93. When the Year Breaks You: Healing from Burnout, Holding onto Your Faith, and Finding Peace Again

This episode we'll have a candid conversation about stillness, learning to pause before you pour, and why presence is so valuable.

If you’ve been the fixer, the driver, or the visionary who’s quietly tired, this is your permission slip to rest without shame, rebuild your confidence, and reconnect to your purpose.

You’ll unpack the three layers of peace:
 1️⃣ Cutting chaos with boundaries.
 2️⃣ Honoring your calling with obedience.
 3️⃣ Evolving into a seasoned calm built on faith, clarity, and consistent action.

Healing from burnout| Faith and purpose | Personal growth | Mindset and alignment

I’ll walk you through how to find the courage, similar to episode 74 where we feel the fear and do it anyway, silence self-doubt, and rebuild a growth mindset rooted in self-worth and spiritual alignment.

Because overcoming fear, building confidence, and unlocking your potential are all part of your transformation — and peace is the proof that it’s working.

I’ll share what the pandemic taught me about healing, purpose, burnout recovery, and balance — how to go back to the root so you can move forward with intention. Less noise. More truth. More community.

Ready to feel the fear and do it anyway, overcome self-doubt, build confidence, and step out of your comfort zone to live a life that actually feels like yours?

 Tap play and join the conversation about courage, transformation, motivation, and living in alignment with who you were created to be.

In This Episode

• Reframing stillness as synchronization
• The “pause before you pour” maintenance metaphor
• Mirror work for the fixer who needs fixing
• Duality of career + entrepreneurship without guilt
• Redefining peace beyond metrics and applause
• Vision casting with five-year questions
• Presence at home over performance online
• Letting go to reach the next level with faith
• Community, accountability, and proximity to peace

Chapters

• 0:52 Return From Pause And Gratitude
• 2:20 Stillness, Maintenance, And Reset
• 4:56 The Mirror Flips Back To Me
• 6:23 Human AF Movement And Vision
• 7:43 Duality: Career And Entrepreneurship
• 10:10 Redefining Peace Beyond Metrics
• 12:13 Presence Over Performance
• 15:19 Progress, Self-Trust, And Letting Go
• 18:35 Rest, Repositioning, And Faith
• 20:22 Post-Pandemic Reality And Going Back To Roots
• 21:06 Invitation To Community And Accountability
• 22:37 Share The Message And Final Reminders

