4 Early Warning Signs That Quietly Lead to Burnout

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight.

In veterinary medicine, there are often early warning signs that show up long before someone reaches burnout — but many of these signs are so normalized in high-achieving professions that we miss them completely.

In this episode, Dr. Amelia shares four warning signs that often appear well before burnout, including the ones leaders and teams most commonly overlook.

Some of these may surprise you.

You’ll learn how to recognize when someone may be operating in survival mode — whether that looks like the high performer who never slows down, the “low maintenance” perfect employee who always says yes, the cynical teammate who seems negative, or the person who suddenly seems unmotivated or checked out.

Understanding these patterns through a nervous system lens can help veterinary professionals and leaders respond with more compassion, awareness, and effective support — instead of judgment or assumptions.

Because burnout doesn’t start with one hard day.

It happens when survival mode becomes the norm.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The four early warning signs that often show up before burnout
• Why high performers and “easy” employees may actually be at risk
• How stress responses like fight, flight, fawn, and freeze show up in veterinary teams
• Why labeling people as “toxic” can miss what’s really happening
• Simple ways to start responding with compassion, curiosity, and awareness

If you're a veterinary professional, practice leader, or high achiever who wants success that feels sustainable instead of exhausting, this episode will give you a new lens for understanding burnout before it happens.

Resources Mentioned

Learn more about the Aligned Success Reboot (6-month coaching experience for driven professionals who want sustainable success without hustle):
https://www.lifeboost.today/aligned-success-reboot

Take the Unicorn Veterinary Hospital Workplace Satisfaction & Well-Being Survey for your practice:
https://www.lifeboost.today/unicornhospitalsurvey

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could benefit — especially someone in veterinary medicine.

And if you enjoy the podcast, leaving a review helps more people discover it.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. I am a certified health and life coach, not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Please consult with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your physical or mental health routines. If you are experiencing a crisis, seek help from a qualified professional or contact emergency services.

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! 

To learn more about my approach and the programs and free resources available to support you, visit my website: www.lifeboost.today

I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Transcript

0:09

Welcome to the Life Boost with Amelia podcast where we're changing the narrative around what true health and success look like. They should give you energy, not drain it. I'm your host, Dr. Amelia multi-passionate integrative health and life coach, entrepreneur, and recovered burnout veterinarian. Together, we'll explore the science behind how your brain and body work, including the unconscious mind while also connecting with what your heart needs in order to stand up to the norm of feeling stuck on a hamster wheel-working hard yet feeling exhausted and not where you want to be- and instead live a life that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning and in love with who you see when you look in the mirror. The reality is if you do what everyone else is doing, you're not going to feel good. Let's break the norm. Hi friend. I'm trying something new and my plan is to do a weekly Instagram live. I did the first one last week and I figured I would share it here. It ended up being more like a podcast length episode. My plan for future weeks is to keep it much more brief, probably 15 to 20 minutes. Right now my plan for the first little series is to take a common stressor or challenge in vet Med and then to offer a reframe or different strategy that can help to make it less stressful, frustrating, or overwhelming. So if there is something that comes to mind as you hear that, a stressor that you'd like me to address in a future episode, I would love to hear it. I'll leave lots of ways to connect with me in the show notes, but for now, let's dive into the four warning signs that happen way before burnout that were missing.

