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.

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

Email: theheartworklife@gmail.com

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