You know that moment when you finally collapse on Sunday night after saying yes to everything all week long? When you've skipped lunch to answer emails, scrolled Instagram instead of taking a real break, and promised yourself you'll start taking care of yourself after you hit that next milestone? Here's what nobody tells you about burnout: it doesn't start at work. It doesn't start with your demanding schedule or your chaotic team or your overwhelming to-do list. Burnout starts the moment you said yes to the thing you actually wanted to say no to. It starts when you abandoned yourself for the sake of everyone else. This is the conversation about the internal work of burnout that goes way deeper than self-care Sunday and face masks, where we get honest about the cycles we create, the identity traps we fall into, and what it actually takes to break the pattern of burning yourself out in the name of productivity.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why burnout is actually "burning the self" and how it's rooted in identity traps formed long before your current situation
• The dangerous cycle of over-giving in service professions and why you cannot carry your patients, clients, or team members
• Why your face mask and 15 minutes of red light therapy aren't actually solving your burnout when real self-care means saying no
• The practical reality of breaking burnout cycles through awareness, ownership, and asking for healing instead of just pushing through
• Why slower mornings and one intentional change matters more than overhauling your entire life at once

The life you're building is either going to honor your capacity or deplete it. That choice has always been yours, even when it didn't feel like it. This episode is your invitation to stop martyring yourself in the name of productivity and start asking what you actually need to feel whole.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 13th and 14th in Knoxville, TN. If you're tired of conferences that only focus on systems while ignoring the internal work that actually transforms how you lead, this weekend is for you. Bring your whole team and experience what happens when you stop burning out and start building from wholeness. Sign up here.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

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When you're building a team, one of the biggest questions is: what benefits do I actually offer? PTO, sure. But how does it accrue? Do part-time employees get the same as full-time? What about holidays that fall on days you're not even open? And what's fair for maternity leave when you're not a massive corporation with endless resources? This episode is us breaking down the employee benefits we offer in our practices and the logistics behind them. From raise structures to bereavement policies to why floating holidays might solve a problem you didn't know you had.

🔥 In This Episode:

• How to structure raises and performance standards so your team knows exactly where they can grow within your company
• PTO accrual systems and why the way you structure it (hours worked vs. anniversary date) matters more than you think
• What should be included in bereavement policies beyond just immediate family members
• Maternity and paternity leave clauses that work for small businesses, including paid vs. unpaid time and return-to-work expectations
• Why floating holidays solve the problem of holidays that fall on days your business is already closed

If you've been avoiding the benefits conversation because you don't know where to start or what's fair to offer, this episode gives you a framework. You don't have to offer everything, but you do need to be clear about what you're offering and why. And remember: you can always amend your policies as your business grows and situations pop up that you never anticipated.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 12th and 13th! This is the deep dive workshop where we walk you through exercises like this in real time and help you build the kind of leadership that actually empowers your team.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

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You think you know what you're feeling and why you're feeling it. You've identified the problem, you've made it make sense, you've got a logical explanation. But what if that's just the surface? What if there are deeper layers your heart is inviting you to explore? This episode is us sharing what happened in our recent coaching sessions when we realized there was so much more beneath what we thought we were processing.

Marisa shares how she thought she was navigating feelings about team dynamics and her new leadership role, only to discover it was actually about her dad and her husband. Sara shares a visceral dream she thought was about processing assault trauma, only to realize it was inviting her into something completely different about money, protection, and the terror that comes up when she doesn't feel financially secure. This is what it looks like when you stop trying to logic your way through feelings and actually let your heart speak.

🔥 In This Episode:

• Why logic will try to make sense of your feelings but your heart just wants to be seen, heard, and talked to
• The invitation to explore something you don't initially resonate with and ask "if this were true, what would have to be true?"
• How stamping something with approval can actually be a way of avoiding processing a deeper feeling underneath
• Why healing and self-discovery literally never stop, and how the well of your heart has untapped potential you haven't even discovered yet
• The reminder that things are not always as they seem, and you need someone else to help you see what you can't see on your own

If you've been doing surface-level work and wondering why you keep hitting the same walls, this episode is your invitation to go deeper. Get a coach. Stop trying to logic your way through heart work. And be willing to discover that the thing you thought it was is probably not actually the thing at all.

Mark Your Calendar: We're hosting another in-person HeartWork Leadership event March 12th and 13th! This is the deep dive workshop where we walk you through exercises like this in real time and help you build the kind of leadership that actually empowers your team.

Connect with us:

• Instagram: @drsaranelsongray, @dr.marisa.nicole10, @theheartworkpodcast
• Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

Download our Free Self Love Challenge PDF

Support the show