Amelia Knight Pinkston-1 1:58

We are going to be talking about four warning signs that happened before burnout that we have normalized and how we can change that. So this is such an important topic because burnout does not happen after one hard day. There really are so many warning signs that happen before burnout. It's just that in so many ways, we have normalized that and even our selecting and rewarding for certain traits of survival mode in some ways. And so we're missing it until burnout happens. And so today you're gonna see why in so many ways, sometimes the employee who seems perfect and like they're thriving, that can actually be a warning sign that happens before burnout. So today we're gonna talk about the most underestimated sign, the most missed, and then the most misunderstood. And there are gonna be two there. So we'll be talking about four different traits. And this is for you. If you are a leader and you wanna be really proactive in supporting a thriving team, you want to be preventing those unexpected, unpleasant surprises where suddenly your perfect employee, um, leaves. This is also for you. If you're a leader and you want to be working towards sustainable success, you wanna be making sure that you are in your career for the long run. Decreasing overwhelm. This is for you if you love your career and you really wanna be proactive in making sure that it is sustainable. You wanna be preventing burnout. And then it's also for you, if you're already at a point where you are maybe feeling overwhelmed, feeling anxious, a lot kind of exhausted, maybe you feel like you are on the verge of, of burnout, or maybe you're there. If that sounds like you today, you're, that's going to help to shed a lot of light on why you may be feeling that way and what you can do. Be giving simple action items that you can start putting into practice immediately. If you are listening to this and you don't know who I am, if we haven't connected yet, I'm Amelia. I am an integrative health and life coach and a veterinarian, and I learned the hard way that the way that we are taught to achieve health and success doesn't work if we want these two little details for it to feel sustainable and to feel good. Because going into Vet Med, I knew that our profession struggled with burnout. I just didn't think it was going to happen to me. I was gonna be really proactive. I was into, uh, healthy habits and stress management, personal development, all the things. And yet it still happened to me. Five years into practice, I looked like I was thriving on the outside. And yet on the inside, um, I was really struggling with constant anxiety and brain fog, exhaustion, abdominal pain, and. It took even then, it took me a while to realize that I was burned out, but that was a really beautiful turning point for me. That really helped me to start recognizing why when we are so determined to do things right, why is it still leading us to burnout and how can we do it differently? And so I was able to recover while still practicing. I have a decade of experience in clinical practice now, working in small animal general practice, urgent care and relief. And my big mission now is to help to create a new norm where our approach to health and success actually feels good, um, sustainable. And so today we're gonna be talking about these warning signs that happened before burnout that we just aren't recognizing. And this is all going to be looking at things from a nervous system perspective. And I found that that is the most effective way to suddenly understand why we are struggling with burnout and how we can be so much more proactive in catching the warning signs way before burnout actually happens. So let's dive in to the first one. The most underestimated is the high performer. So this is going to be the person who. Holds themselves to really high standards. They may be kind of the workaholic. They are, they thrive on being busy. They love productivity. They aren't the kind of person to slow down. Um, and maybe that even on weekends, their mind is going, they're, they're still busy doing things even on vacation. Um, probably love productivity and to-do lists. So this, I think sounds like the majority of people in Bemed. Right. And that's because in so many ways, we are selected for and rewarded for that, right? We are taught that productivity is good. We are expected to be able to juggle a lot of things, even to get into vet school. So it makes sense and. Yet that can be a sign of being stuck in the flight stress response. It's like this sign that your nervous system has learned that productivity is safe and rest feels unsafe. And so the really tricky thing here is that this trait does lead to feelings of being successful or looking good on paper. And so in so many ways, we can attribute our success to these traits, to our ability to hustle and to do all the things and the way that we hold ourself to impossibly high standards. However. It's not sustainable, right? And so because this is like, if you imagine you have the gas pedal on, you are driving at full speed and you are never stopping to refuel. Maybe your check engine light is on and you're just completely ignoring it because you wanna get to your destination that does work for a certain period of time, but eventually you're gonna run outta gas or that check engine light is like, it's going to be a big problem and then it's gonna sideline you at the most inconvenient time. And so we really need to be challenging this, right? And, and looking in at when we are attributing our success to signs that, um, to our ability to never slow down. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't be high achiever or that you can't have incredible drive, right? It's just here we wanna differentiate between when is that amazing drive and you are doing big things in a way that's gonna be really sustainable and is helping you to enjoy the life you have now versus when is this a sign that you are in survival mode and this is not going to be sustainable. So with survival mode, this is about short-term survival, right? It's not about long-term thriving. And so some things to explore if you're hearing this and it's sounding pretty familiar, would be, are you prioritizing things that feel urgent over things that are really important? And so what I mean by that, first we can look at basic necessities, right? So are you skipping out on things like you don't have time to drink water. Water or, uh, nourishing meals that really help you to feel good in your body and to give you good energy? Are you not getting enough sleep or having just breaks in the day where you get to give your brain a, a moment of not having to think or, or is it always feeling like something else is taking priority over those basic necessities? Um, thinking again about are things that feel urgent like work, um, is that also, um, crowding out things that. Are really important. So like, at the end of your life, what are the things that you will have wished that you spent time with? Like, are you able to be connecting with friends and family in a way that feels good, you aren't totally depleted by the end of the day, you're still able to be present with'em to enjoy it. Um, to have time for things outside of work that bring you joy, um, you know, play. Are you getting to play right? Um, or is it just this sense of like carrot on a stick, right? It just feels like there's always one more thing you have to do before you can rest. If that sounds familiar, then it's really important to realize that it's probably always gonna feel that way, right? Like, so we can get caught in this, um, this situation where that moment when you get to check something off a to-do list, that feels amazing, right? But how long does that feeling last? Like. The amount of time when you check it off, maybe you have a a few seconds of being like, oh, that felt so good, and then your brain is probably like, now what? Right? It's like, I need my next fix. And that's because your nervous system, it doesn't feel safe to arrive at enoughness, right? It doesn't feel as safe to arrive at success. The hustle is what it feels familiar and what is normalized. And so it's so important to realize that because otherwise you risk spending your whole life chasing after that feeling. And what you're probably, the feeling you're probably after is feeling proud of yourself or finally being able to rest without your brain thinking of something else to do. But the reality is that. Whenever you do have a period when you can rest, your brain is always going to try to think of something else for you to do because it doesn't think that it's safe to rest. At some point in your life, you learned that it was better to just always be productive. Other things, you know, to d differentiate between incredible drive in a way that is life giving and sustainable versus survival mode is looking at how is your energy and wellbeing, right? Um, a really tragic thing that we are taught is to just push through and ignore our body, right? If we think about hustle and diet, culture, messaging that really, um, in so many ways, we're just taught, ignore your body. However, your body is the one thing in this world that is completely devoted to taking care of you. And so all the things to listen to is probably your body, right? And so your body probably is giving you signs if you're more in the survival mode, suggesting it would be good to slow down that you might not be paying attention to, so it could look like you always get sick the moment you finally have vacation. Um, or a moment to rest. It could be that you are just relying on caffeine to get through the, the day, but, um, your energy level, otherwise you just feeling overextended and exhausted. Um, it could be that you're not sleeping well because again, your mind doesn't want to slow down. It's just always thinking. Um, or you could have other weird signs in your body, maybe gut issues, maybe autoimmune hormone issues. Um, constant like tension in your body, headaches, that kind of thing. And so with this, um, being in flight, the flight stress response, you also may see that this is connected to certain healthy habits. There may be, um, kind of an all or nothing mindset because you just really want to. You feel like you need to do it perfectly, otherwise you've ruined it. Um, you really wanna be controlled. So sometimes you can see a tendency to be overly restrictive. Um, just pushing your body to extremes. This type tends to love high intensity exercises, um, pushing your body to extremes, but maybe you're also experiencing injuries. So if this sounds like you, the most important thing to realize is that what you think you need is going to be the opposite of what you actually need. And so what I mean by that is that your brain is always going to think, I just need to do this one more thing, or I just need to push through this one period and then things will be better. But if you look back, I have a feeling you'll notice that. That is a lie, that it is very rare that you reach that point where suddenly it actually does feel better. And so this is where the most important thing is to now teach your nervous system. Recognize those times when you are caught in this pattern of feeling tired when your body is asking you to slow down or to give it a basic necessity. Or you have, there are important things in life that you are self sac or sacrificing noticing when what feels urgent isn't actually urgent, right? And starting to practice resting and recognizing that probably in your mind, you're imagining that rest is going to feel good, but if you have been operating in flight mode, it's gonna feel uncomfortable. Not because you're doing something wrong, just because it feels unfamiliar. And so the real thing to know, and I have a mug that highlights this, right? This might be backwards for you, but hustling is easy. Pausing is the power move So true. Because if you think about this and if you are a leader, when are the times when you have your best ideas, right? Probably not. When you are hustling and trying to rush, it's probably the rare moments when you are, maybe you're driving in your car, you are on a walk, maybe you're on vacation, right? We need that white space in our schedule in our days because that's when our brain is able to really problem solve. And if you can relate to this, my guess is you have really big goals and really big dreams, and if you're never pausing, you are really holding yourself back. If you are able to make this switch of prioritizing the fuel that your body needs, recognizing when it is actually time to slow down, that is going to help you to achieve even more success in a way that is so much more sustainable thinking of, it's the same with working out, right? And so I completely used to be in flight mode. Um, I loved that I was the type of person who didn't like to slow down. I did extreme amounts of running and working out. I was probably overly restrictive. I was always pushing. I was just living in this constant state of, as soon as I get through this thing, then I'll be able to to rest. And my body tried in so many ways to tell me that that wasn't working for me. Um, you know, I ran a marathon despite being in pain during it, it felt amazing crossing the finish line and then I couldn't run for a year. I could barely even walk for a while because I was limping, because I had ignored, I ignored what my body was telling me because I thought that I knew what I needed when my body definitely did. And so I experienced the same thing when I experienced burnout. It was, I thought that I was doing what I needed to do to succeed. I thought that I, it was doing what I wanted, and yet my body was telling me in so many ways, this isn't working for you. And the thing is, when you finally do make that switch, success starts to actually feel good. It means that you can ex, you can really enjoy the journey. Not just waiting for the destination, not just waiting for crossing that that to-do list, that checkbox, but it means you can actually enjoy it while you're working towards that. And that is huge. So today, if you can relate to that, what I wanna encourage you to do is block off some time right now in your schedule this week at some point, think about what is something that you have really been wanting to do, but you have felt too busy to do it and block off some time right now to do it. And when you do that, just count that as the hugest success. Okay? All right. So let's move on to number two. This is the most missed. This is the perfect. Low maintenance employee, right? The one who you never have to worry about. They're so reliable. This could be a red flag. So they are gonna be the type who's just always upbeat and cheerful. You check in on them and they say, everything is great, everything is fine. If you ask them to pick up another shift, they're like, no problem. Without even checking their schedule probably. So that is also going to be the team member who seems like they're totally fine and then suddenly they leave unexpectedly. And that is because that is actually a sign of being in the fawn. Stress response or trauma response. If you're stuck in that. And in that case. They are acting in whatever way they think they need to in order for other people to like them, because their nervous system feels like to not be liked or to be an inconvenience to someone is like being chased by a lion. And so they. Are likely to avoid difficult conversations. They may not even really know what they need. They're kind of, um, these are people who tend to be very empathetic, very in tune with other people's emotions, but not necessarily in tune with their own, like great at listening to others and checking in with them. But if asked to, you know, really how are they doing kind of quick to dismiss that. Um, they also are likely to just always be worrying and thinking, I wonder what they're thinking of me, or, yeah, just really focused on what other people's impression is of them. And they probably also are feeling pretty drained at the end of the day because they're kind of. Performing, um, wearing this mask. So they are putting on that persona of the person that they think people want them to be, but not necessarily feeling safe just to be authentic or to speak up for their needs. So again, let's explore what is the difference, right? What's the difference between,'cause you could, um, absolutely be a kind human who is there for other people. Um, so what's the difference between that and someone who is in survival mode and that fall stress response. So again, it's gonna be self-sacrificing, right? And so are you putting your oxygen mask on first so that you are able to, you have that capacity to help others? Or does it tend to be that you are saying yes to one more thing and that is feeling really stressful to you? You feel like you never have time, you are feeling overextended, um, because you feel bad saying no. Um, also tuning into your energy. And so when you are doing things for others, is that feeling really good? Is that giving you energy or is it feeling kind of draining? Or are there feelings of resentment? Do you tend or do you wish that people wouldn't rely on you or ask you to do things? That is another really helpful, um, helpful thing. Again, it's always tuning in with your body. What is your body telling you about this way that you are acting? Um, yeah, and thinking about the difference between like, is it genuinely just fill you up to be helping other people, or is it coming from a place of being really depleted or relying on like, getting praise in order for it