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:52

You don't want to make crowd on these transparent stories and discussions that reveal it on a moment and nuggets that'll help you to grow and glow.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Hey, hey, hey, you are now tuned in to the It's the Human Experience podcast. I'm your host, Hazel Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in to the podcast. If it's your first time tuning in, welcome to the It's to Human Experience podcast. And if you're a return listener, listen, if the podcast had a voicemail, I already know some of y'all would have left me messages like, uh, Hazel, are you okay? You breathing? You good? You coming back? What's going on here? I just had to be patient in the position that I was in. Sometimes you have to pause before you pour. And that's what I did. I got quiet. I got grounded. And I remembered what this whole thing really is about. The world's just been so loud. Like loud, loud. Like loud, loud. Inflation, expectations, everyone shouting, book me, follow me, believe in me. Listen, I was just somewhere in the middle of all that noise. And then realizing with all that noise that the woman who helps everyone else sometimes has to breathe and catch her own breath, right? And that's exactly where I have been. But here I am, I'm breathing, healing, laughing at myself a little bit because it's like, girl, what are you doing? You have whole episodes already recorded. Why are you not sharing the information? And I think the reality is, I've said it before, sometimes it doesn't matter if the clip is ready. Sometimes you still need to pause. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for going through the motions and not giving up and folding on you. Thank you, God, for keeping me even when I've been tired of keeping it together. Because the strong one gets tired. The visionary gets weary. The builder sometimes wants to burn the blueprint and start over. Because listen, I know that has been me. Like, throw away social media, the whole thing, throw it away, forget the events, forget the podcast. I just want a nine to five, and that's it. Like all of this visionary work, y'all could have it. And the reality is, like, that's cool. But what's life if you're not fulfilling your purpose, right? I'm not your typical entrepreneur that is like, nah, forget the nine to five. I'm very big on helping to improve the care and healthcare. And so that's why that becomes very important. But I also love the human experience, right? Outside of the healthcare experience, as humans, we need connection, we need realness, we need vulnerability, we need growth, we need people showing the duality of life. And that is what I set out to do. And so I've learned in this season stillness does not mean you've stopped. It just means that you're synchronizing what's next, right? You're pacing yourself, you're recognizing that it's not always go, go, go. You know, I said before, maybe in previous episodes, or just in conversations with people, just because you can doesn't mean you should. And so that's what I've had to recognize a lot in this season. Though I'm not traveling as a passenger in my life, right? I'm in the driver's seat, I'm letting God lead the way and I'm doing the work, taking the action. Sometimes you could park the car, right? Sometimes a car needs to be cleaned. Sometimes you got to take it for a car wash, sometimes you got to take it for service. Sometimes you just need to let that baby cool down. And so that's what I had to do, right? I had to get some maintenance. I had to cool down. But anywho, take that to say take a break, cool down if you need to. It doesn't have to be go, go, go. And that is demonstrated in this pause, real time, right? So let's talk about it. My whole life, I've been the one who fixes, helps, elevates, inspires, the one who builds the systems, safe spaces for others to exhale. But this year, it really flipped the mirror on me. It really had me realizing that while I'm doing the thing for everyone else, I really have to take more time in making sure I'm doing the thing for me. Because what happens when the fixer needs people around her to be able to do the thing? And I think that for me, I've recognized that I do a lot of things that help to pour into others, and I don't ask for people to pour into me. And so I just really started recognizing in my truth that a lot of the growth that is taking place has been beautiful to witness while at the same time, like something should be left for me. And so that mirror really flipped because I always like to reflect. After I do anything, I'm gonna reflect. And so after the event, I really reflected on what is next, what am I doing? What is this impact doing for me? Not just what is it doing for others. And so clearly I got a lot of testimonials. People told me they love what I'm doing, they see the vision, it gets better every time. Y'all gotta follow me on Instagram at it's humanaf so y'all can see the last event if you weren't there in person. Definitely follow me on Instagram at it'shumanAF, because it's a whole movement, right? It's a whole movement. Like the magazine is launching, we're doing a docuseries. Clearly, I have to podcast with it's the human experience, and so it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing to really take over, create disruption, and make sure more people realize that they could do the thing, they could be the thing, but they can pause too, right? Because it's a part of the human experience. But make sure you go follow me on Instagram at it's humanaf. Something else that I wanted to shift to is really the fact that in my journey, I've heard so many times, like Hazel. You know, I talked about the events, I talked about the podcast, I talked about the magazine and the docuseries. And so people will say, like, Hazel, you don't need a nine to five. You're so sharp. And they're right, I'm sharp, I'm sharp as hell. Yep, sharp, but sharp still likes stability. I like making impact without having to chase it. I like when my people find me instead of me chasing algorithms. There's nothing wrong with wanting peace and a paycheck with purpose and predictability. And I've recognized that people just don't understand like that. There's duality. Like it is okay for you to want to be an entrepreneur full time, it is okay for you to want to be a career professionalist, a corporate girly guy, whatever the case may be. And it's okay for you to want to do both, right? And I'm definitely that person. Like it's very fulfilling to me to work in healthcare management and have a career. And it's also very fulfilling to me to see people and lead people into finding fulfillment and what purpose looks like for them, what true happiness looks like for them, what living now truly means for them. Like that brings me great joy and fulfillment as well. But it also takes a lot for me to truly be fulfilled. And so that is the reason why I do both. So I love it when you guys tell me how sharp I am. But trust me, I know. I know, and I need you to know. Like, I need you to know how sharp you are. And within being sharp, you get to choose your lane and how you want to have it happen for you. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, it doesn't have to be one or the other. You can do whatever your heart desires as long as you put in the work and you don't give up on the vision. But I'm gonna rewind because I need you to remember that there's nothing wrong with wanting peace and a paycheck, purpose, and predictability. Because honestly, what I've learned is my peace is not something I'm going to chase. My peace is in the clarity of my own lane. I'll build a business, I'll post the content, show up for my calling. But that hustle hunt energy, that's not my ministry. It's not. So I stopped trying to be where everyone else is going. To be honest, I've never been where everybody else is going. It's just not me. I've always been the line leader. You can follow me if you would like to. Not telling you to because I'm okay with being on my island by myself, but I stand where God plants me. And you know what is peaceful here is stable here. It's a little unstable right now because I'm still, you know, trying to find the right career for myself because I like meaningful work. I'm also not the kind of person that's just gonna do anything for a paycheck. It has to make sense, it has to be providing impact, making a difference, and really helping to make sure that I leave the place better than I found it. One morning I was thinking to myself, like, wow, like the feeling of peace that you've gotten from trusting God, from being rooted in faith, from relying on my first step, my instincts, my gut, the Holy Spirit to guide me, and then seeing what happens as a result of being obedient. Not the money, not the metrics, not the likes, not the follows, but the peace. I feel like we're taught to chase degrees, titles, checks, but no one teaches us to chase peace, fulfillment, and alignment. And when life starts life in, you gotta ask yourself the real questions. What do I really want? Why does this really matter? Something that I like to ask myself here lately is if I only had five years to live, what would that look like? That question changes everything. Even at my events, I tell people to do vision casting and look at themselves in five or ten years. What do they want? What do they see themselves having? And then when you come out of that, know that all it takes is action to make those things come true. If you have a thriving business, that means you've been doing all the things to make that business successful. So what are you not doing now that will equal that in five or ten years? But I think more importantly, while that's so important and that's key, we also need to ask ourselves that if we only have five or ten years to live, what will we do? Like, would we do any of those things? And if the answer is no, then try to let them things go. Like, you want to at the end of your day love the life you've created, you want to enjoy it every day. That question just truly changes everything. It makes you realize that measuring success by what you could produce instead of how you could preserve your peace and love your life, because peace does not come from, yeah. I guess I really should go deeper, right? