my ask: ‘Can we just close the window?’” So, what is my ‘ask’ here? What would bring me relief here?” (10:27 | Maggie Reyes) “For some partners, their burnout is their identity. It’s so tied to who they are, how much they do is so tied to who they are that it’s almost like, to deal with their burnout would threaten their self-concept and their image of themselves.” (13:30 | Maggie Reyes)“If you have to be at a 2 for someone else to be at a 5, you need to run.” (30:39 | Maggie Reyes)LinksConnect with Maggie Reyes:https://maggiereyes.com/ https://www.instagram.com/themaggiereyes/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiereyes001/ https://learn.maggiereyes.com/powerquestionsConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! https://bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIED“There is a perfect fit out there for you,” encourages host Cait Donovan in this episode of FRIED, where she and Sarah Vosen discuss the process of job searching while recovering from burnout. They guide you through a four-step framework to navigate this challenging process.The goal is to dig beneath the trauma and anxiety of burnout to where your instincts and intuition can guide you toward what you truly want. This is your chance to reacquaint yourself with your true values, not those imposed by family, friends, or society. You’ll learn how to access Cait’s complimentary worksheet and how to hold yourself accountable as you complete the exercise—ideally more than once.Though it can be scary to face the working world again while still healing, if you allow yourself to dream big, you’ll find your perfect alignment. Cait and Sarah are living examples of this journey.Quotes“This also sort of gives you an opportunity to tap back into your intuition, which you’ve probably lost connection with during burnout and you probably stopped trusting yourself. So, while it takes time to build trust with a new company and new bosses and new team members, it also, in burnout recovery, takes time to build trust with yourself. Can I make the right decision? What if I make the wrong decision?” (7:58 | Cait Donovan) “Anchor yourself in the belief that there is a well-aligned job out there that will allow you to earn money and keep your health and have colleagues and be joyful—not saying you’re not going to have a stressful day now and again, not saying you’re going to love every single person you work with, it’s not going to be a cult—but there is a perfect fit out there for you. We see this over and over and over again in situations where it really should not exist.” (11:47 | Cait Donovan) “Honestly, we’re these people, too. I mean, for real. It’s a little different when it’s an entrepreneurial thing because we’re making small adjustments and course corrections over time, but we have become better and better bosses and made decisions that fit each of us. We’re making decisions collectively and individually that are better and better for us and it’s working.” (13:03 | Sarah Vosen)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvBurnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (7 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Get on the waitlist now! bit.ly/UNFRIEDPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!https://bit.ly/corevaluesfreebie“It was something I was doing just for me, no one else, a very unfamiliar feeling,” says today’s guest Kristin Lis, reflecting on her decision to begin burnout recovery with host Caitlin Donovan as her burnout coach, nearly a year before today’s interview. At that time, Kristin's mental fog was so severe that she couldn't read or form coherent sentences, a critical issue for her role as a lawyer focused on amicable divorce and family matters. Like many suffering from burnout, her boundaries were almost non-existent. She took calls and checked emails at all hours, even conducting Zoom hearings while at Disney World—practices deemed normal and necessary in the legal field. She was constantly reshaping herself to fit into her company’s mold.In today’s episode of FRIED, Kristin discusses the devastating effects of values misalignment, whether between a company’s stated versus practiced values, an employee’s values versus the company’s, or your own values versus those you aspire to live by. When Kristin allowed herself to fully imagine her ideal life and work, and was willing to proceed without a map or a net, something truly amazing happened.Kristin’s story exemplifies what can occur when we break free from the limiting narratives we tell ourselves and allow ourselves the time and grace needed to heal.Quotes“What I do for a living isn’t a value. The role I have in family life, that’s not a value. And I also can’t borrow values from an organization I work with. I had to figure out not only what my values were, but actually what I wanted them to be, and those were two very different things.” (16:38 | Kristin Lis)“That misalignment—I’ve heard of misalignment, everybody’s heard this on the podcast—that is a huge factor for burnout. When we’re not living in integrity with ourselves, it’s this internal conflict that doesn’t necessarily show up except for that tight feeling in the chest and the really sick feeling in your stomach. When you’re perceiving and doing something and it doesn’t really truly represent the best part of you, but you’ve convinced yourself that this is the only way to do it because this is the way it’s done in this field, or my office, and it’s unsettling.” (17:42 | Kristin Lis) “I was fully prepared to take a 50% payout. I thought that if I worked half the time, I would make half the money. And instead it was completely inaccurate. Again, it was another story I was telling myself in order to kind of compel me to stay in the same massively burnout-y, toxic corporate structure.” (28:40 | Kristin Lis)LinksConnect with Kristin Lis:www.iheartdivorce.com https://www.instagram.com/iheartdivorce/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinlis/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!  https://bit.ly/corevaluesfreebieMany of us know what it means to be burned out, but do you know what it means to be F.R.I.E.D.? On today’s episode Cait breaks down the five elements that make up the acronym F.R.I.E.D., five pillars—Facility safety, Reprioritize, Internal world, Explore what’s possible and Dedicate yourself—which comprise the main framework of burnout recovery. Within that framework, however, your recovery process is as individual as you are. In this episode, Cait expands on each aspect of the framework, while encouraging you to determine how to incorporate them into your own burnout recovery in a way that suits you best. The goal is to make choices that align with you, while keeping you moving forward on the pathway to recovery.Cait will ask you to consider what you can do to create buffers in both your internal and external environments so that you are more resilient when, inevitably, things go wrong. Think about what you are willing to change or let go of, so that you start seeing new and better results. Understand your BRFs (burnout risk factors) and BPFs (burnout prevention factors), and recognize where you need to draw boundaries, and where you need to expand your possibilities. Burnout recovery is an ongoing process and there will be inevitable setbacks. But through dedication and commitment there will also be inevitable growth and positive change. Quotes“The F.R.I.E.D framework has everything that you need in order to recover, is generic enough to cover a lot of different processes, and specific enough to give you guidance if you feel lost.” (3:59 | Caitlin Donovan)“I have so many people asking me if they can get back to normal. I don’t actually want you to get back to normal. Normal is what got you here. So, we need to figure out what your new normal could be that can allow you to live sustainably and have well-being for the long term in your life.” (9:17 | Caitlin Donovan) “Dedicate yourself to living a burnout-free life. Dedicate yourself to living a life that feels like you want it to feel rather than looks how you think it should look.” (19:32 | Caitlin Donovan) “The body is designed to not stay in perfect harmony. The body is designed to be pushed out of center and come back to some middle-ish range.” (20:29 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!“The self-abuse—that we don’t even realize we’re doing—is so glorified in this society.” Aria Johnson, a TV personality and celebrity voice coach, is best known for appearing as the music expert in the hit Reelz series “Beverly Hills Pawn.” Though this was ostensibly a reality show, Aria was ultimately playing a character—not unlike countless people who cast themselves as characters in their own realities, and like Aria they end up burned out emotionally and even physically. There is a particular pressure on women, she says, to portray a manufactured image based on impossible standards and to overachieve in all aspects of life. As Cait points out, this is why so many burnout sufferers think they are self-aware when they are merely character-aware. On today’s FRIED episode, Aria, now a motivational speaker and host of the “Behind the Glitz” podcast, talks about the central feeling of “not enough-ness” from which so many of us–even the rich and famous–operate. She explains how she learned to view self-care as a necessity rather than a luxury, one that has nothing to do with bubble baths or bro science. She and Cait discuss the importance not just of asking for help but of asking in the way that’s most beneficial and productive for all involved, and why in order to gain peace, you must forfeit perfectionism and control. Quotes“How many of us have cast ourselves as characters in our own lives? It’s true. The perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect corporate baddie, the perfect entrepreneur. I think it’s something women suffer from more than men—men suffer in a different way—but for women, our image is so important. And we don’t do it for us.” (5:58 | Caitlin Donovan and Aria Johnson) “Most of us burn out because we are trying to be something that we are not. We are trying to be the superwoman version of ourselves that we are told we have to be because we are handed on a platter, every single day, 22-year-old women that look a certain way, and they’re badasses in their careers, and all these things.” (12:38 | Aria Johnson)“We think we’re self aware, but what we are is character aware. We are aware of the chosen character that we think will get us the life that we want.” (14:49 | Caitlin Donovan)“It is glorified in this society for you to abuse yourself.” (20:39 | Aria Johnson) LinksConnect with Aria Johnson:https://ariajohnson.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ariajohnsonofficial https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariajohnson/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!FRIED Fam!—Another fried guide episode arrives by popular demand! This time hosts Cait and Sarah are talking about the holistic guide to burnout recovery, and that includes learning to listen to your body’s signals to figure out what larger issue they’re trying to draw your attention to. Most of us are so accustomed to ignoring our bodies’ signals and burnout signs—pain, rashes, reflux—or even just having to pee!— that we forget that we have the option to address them. But when we do, we build trust with ourselves and our bodies, and over time learn to regulate our emotions and bring ourselves into closer alignment with who we truly are and what truly brings us joy.Which isn’t to say it’s easy. Our culture—from teachers and coaches to doctors—have taught many of us to push through our pain. Cait and Sarah compare the way that American Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug was hailed as a hero for putting her body in danger for the sake of her team, while fellow American Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was vilified for listening to her own needs and bowing out of the games. Sarah shares a story about a recent party that she threw for herself and what her body’s signals told her in the days leading up about her issues with knowing what she wants and asking for it. Everyone’s burnout recovery process, and body signals, are unique. Sarah and Cait will show you how you can begin to hear the personal message your body is trying to send you. Quotes“Everybody’s body does this. But there are so many physical things that we are accustomed to feeling discomfort in, that we override them and we don’t know how to interpret them, so we just move about our day.” (8:33 | Caitlin Donovan)“When you pay attention to it, you grow a part of your brain that teaches you to be more in tune with yourself. And, the research shows, when you pay attention to these small little things like peeing when you have to pee and drinking when you’re thirsty, guess what happens? Your ability to emotionally regulate improves.” (12:14 | Caitlin Donovan) “You build trust with yourself in this process, which creates safety. Not only are you meeting the immediate need by emptying your bladder, also your body says, ‘Oh! Thank you for listening.’” (13:06 | Sarah Vosen) “This is now changing because people don’t put up with things the way they used to, but Sarah and I grew up as gymnasts. You play through the pain, man! Pain is not a reason to stop. Pain is a reason to add tape. Add tape. Oh, my God, I had so much tape on my body and Ibuprofen in my system.” (24:43 | Caitlin Donovan and Sarah Vosen)“It might be overwhelming to tune in, because when you’re in burnout, all of your alarm bells are firing. Your nervous system is on high alert. So it may feel like an emergency when you tune in and that’s because it is.” (41:12 | Sarah Vosen)LinksConnect with Cait:https://caitdonovan.com/unfriedInitial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!“The home is a container for our sensory inputs, and the inputs to our sense organs affect us tremendously,” says Dr. Jaime Rabin, doctor of acupuncture, certified feng shui practitioner and executive leader of Deepak Chopra’s Global Awareness brand. She joins the FRIED podcast today to tell us what we can do to make our living spaces soothing, sanctuaries that infuse us with energy, promote well-being, improve our state of mind and help to form long term behavioral changes. As we discussed in the last episode, emotional detritus buildup blocks energy from flowing freely in the body, and it’s the same with physical clutter in the house. On today’s episode dedicated to burnout and feng shui, Dr. Jaime reveals some of the surprising aspects of your environment that may be causing that energy to leak, as well as her “green flags” and “red flags” when assessing someone’s home.Feng shui starts at the front door—and that’s exactly where you should leave your self-judgment. The process of optimizing your home is highly personal, and while evaluating your surroundings and your needs requires honesty, this should be a positive experience. Learn how to create engaging visual cues that make sense for you, even if it’s just a pretty box for your doom pile. Are your plants and pets working for your home? Join Dr. Jaime to learn more about symbology, the psychology of color, and incorporating the five elements of nature into your home. Quotes“There are two things: there’s the removal of that which is irritating you and adding to your stress and overwhelm—the decluttering, the switching things out, fixing, the mending all of that. And then there’s also the intentional. ‘OK, now, how do I bring in the things that, like you said, the sunshine yellow or whatever it may be for each person. And it doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul.” (10:30 | Dr. Jaime Rabin) “You start letting go of things. And the more the process of letting go then it opens up portals for people, because now they’ve created space for new possibility.” (12:46 | Dr. Jaime Rabin)“Something you can do is start to ask yourself, ‘Where in my home have I accumulated things and what is that saying about where I am right now?’” (13:59 | Dr. Jaime Rabin)“Never feel shame about the things that you need help and support with, and then find the personalized solution for them.” (22:28 | Dr. Jaime Rabin)“The front door specifically is considered the mouth of chi in the home. It is where the fresh energy enters the home, it’s where you welcome your friends and your family, and so the ease with which you enter your home is something extremely important.” (24:51 | Dr. Jaime Rabin)“I’m noticing vibe, I’m noticing flow and then I’m noticing opportunities for intentional design. I’d say those are the real three things that I’m noticing.” (42:22 | Dr. Jaime Rabin) LinksConnect with Dr. Jaime Rabin:lluministaliving.comhttps://www.instagram.com/drjaimerabin/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimerabin/ https://www.illuministaliving.com/feng-shui-personality-quizConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!“When I’m stressed, I trip more, I bang into things more, I stub my toe more—so there’s definitely something going on here,” Cait shares, highlighting the curious link between burnout and clumsiness. In this latest "Fried Guide" episode, Sarah Vosen joins Cait to delve deeper into why burnout can make us more accident-prone and even lead to injuries. They discuss how stress can cause physical reactions like tensed neck muscles and narrowed peripheral vision, making us clumsier.According to Chinese medicine, unprocessed emotions can accumulate in the liver, decaying and poisoning our system. This toxic buildup, combined with neglecting our basic needs like rest and proper nutrition, leads to a depletion so severe that our bodies can't even benefit from healthy inputs. Sarah explains how ignoring our spiritual needs contributes to this misalignment, exacerbating our stress and physical discoordination.So, what’s the solution? Identifying a personal outlet—whether it’s exercise, journaling, or engaging in meaningful conversations—and approaching these activities with mindfulness and intention. Cait and Sarah share how they navigate their own emotional landscapes and manage their stress cycles, offering insights into finding balance in our complicated lives.Quotes“When you’re in the flow of life, and you’re aligned and in balance with yourself, you’re in this flow with everything around you, and therefore, there’s no clumsiness. You’re on it; you’re in your center. Your energy is very intentional. Your thoughts are clear and everything goes smoothly, as you wish.” (3:45 | Sarah Vosen) “Chronic stress mode, when we’re not processing our emotions or processing life, it gets stored in our tissues and our physical body gets solid, hard, tense, and then everything’s not flexible. We’re meant to be flexible, we’re meant to be like a tree that bends in the wind, but when all that stuff builds up and you’re just hanging on tight and you’re tense, not only are you not seeing with your eyes but your body can’t, really it’s just not flowing.” (8:07 | Sarah Vosen) “The same way that we have overactive emotions when we’re burnt out, we know we’re responding ridiculously but we can’t help ourselves, this is the same when we injure ourselves and have a pain response. It’s above and beyond and not appropriate to the thing that happened.” (9:59 | Caitlin Donovan)“When you’re burnt out your body is under-resourced. So, it doesn’t have the tools or the resources that it needs to deal with the injuries that aren’t life-threatening, which is why it usually takes someone getting really sick, or really hurt, or really ending up in the hospital to start responding.” (32:19 | Caitlin Donovan)LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Need to get started on your burnout recovery? Download the Core Values Worksheet today!“Are you an introvert or just into hurt?” asks Jahmaal Marshall, certified counselor and founder of Listen Then Speak LLC and the podcast of the same name. Many of us develop behavior and personae, he explains, around a need to protect ourselves from rejection, and we carry these into our personal and professional adult lives. Growing up with a severely addicted father, Jahmaal became as he calls it, “the classic chameleon,” overachieving in school and later at work, fulfilling everyone’s needs in an effort not to cause problems. Today on FRIED, he and Cait talk about the connection between childhood trauma and burnout, the resentment that can build up in us when we feel like we are giving with no reciprocation and the resentment we can experience from others when we set boundaries for ourselves. When we give with the expectation of receiving in return, we may think we’re being generous when actually we are assuming others’ needs, or acting from our own neediness. We can also close ourselves off to the many unexpected ways in which people can show their gratitude. Join today’s discussion to find out what happened when Jahmaal drew a line in the sand at work, and the important lesson he learned. Quotes“I just wanted someone to say, ‘You’ve done well.’ Not that my mom didn’t do those things, but it’s something about when a dad speaks into his son’s life and calls the man out of him. I didn’t have that as a little boy. So, I went through most of my professional life basically searching for that.” (5:09 | Jahmaal Marshall)“My excellence, my quote-unquote high performance, was just a trauma response of a fear of rejection. I did not want to be rejected. So, it’s not that I didn’t know how to say no, I refused. Let’s key in on that word: I refused to say no, because I wanted to protect myself.” (8:09 | Jahmaal Marshall) “That expectation we have and that desire to give and receive, we’ve even been taught that—I’m a Christian— we’ve been taught that in faith-based spaces, if you give you’ll receive. That’s not always the case. It actually already puts you in the place of a false motive of life is like a genie in a bottle that I can just rub. And if I rub it like this, something’s going to pop out, and this is going to be my return on the investment I made.” (17:10 | Jahmaal Marshall)“Are you an introvert or are you just into hurt? Do you have hurt and pain that is not processed that is causing you to turtle your way through life to play it safe. There are people who are actually introverts, but you have a lot of people who are extroverts masquerading as an introvert to protect themselves from pain that has not been processed.” (29:02 | Jahmaal Marshall) LinksConnect with Jahmaal Marshall:https://listenthenspeak.com/ https://mindsetmastermethod.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahmaalmarshall/ https://topmate.io/jahmaal_marshallConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“I don’t want to convince you that whenever we finish working, you should be dancing, pirouetting on clouds in ballet slippers,” host Caitlin Donovan explains on this solo episode of FRIED, where she talks about managing expectations from burnout recovery work, particularly the program FRIED offers lead by her partner Sarah Vosen. In a space that, largely for marketing purposes, will promise that you’ll come out the other side of recovery feeling nothing but joy forever after, Cait offers some refreshing transparency about what she offers, why she specifically only offers short-term help, and the seemingly simple outcomes that will completely change your quality of life. Health, peace, productivity, improved communication–these are all huge things made all the more sweet for having recovered from burnout. Yet, recovery doesn’t mean a life free from problems. Cait explains her reasoning behind only offering short-term coaching and why Sarah stopped offering coaching packages. There is no one, perfect way to be coached or to find your way out of burnout. The best first step is to get clear about your goals and the results you yourself want to achieve. Quotes“I can’t promise you that we’re going to go from burned out to blissed out. I can’t promise you that you’re going to go from burned out to fired up. I can’t promise you that you’re going to go from burned out to completely joyful and fulfilled. I don’t even think that’s what we’re aiming for.” (2:10 | Caitlin Donovan)“This initial three-month kick is just to get you out of the muck.” (3:58 | Caitlin Donovan)“Getting clarity around those goals and what those results should be for you is more important than my telling you you’re going to have fulfillment and be joyful and have bliss.” (6:47 | Caitlin Donovan)“We’re not painting this magical picture of where you’re going to be. I want to share that with you because I want you to know how we’re thinking about it behind the scenes, how we’re thinking about you behind the scenes, and how we want to show up for you as honestly as we can—I mean, this is pretty honest—in a space that often feels a little disingenuous.” (8:06 | Caitlin Donovan) “Coaching, therapy, healing—it’s not magical. It’s messy. It definitely leads to a better life—there’s no way I would want the life I had back then compared to the life I have now. But am I skating through life without problems? No. Do I never feel resentment? Jesus—hell, no. I’m still human. You’re still going to be human after going through this process.” (8:56 | Caitlin Donovan) LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“How are we not supposed to burn out? That’s what our culture wants us to do: produce, make and do until we can’t anymore,” says Dr. Erin Hinson who, with Dr. Kristen Donnelly, joins the FRIED podcast to discuss the origins of burnout culture in the United States. Early religious tenets have formed our attitude toward hard work and individualism, those tenets evolved into modern-day capitalism and the resulting false and damaging beliefs remain hard-baked into the American identity. Drawing from their bestselling book “The Culture of Burnout,” they’ll discuss the dangers of equating hard work with morality, basing one’s self worth on what they are able to produce and the myth of the lone conquering hero. While no one is immune from this type of social conditioning, female-identified and non-binary people tend to be targeted the most by this propaganda. Dr. Erin discusses caregiver burnout, the gender roles we perpetuate that we aren’t even aware of. Dr. Kristen points out the hypocrisy of American culture demanding we be individualistic while also telling us not to trust ourselves and the emotional bonds that are formed when we ask for help. We are not beholden to the stories our culture creates for us. With the tiny changes we make with each new day, we have the chance to write our own.Quotes“There are shades of this in other cultures all over the world, we are never going to say that America is the only culture that has burnout ever because that’s a lie that someone would use to sell more books and that’s not who we are. But what we will say is there’s a specific flavor of it here that’s so tied to the wellness industrial complex and the process of making money for other people that we need to call that out.” (10:25 | Dr. Kristen Donnelly) “How are we not supposed to burn out? We are supposed to burn out because that’s what the culture wants us to do. It wants us to produce until we can’t anymore. It wants us to make, it wants us to do, until we can’t anymore.” (12:12 | Dr. Erin Hinson) “America just thinks the myth of the individual hardworking hero is the archetype we should all live up to, and not only is it a lie, but it kills a lot of us every year.” (14:03 | Dr. Kristen Donnelly) “We are all just figuring it out as we go along and we can ask for help. We have to, because none of us know what we’re doing.” (38:04 | Dr. Kristen Donnelly)“I should figure it out, because I can. I should do it by myself because I don’t want to be a bother. That’s my thing. I don’t want to bother anybody. Everybody else is stressed out; everybody else is busy. I don’t want to be stressful, I don’t want to be a bother. I didn’t realize how deeply ingrained that was until we wrote this book.” (44:33 | Dr. Erin Hinson)LinksConnect with Dr. Kristen Donnelly & Dr. Erin Hinson:https://www.abbey-research.com http://www.instagram.com/abbeyresearch https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristendonnellyphd https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinhinsonphdConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“You’re going to have to surrender and have patience and be ready and willing to be annoyed.” On today’s episode of FRIED, Sarah Vosen and Cait review some of the common reasons why your burnout recovery may not be working, or not working as fast as you’d like. First off—you may be overdoing it, which is the exact kind of perfectionistic approach that burned you out in the first place. You have to be open to doing things differently and going at a slower pace than you may be used to. If you’re expecting to make progress using the usual self-care tricks on Instagram and TikTok, you’re in for disappointment. Instead, Cait and Sarah will share with you what will actually get you back on track to the other side of burnout.Burnout recovery is a convalescent period. Your environment—physical, home, work, family, and relationships— can make or break your process. Sarah and Cait will explain how to put yourself first, why treating yourself in the smallest ways makes a world of difference, and why you shouldn’t do this alone. Sarah will share the physiological change that she describes as “miraculous” and that sped up her recovery journey overnight, and reveal the emotional state that has recently been determined to be worse for your health than smoking. You have to believe there is another, better life waiting for you once you recover from burnout. Join Cait and Sarah as they help you remove the obstacles that may be blocking your path. Quotes“The recovery mode is a healing process. There’s a lot of repair that needs to occur to your body, mind, and spirit in the very beginning. You have to basically convalesce. That’s a tough one to go from running on adrenaline to convalescing. So it’s going to feel like shit, and it’s going to be awkward, and you’re not going to like it and you might not be able to do it at first.” (7:14 | Sarah Vosen and Cait Donovan) “It’s too big of a jump. You go from not having yourself in the equation of your life to trying to be Number 1 in your life? It’s too much change at one time. There’s too much guilt involved in that, there’s too much fear of disappointing all those people you’ve been trying to help for all those years. You’re worried they’re all going to turn on you and so there’s all this negative reinforcement in your mind about giving yourself what you need.” (9:58 | Sarah Vosen)“Small environmental changes, you might not think they matter that much, but they are critical.” (20:56 | Cait Donovan)“We talked about ‘other care.’ Sometimes you have to outsource some of this—and not just coaching and therapy—the physical care of your body has to be outsourced to someone.” (28:31 | Cait Donovan)“Loneliness increases your risk of mortality by 40 percent. I could not believe that statistic when I heard it. Loneliness is now considered more detrimental than smoking.” (31:28 | Sarah Vosen) “Recovery requires taking off the blinders or having someone support you who doesn’t have blinders on who says, ‘Oh, no. There’s a world of possibility for you. Let me offer you an exit pathway from this life with blinders on to one that actually works for you.’” (36:02 | Sarah Vosen) LinksConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“I’m in recovery from recovery,” explains Colleen Kachmann, Certified Master Life and Recovery Coach who joins the podcast to share her story of dealing with alcohol and burnout, and give new insight into the current understanding of and attitude toward addiction. For years, while playing the role of perfect mother, wife, career woman and volunteer, Colleen was also a self-described heavy day drinker. After joining Alcoholics Anonymous she found herself “indoctrinated” into believing that she was powerless over alcohol. An incident at a family dinner led to the realization that actually, we are all in control of ourselves and our lives. Through self-directed neuroplasticity and nervous system regulation, we can change the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. She has since founded “Recover with Colleen” where she teaches women who are “lost in the weeds” with alcohol to pursue mental health, happiness and a connection with their power and purpose rather than sobriety. On today’s episode of FRIED, she’ll describe what she calls “emotional sobriety.” She’ll explain how to develop a growth mindset, break out of victim mentality and learn to stop leading with “I can’t.” She’ll reveal what we’re really afraid of when we start to think of the worst-case scenario in the face of making change and what happens when we deal with “what is” instead of “what if.” It’s not about the alcohol, Colleen explains. Join today’s discussion to take the first step toward standing in your power. Quotes“I raised my children, I taught hot yoga, I taught aerobics, I was a health coach, I was all the things—I volunteered, I worked, I was a good ex-wife and a good new wife and all the things to all the people. So, you can see burnout coming there because I was very perfectionistic about my life. And I had this idea that I was getting away with my drinking.” (4:36 | Colleen Kachmann) “I became a perfect sober person. I was still playing the alcohol game. My life revolved around the topic of alcohol, but I had to switch teams. Now I’m team sober.” (7:09 | Colleen Kachmann)“I believe that when we realize that everything we do is actually a choice, now we can choose from a place of power.” (16:57 | Colleen Kachmann) “We don’t have to make our kids [lives] better. I think the truth underneath that story is we’ve lost ourselves in our kids, it’s been easier to just do the things for everybody else because we can hold our breath longer, and, ‘Oh, look, here’s a bottle of wine. So, I’ll just exchange my needs for some drink tickets, and shut the hell up. I can do that, just give me another drink.’” (28:08 | Colleen Kachmann)“We think we’re scared of having to live in an apartment after we get the divorce from the big house, or that we can’t do things. But actually you’re afraid of the story you’re going to tell yourself, that you’re starting over, that you failed, that you just lost your whole life or everything was meaningless behind you and you’ve wasted your time. It’s those stories that we’re afraid of.” (31:08 | Colleen Kachmann) LinksConnect with Colleen Kachmann:https://recoverwithcolleen.com/ https://www.instagram.com/recoverwithcolleen/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenkachmann/ https://recoverwithcolleen.com/accelerated-recovery-masterclass/6Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Why is it that two people can be in the same exact environment, at the same job, and one person burns out and another person doesn’t?” And not only does that other person not burn out, they thrive?” Well, as it turns out, just like everyone needs a certain amount of sun protection factor (SPF) to protect them from the harmful effects of the sun, so does everyone have their own BPF—burnout protection factor. On today’s solo episode of FRIED, Cait explains how we can build up our own BPFs within the six burnout factors— Work, Self, Health, Family, Overall Culture and Environment. For example, a BPF in the category of work would be feeling like you are well-sourced and well-supported. She’ll share why being in nature, having a regular sleep schedule, and fixing those little things around the house that you put off all do wonders for building up your protection factors. She’ll also explain the importance of sincere communication between family members and why what we think are our protection factors are very often our risk factors. By building your protection factor against burnout, you will find you have more to offer the world. By lifting yourself up, you also lift up those around you, and, ultimately, your community. Quotes“Why is it that two people can be in the same exact environment, at the same job, and one person burns out and another person doesn’t? And not only does that other person not burn out, they thrive.” (2:09 | Caitlin Donovan) “For some reason, those of us who need more burnout protection factors, seem to think we don’t need any protection from anything ever at all and we can do everything ourselves and if we’re just perfect then we’ll be fine. We think that perfectionism and people-pleasing are our burnout protection factors, but in fact, they are burnout risk factors. They create more vulnerability for us.” (6:02 | Caitlin Donovan) “There is zero judgment involved in this. It’s the same as SPF: some people need 4, some people need 50. It’s just your build. It’s fine.” (7:49 | Caitlin Donovan)“During those times when you are sacrificing for something or putting up with something that you are not willing to change, you need to up your BPFs to balance it out.” (17:55 | Caitlin Donovan)Linkshttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/julie-menanno-secure-love-attachment-needs-burnout-and-your-relationships-with-everythinghttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-burnout-risk-factors-a-holistic-viewhttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-start-your-burnout-recovery-by-taking-the-good-plateConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“How you take command of the narrative is what’s going to see you through when you begin to determine what parts, if any, of the story you want to tell.” John Neral, executive and career transition coach, and host of the Mid-Career GPS podcast, joins FRIED to discuss how best to address gaps that burnout leaves in your resume when interviewing with a potential new employer. The first step is removing any shame and recognizing your own power in the process—you are evaluating the company just as much as they’re evaluating you. Using the Four Fs—Fit, Function, Finance, Forward—John advises the questions to ask to determine your values and whether they match the company’s, how to negotiate your best compensation package, and why you should be thinking two steps ahead. He’ll tell you when to take the conversation deeper and as well as how to avoid wasting both parties’ time. How do those with rejection sensitivity dysmorphia, or those who are still recovering from burnout create the best outcome for both the short term and the long term? Listen as John tells a story about the rude comment one HR executive made that determined his decision of whether to work with the company and his very New Jersey response in return. Quotes“We grew up thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. They’re going to bless me with an interview. I have to be good and I can’t offend them and I can’t—we don’t want to offend anyway—but I can’t upset them and if I ask this question, what are they going to think?’ Some of the best compliments, Cait, when I was interviewing for jobs, that I ever got, were when somebody on the interview panel would look at someone and say, ‘I feel like I’m the one being interviewed,’ and I would say, ‘Well, you are.’” (8:17 | John Neral) “Oftentimes we think, ‘Oh, gosh. Now, we’re going to talk about money.’ Now battle lines are drawn, it’s them versus us —no, it’s not. Round the edges off. It’s a conversation. ‘This is what I want. Can we make this up here? What about this?’ If anything, it’s an opportunity for you to get really curious, to know what you want but get really curious because how the company negotiates with you at that point is also going to tell you a lot about their culture.” (27:59 | John Neral)“Oftentimes, job seekers will look at going for a job as an immediate solution or quick fix of getting them out of a situation they’ve been in. ‘I work for a toxic employer. I haven’t had a job, I just have to accept something and move on.’ When people aren’t thinking forward about forward, what happens is this decision becomes very isolative. ‘I’ve checked the box, so now what?’” (32:06 | John Neral)“Career gaps and break are not as stigmatized or biased as what they were pre-pandemic.”(39:56 | John Neral)“This is what I needed, this is what I did, here’s what I learned, here’s what I gained, here’s why this is of value to you. Take that gap and turn it back to, ‘Here’s why I’m a better leader, a better employer, here’s what it is that I’ve done.” (43:00 | John Neral) LinksConnect with John Neral:Website: https://johnneral.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/johnneralcoachingLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnneral/Checklist: https://www.johnneral.com/signupConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

On a recent trip to Thailand, Sarah experienced jet lag that was comparable only to the exhaustion she experienced while deep in the midst of burnout. She highlights that while jet lag might need just a few days of rest to overcome, recovering from burnout—a state of deep energy depletion—requires more time and patience. Sarah offers practical advice that could potentially reduce the recovery time from burnout by up to 80%, emphasizing the importance of setting realistic expectations and how this approach also helps in alleviating fear and uncertainty.Throughout the episode, Sarah explores the principles of Chinese medicine, focusing on the most energizing foods and their preparation to maximize energy recovery. She delves into the Chinese concept of having two internal "batteries" and their locations, ways to enhance the quality of your blood and chi (vital energy), and explains why the heart is considered the central element of one's being. Additionally, Sarah talks about the significance of self-reflection on energy use, the benefits of maintaining a resentment journal, and the crucial step of releasing guilt associated with reaching a state of burnout. She encourages listeners to embrace self-compassion and recognize the potential for improvement, marking the beginning of a journey towards better energy management and self-care. Quotes“Unfortunately, burnout exhaustion is not the kind of exhaustion that a few nights of good sleep or a vacation will make better.” (2:18 | Sarah Vosen)“The Chinese call the heart “the emperor” because they see it as the organ in charge, not the brain.” (7:54 | Sarah Vosen)“Stop for a second and recognize all the times you’ve spent more energy than you woke up with, thanks to caffeine or sheer willpower to keep pushing and going and doing. And then realize that every time you did that and went to bed beyond exhausted, that you actually dug that hole of depletion deeper. Ugh, I know.” (10:53 | Sarah Vosen) “Once I got into the habit of pushing the things that weren’t priority from my schedule, I started to see how those things weren’t priority at all. A lot of them weren’t even necessary for me to do, and a lot of them I never did again.” (11:56 | Sarah Vosen) “Stop and give yourself a hug and acknowledge how much this sucks. And please, borrow my trust that it’s temporary and tell yourself that you will get better, slowly but surely.” (14:41 | Sarah Vosen) LinksThe Resentment Journal: https://www.caitdonovan.com/resentment-journalSleep episode with Cait and Sarah: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sfc-s-burnout-and-sleep-a-chinese-medicine-perspective/id1469939920?i=1000641567682Scheduling acupuncture with Sarah near Minneapolis, MN: https://acusimple.com/access/7008/#/appointments/8888/list/42506/2024-03-14/Connect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Insecure attachment—period—whatever category you’re in, is 100 percent nurture. One hundred percent. It’s a relationally driven disorder.” Dr. Julie Menanno, author of “The Secure Relationship,” joins the FRIED podcast to talk about relationships and attachment theory. For many of us, our parents or caretakers, failed to meet our needs. To control the resulting anxiety, we form insecure attachment, the variety of which Dr. Julie further explains here. These childhood attachment styles then take a toll on our current relationships as we continue to struggle to get our needs met—or even to understand our needs in the first place—engage in non-nourishing coping strategies, and give of ourselves in a way that leaves us depleted rather than replenished. To be understood is one of our most deep-seated needs. Some of us think we are practicing empathy when actually we have just learned to be hyper-vigilant of others emotions, in order to form our reaction ahead of time. When we make decisions for ourselves and others based on our assumptions of how they feel, we further dysregulate the relationship. Dr. Julie explains a two-fold process for breaking this cycle.On this episode of FRIED, Dr. Julie will share how to create space for pause and why resentment and anger are useful while blame is not.Quotes“The first bit of grace I want you to give yourself today is, if you are a parent or a caregiver and you can be present and secure and balanced 50 percent of the time, you are killing it.” (8:17 | Caitlin Donovan)“It leaves [you] not knowing how to help yourself, never learning how to help yourself in those places. And [when] we don’t know how to help ourselves, we’re going to go into all sorts of ways, junk food ways, to help ourselves that really don’t help us get [our needs met]. Like I said, junk food meaning, yeah, you’re getting the food, but you’re not getting the nourishment. You’re overfed, undernourished.” (11:00 | Julie Menanno) “Everybody’s going around trying to feel safe, trying to not feel alone, trying to not feel rejected, and that’s the vehicle to feeling accepted is understanding, and validation and acceptance. I’m breaking them apart, but they’re all the same glob. It’s de-shaming.” (22:26 | Julie Menanno) “Empathy comes from a regulated place. A balance of head and heart. Empathy does not come from dysregulation and it does not come from emotional cutoff.” (25:29 | Julie Menanno) “No matter what, this work is about a gift to yourself. It’s about you being your best self for you. And it’s hard because we associate self-work and all these ways of showing up as our best self in the relationship with giving to another in this exhausting way.” (39:24 | Julie Menanno)LinksConnect with Julie Menanno:Website: https://thesecurerelationship.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/thesecurerelationshipConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Hey, FRIED fam! On today’s episode of The Burnout Podcast, Cait is answering written questions from bosses and leaders, asking how to deal with burnout while balancing all of the other concerns of their company and employees. How can you maintain a healthy workplace culture while recovering from burnout? How do you deal with employees who punch up out of frustration? What if restructuring the business to promote a healthier workplace results in layoffs? First, Cait makes the distinction between what is and is not a leader’s responsibility. It is their responsibility to implement, enforce and model a healthy and productive workplace culture. It is not their job however, to fix it individually. Hiring an outside party is essential regardless of cost. She reveals one of the biggest drivers of employee burnout, its actual physical effects, and the point at which leaders may just need to get over themselves. As a boss, you’ll learn #straightfromcait how to positively influence company culture so that everyone wins. Quotes“We have to understand that if your workplace culture was healthy, it’s more likely that you wouldn’t have ended up here.” (1:39 | Caitlin Donovan)“You don’t do it alone. You get support. This is something you have to invest in. It might not have been in your budget. And guess what? You have to do it anyway.” (4:21 | Caitlin Donovan) “If you are someone who typically burns out, and you’re a people pleaser and a perfectionist, as a business owner, you’ve likely hired other people who are people pleasers and perfectionists. So, you might have employees who are holding on just to help you out and really they’ve wanted to go for two years.” (5:08 | Caitlin Donovan) “I’m not actually sure that we can challenge the assumption that the burden of setting and resetting the culture rests in the leader, because it does. Leaders have to be the drivers of change and employees can contribute to that but not before the leader sets the tone and the direction. That is literally the job.” (12:25 | Caitlin Donovan) “One of the things during burnout—and this is fascinating—is you lose some of your peripheral vision, actually, physically, lose peripheral vision. This kind of also works in a brain way. You also can’t see solutions that are not right in front of you. So, when you’re burnt out you kind of tunnel vision yourself and it’s really hard for you to see the bigger picture and how everything is interacting.” (14:45 | Caitlin Donovan) Linkshttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/karina-schneider-how-to-prepare-for-your-return-to-work-after-burnout-or-mental-health-leavehttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-what-can-companies-do-to-reduce-burnout-riskhttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/straightfromcait-how-companies-can-use-burnout-to-heal-culture-issuesConnect with Cait:Initial Call with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitInitial Call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

“Shame is driving the bus of our lives,” says life coach, keynote speaker, author and “hell-raiser” Andrea Owen, who joins the FRIED podcast. In this episode, Andrea shares a four-step process toward building shame resilience, which she learned while studying under author and professor Brene Brown. Many of the behaviors that we engage in–perfectionism, people pleasing, control– are what Brene Brown calls “the armor”. These tactics are means of avoiding shame. One initial helpful step to building resilience is to become aware of how our shame manifests. Another major step toward building shame resilience is reaching out to others whom you can trust and who have earned the right to hear your story. Andrea and Cait have advice for those who feel they have no one to whom they can reach out. For those who have always been the “shower-upper” in the relationship, they get into the specifics of how to set the groundwork to allow people to show up for you. There is no escaping the feeling of shame. It is a human emotion, like joy or sadness. We all experience it and pretty regularly. Instead, we can build resilience to it, and talking about it, as we are on this episode of FRIED, is also a major part of building that resilience.Quotes“Shame likes to hide. Shame is a solo-preneur It likes to be behind the scenes. It’s like a ghostwriter, almost. It doesn’t like to be named.” (12:04 | Caitlin Donovan and Andrea Owen)“Largely, shame is an unconscious feeling and experience that we have because when it is that way, it’s able to do its job better. Its job is to keep us small; its job is to keep us from connecting with other humans; its job is to keep us in line.” (20:23 | Andrea Owen)“That was sort of the eye-opener for me in my training of, ‘Oh, all of these behaviors that the women in my audience engage with—me, too, by the way— we’re doing that in an effort to avoid shame. Therefore, shame is driving the bus of our lives.” (22:53 | Andrea Owen)“Get very, very familiar, get in bed with those [physical] symptoms so you know when it is happening. One of the goals is that you know when you’re in it, you can become resilient to it.” (31:24 | Andrea Owen)“Like we can talk about joy, like we can talk about gratitude, shame is just another human emotion and experience.” (45:37 | Andrea Owen) Linkshttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/dr-kristin-neff-self-compassion-being-human-and-living-with-an-open-heartConnect with Andrea Owen:Website: https://andreaowen.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyandreaowen/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heyandreaowen/Book: https://andreaowen.com/free Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Dr. James Gordon, Harvard educated psychiatrist, founder and CEO of the Center for Mind Body Medicine, is recognized throughout the world for his use of self-awareness, self-care and group support to heal population-wide psychological trauma. He joins us on this episode of FRIED to discuss techniques featured in his new book “Transforming Trauma: The Path to Hope and Healing.” He begins by dispelling two prominent myths. Trauma is not relegated only to those who have extreme experiences. We all have dealt with or will deal with trauma sooner or later. Divorce, death of loved ones, facing immortality, major career setbacks or disappointments, all have traumatic impacts. What’s more, contrary to popular belief, we are not doomed to carry our trauma with us for the rest of our lives. We can not only heal ourselves but in doing so come through the other side as better human beings—wiser, kinder and more thoughtful. One highly effective component of Dr. Gordon’s recovery program as described in “Transforming Trauma” is the method of shaking. For those stuck in a freeze response, shaking our bodies, often to music, brings us back into the present. He tells a beautiful story of his time spent working in Haiti with a group of female nursing students who were barely out of their teens. They had recently lost 90 of their classmates and friends to the 2010 earthquake. Dr. Gordon led them through a shaking exercise and the results were both life affirming and hilarious. Another element that keeps us frozen is our judgment—of ourselves and others– a vicious cycle that prevents us from feeling joy and spontaneity. Dr. Gordon explains how we can free ourselves from this rigid, dogmatic state. Any trauma recovery program should be comprehensive, and requires experimentation and mindfulness of our own needs. When we free ourselves from our frozen state we open our minds to infinite possibilities.Quotes“If trauma doesn’t come early in life because, in fact, you have been abused or neglected or you have a congenital deformity of some kind or because you live in a community of violence or poverty, it will likely come in young adulthood or midlife, when we have terrible disappointments, when relationships break up.” (4:31 | Dr. James Gordon)“Change is possible and you can create that change yourself.” (11:04 | Dr. James Gordon)“[Shaking] is the body’s natural way of dealing with certain kinds of overwhelming stress. This is a method that is native to vertebrates, in general. You can see it if you have a dog who’s been in a fight with another dog. After that fight, you pull the dog away on the leash, and the dog is going to shake. It’s shaking off that high level of stress that’s come about from that confrontation. So, it’s part of us, biologically.”(16:00 | Dr. James Gordon)“It’s a vicious cycle, in which you’re judging others and you’re looking for their judgment, it just goes on and on. It’s what inhibits change and it’s what inhibits joy, and certainly inhibits spontaneity.” (16:00 | Dr. James Gordon)“That mind, which can be so useful, needs to be a tool. It shouldn’t be running us.” (40:24 | Dr. James Gordon)Linkshttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/home/search/traumaConnect with Dr. James Gordon:Website: cmbm.orgLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgordonmd Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried .Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Hey listeners! I'm Sarah Vosen, and I am delighted to be with you today. In this episode, I will discuss the importance of tuning into your body's signals for guidance, decision-making, and prioritizing self-care practices during burnout recovery. Follow me as we do an exercise to identify what physical sensations signify yes or no answers to better understand your body’s needs. Tune in to boost your intuition and make choices aligned with your needs during burnout recovery! Episode Highlights:Learning to recognize and differentiate between yes and no feelings in the body through sensory exploration of scenarios. Sarah guides listeners in an exercise to tune into their body's physical sensations when imagining saying yes or no to different scenarios. This helps them recognize what a yes and no feel like nonverbally so they can better understand their body's signals.Prioritize self-care practices based on your body’s signal. Rather than overloading your plan with various self-care practices, Sarah encourages you to list options and check in with your body. This helps you prioritize based on current needs indicated by your body's response, whether a clear yes or no.When dealing with tough decisions that require steps you're hesitant about but are necessary for your goal, Sarah suggests paying attention to that resistance. This helps you determine what kind of support you need to take those initial steps, adding depth to your decision-making process. The process of listening and trusting will get easier as you continue practicing..Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comBook an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Today, I have a special guest who will share her amazing story of overcoming burnout. She is Emily Ballesteros, a resilience advocate with a background in industrial organizational psychology. She has transformed her own experience of prolonged exhaustion into a powerful journey. She will reveal the insights and solutions she discovered along the way, culminating in her upcoming book, "The Cure for Burnout," set to launch on February 13, 2024. Fried fam, get ready for an inspiring conversation with Emily about resilience and the path to overcoming burnout.Episode Highlights:In this insightful episode, Emily dives into the dynamics of internal and external validation, urging listeners to prioritize internal fulfillment over societal expectations. She shared practical advice on crafting a high-quality life, emphasizing the significance of personal values in decision-making.Experimentation takes center stage as a tool for personal growth, challenging the fear of making the "right" choices. The episode explores burnout recovery, assuring listeners that the tools gained during recovery serve as a safeguard against complete regression.The concept of burnout by boredom is introduced, highlighting the need for novelty and variety in life to prevent chronic disengagement. The hosts discuss finding balance between external and internal perspectives, especially when facing discomfort or dissatisfaction.Connect with Emily Ballesteros:https://www.emilyballesteros.com/ https://www.instagram.com/emilybruth/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-ballesteros Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://caitdonovan.com Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hey everyone, it's Cait Donovan here, and I'm thrilled to dive into a topic that's been buzzing in our Facebook group - kickstarting your burnout recovery. I get it, finding the right starting point is tricky because your burnout journey is as unique as you are. So today, we're going to have a reflective journey with questions designed to guide you through your burnout recovery.Episode Highlights:These ten questions will help you reflect deeply on yourself. Understanding where your life feels unfair or where you're using energy without fulfillment is important for planning your recovery strategy.You might be thinking, "Do I have to answer all ten questions at once?" Absolutely not. The great thing about this process is that you can go at your own pace. Take a break, reflect, and when you're ready, move on to the next question. The goal here is to make progress, not achieve perfection.Here’s a key point – looking for patterns in your responses. Pay attention to recurring themes as you go through these questions. These patterns can provide valuable insights into areas of your life that may need attention and transformation.The most important part: Start with the easiest change. When it comes to recovering from burnout, simplicity is your best friend. Begin with manageable shifts; gain momentum before taking on more complex challenges. By choosing the easiest path initially, you not only make tangible progress but also develop a mindset that allows for gradual, sustainable change.This is not about following someone else's journey. It's about understanding your unique needs and creating a recovery plan that suits you.Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook an Initial Session with Caitl: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED’s group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hello, listeners! I'm Cait Donovan, and I'm excited about today's episode. Our guest, Dr. Monica Wang, will share her inspiring journey of overcoming burnout as a veterinarian, incorporating Chinese medicine into her healing process. She’ll discuss her challenges of burnout in veterinary school, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, the importance of self-care, and how small changes impacted her well-being. She will also talk about how she set boundaries, embraced core values, reduced work hours, managed burnout, and achieved work-life balance.Episode Highlights:Monica encourages people to discover and embrace their values. Imagine this: instead of a generic checklist, self-care becomes a personalized experience that aligns with what truly matters to each of us. It's the key to navigating burnout in a way that feels right for you.But that's not all; picture having a supportive guide during times of burnout – someone who can help you reflect on your experiences when self-reflection feels difficult. Whether it's a coach, therapist, or another professional, external support becomes your compass through the burnout maze.And here's where Monica shares some truth about the "Work Harder" trap. She dispels the myth that pushing harder is the solution to burnout – in fact, it might make things worse. She encourages us to shift our perspective, seek support, and understand that more effort isn't always the answer. Take a moment to absorb that.Appreciate and act upon every little aspect of self-care – because within those small changes lies the potential for significant well-being transformation.Connect with Dr. Monica Wang:-Free meditation guide for people who don't like to meditate: https://tinyurl.com/mr3we3t6Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hey fried fam, it's Sarah, and today, I want to dive into a transformative experience from my life in 2022. This journey not only marked my recovery but ignited the realization that giving myself permission to have what I want is crucial. In this episode, we'll explore the importance of recognizing your needs, confronting fears, and embracing the healing path. So, buckle up, my fellow burnout warriors, as we talk about the empowering journey of self-discovery.Episode Highlights:Your needs are just as important as anyone else's. Grant yourself the freedom to prioritize what you truly want and need in your life.Setting boundaries and communicating effectively can make a huge difference. When I faced challenges in my relationship, I realized the importance of standing strong and saying no when necessary. It's about recognizing when a situation isn't serving you and having the courage to clearly communicate your needs.Embrace your emotions, even the uncomfortable ones. Trust me, it's crucial to honor what you feel. Take a moment to acknowledge your emotions, explore their roots, and determine what you truly need in those moments. This emotional self-awareness is a key part of the healing journey.Lastly, something close to my heart—reparenting your inner child. I've been there, and I understand. Show yourself compassion for past experiences, address unmet needs from your childhood, and nurture your inner child with love and support. It's about building trust within yourself and creating that internal safety for healing. Take care of your inner child; they deserve it. Connect with Sarah:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahvosenlac/ Book an Initial Session with Cait: bit.ly/callcait Book a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahv 