to feel good? So again, if that sounds familiar, what you think you need is gonna be the opposite of what you actually need. And so in this case, it's going to feel like what you need is for like everyone around you to be okay and to be thriving can be really focused on how other people are feeling. There's tends to be a focus on external validation. Um, and that could also be like the number on the scale or getting an award or praise at work. Um, you know, or what other people are thinking of you. But really that's exhausting it because focusing on external things, all of those are really out of your control, right? Especially what other people think of you. And it can be exhausting trying to control all of that. And so really, instead. It is all about tuning into you and your relationship with yourself. And a big thing to start exploring is having self-compassion for yourself and really exploring feelings of worthiness without any needing to achieve any external things. And so for you, if that sounds familiar, I would say one thing you can do is to practice saying no. To something this week. Now it's going to feel uncomfortable. Just like for that high performer in flight rest is gonna feel uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. In this case, it's saying no, or just speaking up for your own needs. It's going to feel uncomfortable. It's going to, you might feel guilty, but it's important to know that that doesn't mean that you are actually doing something wrong. It just means that it feels like you are doing something wrong, and that's an amazing opportunity to reprogram another thing, because self-compassion is so key. If you know what your love language is, then I will. Knowing that is so great for knowing how you can give yourself. Love. And so thinking, for example, like do you, like word is words of affirmation, yours. Well then definitely start thinking about what positive things, positive affirmations can you start having towards yourself, noticing yourself talk. You know, if it is personal touch or physical touch, then maybe can you get a massage? Is that a really great act of, um, self-compassion for yourself or something that's helping you to have that connection? Um, you know, acts of service thinking about, okay, what is something that I can actually do for me? Um, or quality time, right? How often do you just get to have time with yourself, right? And what would that look like? So think about this week. What is one act of self-compassion you can do or can you practice, um, taking something off your plate, practice prioritizing you? Um, and if you are a leader, it's really important for this one to be keeping in mind that so often it can be easy to think, oh, that employee's fine. I don't need to check on them. I absolutely think of ways that you can check on them, but also keep in mind that on one on, on one-on-one, on one-on-ones, they may not be able to give you the full picture or an accurate representation of how they're doing because it's just gonna be so automatic to say that they're doing okay or to say what they think that you need to hear. And so that is where thinking about um, ways of providing honest feedback in a way that feels safe or confidential for them can be really helpful. And I do have a free workplace satisfaction and wellbeing survey available for veterinary practices. So you can, um, if you're listening to this later, leave a comment. Um, you can, uh, comment, survey, and I can send you the link to that. But it's just an easy way to take the pulse of your practice and to give everyone an opportunity to share how they're really doing. All right, onto number three. I'm gonna take a quick drink. Okay, so now we're gonna talk about the most misunderstood, and there are actually two here that, um, I think are equally misunderstood. Our society is really quick to judge both of these. So one of them is they a cynical employee, right? They the person who is just negative, maybe they're the bully. Uh, maybe they're just really draining to be around. So. They may even be hateful. And you know, just in general, looking at our world right now, this is something online we can see a lot of. So of, of course it, it makes sense that we are quick to judge because that is someone in a flat, the fight stress response. And when we see that, the automatic reaction is for our nervous system to go in the fight stress response too. And to also judge. However, when we can start to label that, we can start to really have awareness of, oh, that person is in the fight stress response. That really helps to change things because the reality is that when someone is happy and healthy, they don't act that way. The only reason that someone is acting that way is because something from their perspective is feeling really hard or overwhelming. Um. And the more we can meet that with compassion and curiosity, the more we can really help, because this is a sign that their nervous system is feeling overwhelmed, and if they stay stuck there, then that is eventually going to lead to burnout. So in this case, if this sounds familiar, like if you are just feeling like everything just feels negative, you feel like maybe you're just easily irritated, maybe you feel like your fuse is shorter than it should be, or you end up like kind of snapping or saying things that you later regret, then some things to really think about is, are there important boundaries that have not been respected or that are missing for you that so often we go into the fight stress response when we're feeling stuck or like cornered or when there are certain things. That we need. If you haven't had rest, if you haven't been able to get food that you need, if there are, you know, if you haven't been able to like be outside in the sun, there are like basic things that are really important for wellbeing that have been missing, then likely you're feeling that way. Or it feels like you have so much to do and it's just like impossible to do it all. Or impossible standards at work or like you are trying to speak up for not having your schedule totally, um, overbooked and yet it's just not respected. Those all maybe times when you are going into that, um, fight stress response. And so the, the tricky thing is that when we are quick to judge, right? So say that is, um, an employee, we often think, okay, well they need to be disciplined. But if that is someone who is overwhelmed already, their nervous system is already in the stress response, then that kind of judgment is actually going to add more stress to an already or wrong nervous system. And so it can actually make it even harder for them to change even if they really want to. And so if that is the case instead, compassion and curiosity are gonna be so huge, right? And so if you are in that state of just feeling like, oh, things are so irritating, or feeling like overwhelmed right now, pausing and having compassion for yourself and thinking, okay, why is it really understandable that I feel this way? So there's always a really good reason thinking, okay, what. Basic necessities have been missing. Am I not feeling respected somewhere? Is there somewhere where I need to be speaking up for my needs right now? Where could I use some support? Because in the fight stress response, again, what we think is gonna help is always the opposite of what's actually gonna help when we're in survival mode, if you wanna be thriving. And so in this case, when we're in fight, the automatic reaction is to kind of push people away, um, to blame others. But so often what we actually need is just to be witnessed for someone to acknowledge what we are going through or to have support. And so, and a, a personal example now, and as I'm talking about these. There may be two things. You may feel like all of these different stress responses are familiar, like maybe you experience them all throughout the day. That is normal. We go in and out of stress responses. But also what you can see is that you kind of get stuck in a stress response. And it can be that suddenly even things that are non-threatening become, uh, cause a stress response to kind of default. For example, if you're in flight and you are learning that your nervous system thinks that rest is unsafe, right? That's not actually unsafe, but that's how you're reacting. So again, with the fight stress response, so often we just need love. And so for me, if I notice that I'm in the fight stress response, normally, maybe I'm kind of getting irritated, irritated with my husband or something. I've learned though that what I really need is a hot. In that moment. And so that has been huge because when you have that awareness, now I can notice, ooh, I'm feeling like being kinda like snippy with my husband and, or I'm feeling like just everything he's doing is annoying me. And instead I can be like, you know what I'm noticing, I'm in the fight stress response, and I think I just need a hug. And so often when I recognize that and I have a hug, suddenly I feel better. So that's just an example of how awareness can help, but also recognizing when what we really need is the opposite of what it feels like we need in the moment. All right, so, oh, another thing is to keep in mind if you are feeling like you, like everything is just feeling negative, you're kind of in that irritable fight stress response, then um, your brain filter also may really have a negative lens. And so. Our brain has a filter. It's called the reticular activating system. It decides what to bring into our conscious awareness. And so if that's based on our beliefs, our, you know, our, uh, nervous system state, our expectations, thoughts. And so if you are having the thought of just like, ugh, everything is irritating. I hate this day, your brain is going to show proof of all of that. And so one helpful thing can be noticing, yes, there may be some things that are hard and it's really important to acknowledge that, but also can you look for the positive, unexpected moments in your day? Even if that is a short, like, oh, the sunrise was beautiful. Oh, I had one nice conversation with somebody. Oh, the schedule ended up not being as bad as I thought it was. Really looking for those so that you are at least experiencing your reality and a little bit more of. Accurate way rather than only seeing the negative things around you. All right, so we're onto number four. The final sign that's really misunderstood is the person who seems to not care, or maybe they feel they seem lazy. So some signs of that could be that they don't have energy, don't have motivation. They seem kind of spacey, maybe. Um, they have a hard time focusing, um, not really connected to their feelings. Um, that is a sign of being in freeze or shutdown. And that really is like if your nervous system has been operating in survival mode, you know, plan A is like fight or flight. But, uh, freeze and shutdown down is kind of like plan B. It's like you've, it's like basically things are so overwhelming or I try to escape the threat and fight or flight and I wasn't able to, so now I'm just going to kind of dissociate. Um, that's a much lower state. And so when you are seeing someone, or if you are feeling just like low mood, you're like, I just don't have energy or motivation for things that normally I do, then that's a sign that you are in the freeze or shutdown. And that's so important to recognize because the automatic default reaction we tend to have to, that is to think I just need to push through. Just like have more mobile power, have more discipline, right? In so many ways, that's what hustle and diet culture and vet head teaches us, right? Like just push through and, or we judge someone for, for not caring. But it's so important to recognize that that's