In today's episode, Sarah and I discuss the topic of sleep, particularly from the perspective of Chinese medicine. They also talk about the phases of burnout and how they can impact sleep patterns for certain individuals.Episode Highlights:Cait and Sarah delve into the Chinese medicine perspective on sleep, introducing the concept of Yin and Yang. They use the Yin Yang symbol to explain the interdependence of these opposing forces, describing Yin as cold, dark, still, and moist, while Yang is associated with warmth, activity, and movement. They explain how balance between Yin and Yang is crucial for overall well-being and that disruptions in this balance can affect sleep.They encourage listeners to consider the Chinese medicine perspective on sleep and explore the principles of Yin and Yang balance. They want listeners to view sleep through this lens, understanding the interplay between Yin and Yang as they aim to provide a fresh perspective that may help listeners make different choices to improve their sleep.Remember, understanding the phases of burnout and recognizing how imbalances in Yin and Yang can impact sleep patterns. The goal is to empower everyone with a new understanding of sleep and potential strategies for achieving better sleep quality.Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfriedhttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/riley-jarvis-the-big-secrets-of-exceptional-sleep-with-the-sleep-consultanthttps://www.friedtheburnoutpodcast.com/post/kristen-holmes-stay-ahead-of-your-health-with-whoop

In today's episode, I will talk about breaking the cycle of assumptions, communicating openly about preferences, and embracing tasks and experiences that bring personal joy and fulfillment.Episode Highlights:Cait Donovan talks about challenging the habit of self-sacrifice, exploring resentment as a tool for defining boundaries, and encouraging individuals to prioritize their needs and desires, symbolized by the metaphor of "giving yourself the good plate."Cait encourages listeners to prioritize their own needs and desires, challenging the habit of self-sacrifice, and urging them to stop giving away the metaphorical "good plate."The overall message is a call to action for individuals to prioritize their well-being, challenge assumptions, and create a more balanced and fulfilling life. The challenge for the year 2024 is presented as an opportunity for individuals to commit to giving themselves the "good plate" and sharing their journey with everyone else!Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Welcome, dear listeners, to a captivating transformation and personal growth journey. I'm Cait Donovan, your host for today's episode. In this episode, we have the incredible privilege of delving into a conversation that promises to be nothing short of life-changing. She's not just here to talk the talk; she's walked the walk. So, grab your favorite beverage, get comfy, and prepare to be inspired as we introduce you to the remarkable Bronwyn Davis.Episode Highlights:Bronwyn Davis stresses the importance of embracing new approaches to personal growth, emphasizing that it's not a quick fix but a profound tool for self-discovery. Her insights reveal that preparation and a guided environment are key for successful ketamine sessions. She blends internal family systems therapy concepts to address potential resistance, underlining the need for both physical and emotional safety.Now, here's the kicker: ketamine-assisted coaching is tailor-made for self-aware high achievers looking to conquer their inner obstacles. It's a transformative journey towards self-love and clarity, but the real magic happens when you integrate those insights into your daily life.Bronwyn shares her own personal growth journey with ketamine.This episode is your ticket to discovering the potential of ketamine-assisted coaching for burnout recovery and personal transformation. It's all about embracing openness, prioritizing safety, and ensuring ongoing support along the way.Connect with Bronwyn Davis:https://www.bronwyndavis.com/https://www.ketamineassistedcoaching.com/https://www.instagram.com/bronwyndaviscoaching/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwyndaviscoaching/Free meditation guide for people who don't like to meditate: https://tinyurl.com/mr3we3t6Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In today's episode, I will talk about the concept of Festivus from Seinfeld and how its elements, such as the Festivus pole, airing of grievances, feats of strength, and the declaration of Festivus miracles, can be adapted to address workplace burnout.Episode Highlights:Cait Donovan talks about Festivus from Seinfeld, exploring each of its element's application in battling burnout. Cait stresses the importance of simplicity, open communication, setting achievable goals, and celebrating positive changes in creating a healthier work environment. Cait encourages listeners to get their own Festivus miracle by using a resentment journal, which is a tool designed to identify aspects of your life that generate resentment, assisting in the process of determining whether to eliminate or modify them.While Festivus originates from a sitcom as a lighthearted and absurd holiday, its components can offer valuable lessons in combating workplace burnout. Remember to declutter your workspaces, encourage open communication, set achievable goals, and celebrate your victories. By doing so, you can make your workplaces more resilient and enjoyable!Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In today's episode, Diann Wingert and I will talk about the relationship between ADHD and burnout. We will discuss how they affect each other and identify what people who suffer from both can do to help themselves recover quickly.Episode Highlights:Diann and Cait talk about how ADHD and burnout relate to each other. They emphasize that people with ADHD tend to be either extremely obsessed or completely disinterested in something. They discuss how the intense curiosity and enthusiasm associated with ADHD can lead to a lack of boundaries, pacing, and self-awareness, potentially causing burnout.Diann encourages listeners to acknowledge the challenges of maintaining self-awareness and setting boundaries even when aware of the potential for burnout. Remember, intense focus can lead to burnout if unchecked. Finding a balance, setting boundaries, and maintaining self-awareness are crucial to harnessing the strengths without succumbing to the challenges of this stimulating mental landscape.Connect with Diann Wingert:https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/https://www.instagram.com/thediannwingert/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qFHTPZTAxtYvVLyip3h0A/https://www.linkedin.com/in/diannwingertcoaching/ Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In today's episode, I will talk about how companies can help reduce burnout risk with their employees. I will be emphasizing the importance of individual responsibility in recovering from burnout and how a supportive work environment can help to recovery.Episode Highlights:Cait Donovan talks about the intricacies of burnout recovery, emphasizing each individual's pivotal role in the process. She highlights the limited impact of company-initiated changes and recent insights into working with companies on burnout-proofing and culture improvement. Cait stresses the importance of personal investment in their own recovery from burnout.Cait encourages listeners to take a proactive role in their burnout recovery, emphasizing personal investment and the power of expressing gratitude and appreciation in the workplace for a positive shift in dynamics. Remember, in burnout recovery, your pivotal role is crucial, so prioritize personal investment over relying solely on company changes. A little personal responsibility goes a long way. Additionally, foster a culture of psychological safety and always acknowledge the impact of expressing gratitude for a positive workplace shift.Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hello, wonderful listeners! I'm Cait Donovan, your host for today's episode, and I'm beyond excited to introduce our esteemed guest, Dr. Susan Lovelle. Today, we're delving deep into the fascinating realms of Perimenopause, Menopause, and Burnout, topics that resonate with every woman's well-being. Dr. Susan Lovelle, a true authority in these areas, will guide us through the intricate journey of understanding and navigating these phases. Buckle up for an enlightening conversation that can transform your life!Episode Highlights:Dr. Susan Lovelle opened up about her own journey through burnout and the profound impact it had on her health. As a former plastic surgeon and a busy mom, she learned the hard way how neglecting self-care can lead to serious health issues like deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and severe infections. This eye-opening experience led Dr. Susan to pivot her career towards wellness and lifestyle medicine.What's even more fascinating is the connection she drew between chronic stress and hormonal imbalances. Dr. Susan explained that prolonged stress can mess with hormones causing undesirable changes and more. She also shed light on the unique challenges faced by women during perimenopause and menopause, where hormonal changes add another layer of complexity.Dr Lovelle's most vital piece of advice: stress management is the key. Finding your own stress-relief groove is essential since it's a highly personal journey.If you're navigating perimenopause or menopause, remember: managing stress and personalized solutions are your best allies on this exciting journey to better health and well-being!Connect with Dr Susan Lovelle:https://premierewellness.com/home-2936 https://www.instagram.com/premierewellness_/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsusanlovelle/ Free meditation guide for people who don't like to meditate: https://tinyurl.com/mr3we3t6Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://caitdonovan.com Book a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried 

A wonderful day to everyone! I’m Cait Donovan, your burnout recovery coach, helping you in your healing journey. Today, I will address the question of one user in the Facebook group about taking small, daily, simple actions to overcome rumination, people-pleasing, and perfectionism. I also highlight the ideas of other members to handle these problems effectively. Episode Highlights:To deal with rumination, there are two actions you can do. Firstly, when you notice you’re ruminating, stop it immediately. Then close your eyes, inhale and exhale, and question yourself; I wonder what I'll think of next. The second action is called Go Grok Cards, wherein you play by guessing your feelings and needs. These two suggestions focus on being mindful and curious as the key to overcoming rumination.For people pleasing, practice disappointing people in any small way. When you start to disappoint people, you will find that the things you're doing don't even disappoint anyone. One example is that when someone in your household can’t find something, don’t help them and just say they can do it without your help. You may feel fear practicing this, but it will help you to see that it is okay not to do what people want from you.Lastly, Cait suggests that to overcome perfectionism, people must choose one or two places in their lives where they use perfectionism on purpose because it’s useful and not in the places where it is useless. Another action you can take is just to be grateful when receiving compliments and stop unnecessarily saying sorry.Every person is different, and so there are numerous actions you can do to quit ruminating, slow down people's pleasing, and control perfectionism. Find what suits you the best, and share your process to help others in the community. Let everyone be successful in this burnout recovery journey! Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hello, lovely listeners! I'm Cait Donovan, your host for today's episode, and I am thrilled to introduce our guest, Amelia Nagoski. Today, we dive deep into her illuminating book, "Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle," a woman's sexual well-being intrinsically linked to a woman’s overall well-being and more about the stress response. Amelia Nagoski is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to understanding and navigating the complex web of emotions and stressors that we all encounter in our lives. Episode Highlights:Amelia Nagoski shares the inspiration behind her book, "Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle." She traces its origins to her sister, Emily Nagurski, whose New York Times bestselling book, "Come as You Are," delved into the science of women's sexuality. What struck a chord with many readers, however, was the section on emotions, stress management, and overall well-being. Amelia explores how understanding and completing the stress response cycle is essential for our well-being in this modern world. She guides us on how to move from the state of stress to safety, helping us harness the power of this biological mechanism to lead healthier, more balanced lives.Amelia's message is clear: many people find themselves in situations where they are working multiple jobs, raising children, often on their own, and navigating other overwhelming responsibilities. These circumstances are unsustainable, and those who care about these individuals certainly don't want them to endure such hardship for an extended period. By building supportive communities where individuals don't have to sacrifice themselves to meet external expectations, we can create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to access the resources they need to thrive. Connect with Amelia Nagoski:https://www.burnoutbook.net/about-the-authorshttps://www.instagram.com/amelianagoski/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/amelia-nagoski-467208b6/Free meditation guide for people who don't like to meditate: https://tinyurl.com/mr3we3t6 Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hey there, curious minds, and welcome to today's episode. I'm Cait Donovan, your trusted companion on this exciting journey. We're about to unravel why burnout recovery can be a lengthier process than you might think. From the physical aspects of healing to understanding the web of causation, we'll explore the nuances of this transformative path. Discover why it's okay to bump into your growth edges and how post-burnout growth can be beautiful. Let's dive in and uncover the fascinating layers of burnout recovery.Episode Highlights:Cait reveals that recovering from burnout is like a carefully crafted masterpiece, taking time and patience. This transformative journey involves addressing the physical and emotional exhaustion that burnout brings, which requires gradually nurturing your body with essential nutrients.She also delves into prioritizing quality sleep and time in nature to rejuvenate your energy. Slow movement practices like Tai Chi and yin yoga can help restore your well-being. Cait's message resonates with the idea that recovery is a unique, step-by-step journey, and self-compassion is the guiding light.Embrace the post-burnout growth as a tool for personal development and trust that the process is an investment in your well-being and future.Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In today's episode, we're diving deep into a topic that's near and dear to many of our hearts - breaking free from the insidious grip of people-pleasing and embarking on a journey to discover your true self-worth. Joining us is none other than Hailey MaGee, a certified coach, dedicated teacher, and accomplished author, whose life's mission is to help individuals bid adieu to people-pleasing for good and unleash their inner power. She is going to share her insights about people-pleasing behavior, its effects on mental health, the art of setting boundaries, and much more! Episode Highlights:Hailey Magee talks about her journey of breaking free from the people-pleasing pattern, which led her to a place of burnout and exhaustion. She describes how she played the role of caretaker, giver, and therapist in her relationships, always putting others' needs and emotions before her own. It wasn’t until a pivotal moment that she realized that seeking validation from others wasn't working and that she needed to prioritize her own needs and self-worth.Hailey encourages listeners to prioritize self-care and set boundaries in relationships. Everyone should learn to take up space in their relationships, treat themselves with importance, and recognize when it's necessary to prioritize their own needs. Remember, breaking the pattern of people-pleasing often arises from the realization that self-care and self-worth should not be outsourced to others but something you should prioritize yourself. Connect with Hailey Magee:https://www.haileymagee.com/ https://www.facebook.com/haileypaigemagee/https://www.instagram.com/haileypaigemagee/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9L4phQjrxv7NTiidQPI9Sw/https://www.linkedin.com/in/haileymagee/ Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Hello, lovely souls, and welcome to today's episode. I'm Cait Donovan, and I'm truly honored to be your guide as we dive into the essential tools for recovering from burnout. We'll talk about the healing power of yoga, the importance of foundational self-care, the creation of an upgraded boundary system, and the immense value of community in your burnout recovery process. Stay tuned as we unpack these essential tools, share practical insights, and embark on a journey toward a life filled with more balance, joy, and purpose.Episode Highlights:Cait emphasizes the critical importance of foundational self-care, urging listeners to heed their body's basic needs, enhance interoception, and embrace practices like Yoga Nidra. She also delves into the significance of cultivating an upgraded boundary system, underlining the role of improved interoception in setting flexible, healthy boundaries. Cait underscores the value of community in burnout recovery, highlighting how isolation can contribute to burnout and encouraging listeners to seek support from various groups and communities. Her message resonates with the idea that recovery is a unique, step-by-step journey, and self-compassion is the guiding light.Everyone's path to recovery is unique. These core components provide a foundation, but your journey may require additional elements. Take it one step at a time, listen to your body, and allow your recovery to unfold naturally. Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.com https://caitdonovan.com Book a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is one of the latest trends in the world of technology. People use it in various ways, and constant research is done to maximize its potential. But have you heard of using AI as a tool to reduce stress? In today's episode, I invited Henna Pryor, performance expert, award-winning 2x TEDx, global keynote speaker, virtual presenter, team facilitator, and a professional certified coach. She is also the author of the upcoming book Good Awkard: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become The Bravest You. Henna will discuss how we can utilize the power of AI to reduce burnout and why embracing awkwardness can make our lives easier. Stay tuned to learn more! Episode Highlights:Henna Pryor shares her insight about the connection of AI in reducing burnout. As a mother and an entrepreneur, her time is always occupied with what she needs to do. Thus, she started to find a way to make her life easier. And that’s how Henna stumbles upon the AI technology. With its power, her work becomes faster, more convenient, and stress-free, reducing the possibility of burnout.Henna talks about why we should embrace awkwardness and how it can make you vulnerable. Often, high-performers have expectations they think they must meet no matter what. However, having his mindset can be exhausting, eventually leading to burnout and a downgrade in performance. Small steps are the best step. And so take your time towards vulnerability. Don’t rush; it only becomes impossible. Learn to be comfortable with being awkward, and you’ll be there in no time. Connect with Henna Pryor:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hennapryor/ https://www.facebook.com/hennapryorcoach/ https://www.instagram.com/hennapryor Good Awkward: https://pryoritygroup.com/book/  Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In today's episode, I will talk about the bad advice you can get regarding burnout and how those pieces of advice came to be due to certain misconceptions. I will be emphasizing how burnout is not solely a mental or thought issue but a systemic one involving various aspects of life. Episode Highlights:Cait Donovan talks about burnout advice she wrote about two years ago and still agree with. She talks about how many people perceive burnout as solely a mental or thought-related issue, which affects the how they distinguish between burnout prevention and recovery, and that most advice falls into prevention. Cait stresses the importance of life pruning, rebuilding emotional filters, and moving intentionally during recovery.Cait encourages listeners to trust their inner guidance when choosing which advice to follow.Remember, trust your inner guidance. In a sea of advice, your intuition knows what resonates with your soul. When choosing which path to follow, listen closely to that inner voice, for it knows the way to your own unique journey of healing and growth. Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried

In this world full of stress and a toxic environment, getting a hold of your health and staying physically and mentally fit is challenging. But worry not, as there are ways to stay ahead of your health. In this episode, I have an exciting discussion with Kristen Holmes, the vice president and principal scientist at Whoop. Kristen shares how Whoop, a physiological monitoring device, can help you track your body’s data, take action accordingly, and ultimately have control over your health. She also talks about why heart rate variability matters, workplace resilience, sleep consistency, real burnout prevention, difference of stress and anxiety, and more! Episode Highlights:Kristen focuses on aligning your mind and body– in other words, having extreme awareness of your body is crucial to taking control of your health. She also explains the usage of technology and how we can utilize it to get optimal data to work and take the needed actions for our bodies. Kristen shares tips and tricks to aid in increasing stress resilience, sleep consistency, and managing stress, such as aligning our circadian rhythm, time-restricted eating, viewing sunlight, breathwork, and regular body movement throughout the day. Listening to this episode will encourage you to take action and start your health and wellness journey. Don’t wait for your body to suffer. Instead, focus on taking preventive measures. It’s not too late; with discipline and perseverance, you can achieve your goal. Everyone deserves to live better, healthily, and joyfully–free of too much stress and burnout. Connect with Kristen Holmes:https://www.whoop.com/us/en/ https://www.instagram.com/kristen_holmes2126/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-holmes/  Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried       

Burnout is the feeling of exhaustion physically and mentally from the problems you have in everyday life. Similar to wildfires, where everything is burned out to ash. However, life is a cycle of death and rebirth, which is critical in keeping the balance in the world. With the right resources, we can return to life beautiful and stronger. Our speaker today, Sarah Vosen, a burnout recovery coach at FRIED, explains the relation of wildfires to being burned out, why you should honor the cycle in life, and how Sarah can help in your burnout recovery journey. Tune in to learn more!Episode Highlights:Sarah discusses the similarities between burnout and wildfires. Just like wildfires, where everything is burned, fall, decay, and turn into ash, being burned out will feel like our life is falling apart. However, a burned forest will go through a rebirth cycle, and everything will return beautifully. Similarly, experiencing burnout will allow us to be reborn, and with the right resources, we can come back to life.Sarah highlights the importance of honoring the cycle in life. We don’t need to be burned completely to have a renewal; we just need to realize that life is constantly changing, and resting is necessary to balance our work. We need to stop forcing ourselves to be the same every day. Slow down and give some time and space to process your emotions, set boundaries, and know the most important things in your life.Burnout is normal, so just acknowledge your problems or difficulties and pay attention to control them. Recognize that you have the ability to control it, heal, and recover to become stronger.Connect with Sarah Vosen:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahvosenlac/  https://www.instagram.com/sarah.vosen/https://www.facebook.com/sarah.vosenBook a call to start your burnout recovery together with Sarah: https://caitdonovan.as.me/sarah Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried  