actually a sign that something in their life is feeling really overwhelming physically, mentally, emotionally. And if we meet that with thinking, oh, they need to be disciplined, or we just need to push through, then that is adding more stress. And that judgment and that pressure can make it so that they're even more stuck in that freezer shutdown instead of being able to thaw out of that and to shift, um, back into a more regulated state. And so in those cases, it's really thinking about how can we take pressure off? How can we prioritize safety? So this, this sounds familiar for you. The number one thing is just thinking like, what can I give myself a permission slip to? Not have to do. Right. What on my plate can I take off? Because again, we're talking about sustainable success, right? And it can feel so hard in the moment. We can feel like I just need to keep pushing through. But this is one thing that I've realized. So burnout really is a freezer shutdown, right? It is this point where you just, you don't have energy or motivation. Maybe you aren't caring as much. And it's so important that we recognize that that's like, it's a very, um, it is expected, right? It makes sense when we see all these other three signs that we've discussed that can be signs that we're operating in survival mode. And so now there are times when I have a day and I'm like, wow, I just feel kind of low. I don't have motivation or energy to do things and I'm now able to meet that with compassion because if you can welcome that, if you can embrace, okay, I hear you. Nervous system and body. I'm recognizing that I've been going, uh, a long time. If you pause and think, why is it understandable that I feel this way? There's always going to be an understandable reason. You'll probably find that you've been pushing yourself a lot and if instead you can just say, okay, I am gonna see what can I take off my plate? How can I actually lean into this and honor this time that I need just to recharge? Then that always helps me like the next day, soon after I'm like ready to go, right? I am actually motivated and doing things from a space of like genuinely wanting to, rather than if we just resist that rest and keep thinking that you need to push through, then that's certainly not sustainable, right? It is just forcing things take so much longer. Um, rather than if you were just to like honor, okay, I need to pause for a little bit. I need to allow myself to recover, um, and meet, meet that with compassion, um, then, then we'll always help you to move forward in a way that is leading towards sustainable success is okay to have those periods. Nothing has gone wrong as long as we can meet that with compassion. So I'm just gonna take a drink. So, especially in a profession that struggles with burnout and suicide, um, I hope you can see just how important it is that we are not normalizing these, that we do start recognizing that when we are hustling to this extent of self-sacrificing or ignoring our bodies, that that's not sustainable. And also recognizing that how can we meet, how can we make sure we aren't labeling people as toxic? Or, making assumptions about them, but instead really start meeting it with compassion, curiosity, recognizing, oh, this is a human who is feeling overwhelmed. What kind of support do they need? That alone, that if we adopted this, then we could really prevent burnout. Because if we're recognizing a day when you, right, at the end of the day, you're just feeling really irritable or maybe you're feeling numb. Okay? That's really important information so that you can pause and look back at what happened in your day. What were the specific stressors that contributed, and what can you do differently the next day so that it's not the same thing, right? Because again, burnout doesn't happen after one hard day. It happens when we have been operating in survival mode for too long. So if you are listening to this and you really love it and you want to learn more, maybe you are realizing that you have been operating in survival mode for most of your life. I definitely was in flight and fawn for. Decades. That was, I just thought that was how it was. Um, it really is eye-opening when you are able to give your nervous system an update, start exploring where did this happen and, and start, um, embracing a new approach where you're really, where with your body, um, and nervous system instead of against it. So that is what we do in my coaching program, the Align Success Reboot, it is a six month coaching program experience and community that is for driven professionals and it's really for those who are wanting to thrive in your career without overwhelm or without hustle, to feel good in your body without restriction and to have time and energy for you without the guilt. And it's a space where we look at physical and mental wellbeing together and we look at things in and outside of work. Because the reality is that everything is connected. And so when we look at survival mode and stress responses, right? I like to think of stress in the body as like air in a balloon, right? Balloons are designed to have air, but the more air they have, the more um, the more tight they become, right? And eventually even a little bit more air, a little bit of pressure can cause them to pop. And the same thing is with our body, right? We have these stress balloons. We're designed to have stress, but we also need a pop off valve. And so when we look at things as a whole physical Mel, physical and mental wellbeing as one, we're able to look at what are all these physical and mental aspects and environmental aspects that are contributing to stress and what changes can we make so that your baseline stress level is in the nice parasympathetic regulated state, because that is a state where we really can thrive. That is where you can have joy and we can problem solve and you can heal and grow and and thrive. Is this also a space where you get a break from being the one that everybody relies on? Right. Like so often, especially with high achievers, it's like everybody's expecting so much of, of us, and we have all these roles that we have to, um, be living up to, but this is a space where you just get to practice being you. To even explore who is that? Who is that authentic you underneath those survival patterns. And it's a space where sticking up for your needs, practicing having boundaries, um, is celebrated, right? And that is so needed in this world. And because you are learning how to work with your body instead of against it, this is where healthy habits actually stick, right? We are unlearning the hustle and diet culture approach of just pushing through or needing to rely on discipline and willpower. And instead we are really exploring, okay, what healthy habits feel good? Which ones actually add richness to your life? Which ones work with your taste buds and your lifestyle and your preferences? When healthy habits don't stick, we get curious, why is that understandable? And what needs to be adjusted so that it's actually something that is adding richness to your life. Um, again, you're learning to work with your beautifully unique body and mine. This is not a one size fits all thing. This journey is completely customized to you because the only way of finding what sustainable health and success looks like is to learning how to tune into your needs, your values, and letting that guide you as a compass in life. And this is also a space where we're all choosing to lead with compassion, curiosity, and connection. And I believe so deeply that our world really needs that right now. Um. It's rare to have a space where it's okay to have different perspectives, right? Authenticity is celebrated. Like you can come just as you are and know that you're going to be met with compassion, and that is what you can find here. And all of that really helps with becoming a more effective leader and communicator because if you are responsible for others, right at first needs to start with yourself. And so when you do this kind of work and you're recognizing when you are in survival mode and exploring the root issues, then it makes it so that you are able to recognize these early warning signs, really understanding how to support a sustainable team and a sustainable practice. And so the things that are included, you have a lot of different resources and support. There are weekly group coaching calls that are also recorded, so if you can't make it live it's something that you can listen to while you're driving to work, for example. There are monthly deep healing and unblocking calls, and so that is more an opportunity where I guide you through different somatic work and reflections and some trance work so that we are also creating change at the unconscious level and retraining the nervous system. We have a community forum, so that is where you can. Come anytime you can post to, you can share successes, but you can also ask questions, receive coaching anytime. And you have access to my whole private website that has so many self-paced courses for you. Um, including ones that are race approved. You can, it's, um, race and BHMA approved for at least eight hours of ce and I'm adding more all the time. Um, and also there are resources just to make your life easier. So like, for example, healthy recipes, shopping lists, meditations, that kind of thing of a private podcast. So based on the community is talking about, or if there are questions, I share details there. And more, I'm always adding more webinars. And so because there are so many resources, there's also private onboarding. And so, um, when you join, I send kind of comprehensive questionnaire. That way I can really understand your challenges, your goals, and we can come up with a plan, um, for exactly where you should start for that month, um, to make sure that you're really working with your energy and capacity. And so if that sounds like something you wanna learn more about, the next step would be you can comment, curious, and I can send you a link to the page that has even more details when you get to that page. If you click on, sign up to learn more, then I will send you an email. It'll have a few quick questions, and that's how we can start a conversation to explore if it's the right fit for you. Um, there's no obligation for you to do that, just so that we can make sure this is the best first step. So I hope that you found this helpful today. If you're listening to the recording, then please feel free to leave a comment with any questions. My plan is to start doing a weekly Instagram live, and so if there are other topics that you'd like to see, then let me know. I'd love to hear. I'm looking forward to the next one. All right, bye.

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If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with someone who you think could benefit. And if you're enjoying this podcast, it would mean so much to me If you would take the time to leave a review so that others can find me. And as I thank you if you leave a review, send me an email, letting me know, and I'll send you a free guided meditation for mental rehearsal. So that is exactly what elite athletes, executives, incredible surgeons all use at the scientifically proven way to improve performance. And the reason this works so well is because when you are mentally rehearsing, the same area of your brain is lighting up as if you were actually doing it. And so it's a safe and effective way to be preparing and practicing and improving your skills for when you're actually living it in the moment. So send me an email at amelia@lifeboost.Today if you leave a review and i can't wait to share that with you cheers your inevitable health happiness and success