Do you ever feel like you have to hide something about yourself from the world? In this episode, you will hear an honest and heartfelt conversation with Ruth Rathblott, a speaker, coach, and author of the book Singlehandedly: Learning to Unhide and Embrace Connection. Ruth shares her story of living with a limb difference and how she used it as a tool to start conversations and create safe spaces for others to share their stories. She also reveals the secrets of unhiding, which is the process of releasing shame, overcoming fear, and embracing your true self, without worrying about what others think.Episode Highlights:Ruth Rathblott opens up about the common phenomenon of hiding, which affects many people who feel like they are the only ones who have a visible or invisible difference, such as a disability, a mental health issue, a family background, or a personal struggle. She explains how hiding can make us feel isolated, exhausted, and limited, and how unhiding can help us live more authentically and confidently.Ruth shares some practical tips and exercises to help you unhide in your own life and create more meaningful connections with others. She emphasizes the importance of being the first to go first, which means sharing something about yourself that you are hiding or uncomfortable with, in order to create a safe space for others to do the same.This episode is a powerful reminder that you are not alone in your hiding journey. You have the power to unhide and live your truth. Listen to this episode now and start your own unhiding journey today. You will be amazed by the freedom and joy that comes from being yourself and connecting with others who accept you as you are!Connect with Ruth Rathblott:https://ruthrathblott.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ruthrath/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-rathblott/ https://twitter.com/ruthrath https://www.amazon.com/Singlehandedly-Learning-Unhide-Embrace-Connection-ebook/dp/B0B95TSJBS  Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried  

In today's episode, I will discuss my own experiences with burnout recovery and talk about all the misconceptions that often surround it. I will give emphasize the importance of seeking support, learning from setbacks, and acknowledging that progress may not always follow a linear path. Episode Highlights:Cait Donovan talks about experiences and mistakes during her burnout recovery journey and the challenges of progress recognition, the need for ongoing effort, the dangers of prematurely ending recovery efforts, the importance of allowing others to come to their own realizations, and the pitfalls of overexertion and comparing one's experiences to others. She highlights the complexity of the recovery process and the personal growth it entails.Cait advises listeners about the challenges of self-trust, the need to overcome the desire to prove oneself, and the importance of embracing failure as part of the recovery process. She realizes the impact of sharing her story and encourages everyone to learn to trust themselves and their feelings during their own burnout recovery.Remember, growth comes from acknowledging one's evolution and using newfound knowledge to navigate similar situations in a more empowered way. Connect with Cait:https://friedtheburnoutpodcast.comhttps://caitdonovan.comBook a free 1:1 call: bit.ly/callcaitBook a free 1:1 call with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvGet info on FRIED's group program for burnout recovery: https://caitdonovan.com/unfried 

Dr. Mandy Lehto was a people pleaser for such a long period of time that she ended up completely disconnected from herself. She found herself snappy and irritable, consistently pushing herself harder and farther beyond the limits of what she could handle. After a scary moment collapsing while boxing, Dr. Lehto realized something was wrong that even the world’s strongest coffee would not be able to fix. Through her burnout recovery journey, Dr. Lehto identified 7 realistic phases of burnout which she uses to guide others through their own burnout recoveries.  As a perfectionist and people-pleaser, it is common to be so focused on external validation that you lose sight of what you actually want and need. Like most people, Dr. Lehto started off her burnout journey in phase 1, denial. It took fully collapsing and then developing an unfortunate face rash to finally admit to herself that there was a problem. She went into the triaging phase with the same perfectionist approach she used when facing anything, trying to be the absolute best at meditating and downing kale smoothies. She tried every method she could access for hacking her healing from cutting gluten to attending spiritual retreats until at last reaching the stage of reluctant surrender. It was not going to be possible to completely recover on her own, and she would need to allow others to help her. She accepted that it was finally time to release the false fire of that external validation and fuel herself from within, stepping into the chutes and ladders phase of experimentation to discover which parts of herself were real and which were performance. Lastly, she embraced the final stage that wholeness equals whole mess, acknowledging that it's okay to not be perfect.  Dr. Lehto’s seven burnout phases are deeply relatable for anyone experiencing burnout regardless of where they currently are in their recovery journey. If you struggle with people-pleasing and being your authentic self, consider approaching your healing through the lens of these seven phases. Quotes• “Being a people pleaser perfectionist, I wasn't connected to myself, to my own likes, dislikes, to my own needs, to my own wants, because it was always about external validation.” (15:09 | Dr. Lehto)• “There's a phrase by Cheryl Strayed, that acceptance is a small quiet room. And that's exactly what this phase felt like.” (20:24 | Dr. Lehto)• “Just because a system is one way in one place, that doesn't mean that it's that way in every other place.” (30:10 | Cait)• “I don't need to contort myself to be who I think I need to be so that other people will approve of me and validate me.” (40:19 | Dr. Lehto) LinksConnect with Dr. Mandy Lehto:www.mandylehto.comhttps://www.instagram.com/mandylehto/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandylehtopersonalbrandimage/ Coach with Cait: bit.ly/callcaitCoach with Sarah: bit.ly/callsarahvHire Cait for Your Event: https://caitdonovan.as.me/inquiryJoin the FB Group: https://facebook.com/groups/friedtheburnoutpodcastXOXO,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

Hi All! Last minute episode to be sure that you know what's possible and what you'll get when you decide to join FRIED's group coaching program! You can find the full details on this PDF handout If you're ready to sign up, you can do that HERE. If you'd like to chat with Sarah this week to be sure you're a good fit - feel free to book that call HERE.   Questions? Come hang in the FB group and post your questions on the LIVE version of this podcast that aired on Valentines Day! :)

“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

It's BOUNDARY SEASON! Yep, that's right. The season that all your boundaries get pushed and 2020 has already pushed them enough, so they might be feeling like electric fences this year! ;) I wrote you a song all to tell you that we start transforming you into a Boundary Building Badass in just 12 short days. Sign ups are open now for The Build Better Boundaries course, it WAS a DIY course but on popular demand, I'm doing a LIVE version with a FB Group and Live Q&A's with yours truly to help you along. After the year we've all had, it's the least I could do. Sign ups are here: https://caitdonovan.com/build-better-boundaries-live Join us. It's gonna be a blast. Like this song. :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've been told in the past week that I'm: overreacting, posting anxious posts, a sea of calm - all from different people. But, I, like the rest of you am a very average human who just found out that life is on lockdown. I have flip-flopped between emotions and spent many anxious days before I found some calm in the new current reality. After an IG live where I read to you from my new book: The Bouncebackability Factor to share an exercise that I thought might be helpful right now, a bunch of you reached out asking me to put it in a format that would be easily accessible all the time, so, I recorded it for you :) Campaign donations to get The Bouncebackability Factor published are being accepted and if you found this episode helpful, please consider supporting the campaign. You can find it here: http://www.ifundwomen.com/projects/bouncebackability-factor We're in this together. There's no correct timeline. You're allowed to process in the way that feels best and safest to YOU. This episode will help you when you know it's time to let go but you aren't sure how. I call it 'Sitting in the Muck' and it's a life skill everyone should have - and now, you do. XOXO C Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special #straightfromcait mini-episode of FRIED, I, your host, take you through the most common burnout symptoms and tell you exactly what they sound and look like in YOUR life. Burnout Researcher (and my personal hero) Christina Maslach, PhD, tells us that the criteria for recognizing burnout are: 1. physical and emotional exhaustion 2. cynicism and detachment 3. not feeling accomplished or impactful But what does that LOOK and FEEL like? It's right here in these 15 minutes. See you on the other side! Almost forgot! If you'd like to book a free coffee/tea/adaptogen chat with me - you can do that here: https://www.caitdonovan.as.me/free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this mini-episode, a listener asked me to talk about Chinese Medicine and Burnout, which I LOVED, so I did right away :). If you've been around for a while, you know that I have a Master's degree in Chinese Medicine - and if you're new - you just found out! :) Chinese medicine is an umbrella term that includes what is referred to as the 5 pillars. Acupuncture & Massage, Herbology, Nutrition & Lifestyle, Moxibustion, and Qigong. In different places, you will see these labeled differently. The fact is that Chinese medicine has a varied history within China and it's even messier when it starts moving to the West. The point I want to make here is that Chinese medicine is more than just acupuncture but in this quick episode, I speak mostly about acupuncture because it's so common. Acupuncture has the ability to calm our nervous systems, allow our brains to heal, improve gut bacteria and more which leads me to believe it's the best system for beating burnout. The points I mentioned that improve the stress management function of the brain are LI 4 (more commonly known as the headache point) and ST 36 (more commonly known as the immunity point). I hope this episode clues you in as to the power of Chinese medicine when you're burnt out. If you need help finding a practitioner near you, DM me on Instagram! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special edition of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast brought to you #straightfromcait based on feedback that you provided! This is the very first thing I need you to know when you're learning about burnout. There are loads of stress management tips out there - but they are useless if you're ALREADY burnt out. And because I know that you wait until things are bad until you reach out for help, I know that the information that's out there isn't getting you where you need to go. Here's where you start - by differentiating burnout prevention from burnout recovery and understanding that burnout isn't just a MINDSET issue. It's a physiological set of changes in your body, gut, and brain that need to be addressed! There are no shortcuts in Burnout Recovery - and the journey starts here. LISTEN. LEAVE A REVIEW. SHARE WITH A FRIEND WHO COULD USE SOME BURNOUT HEALING. #endburnoutculture XOXO C Continue the conversation over on IG! www.instagram.com/friedtheburnoutpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices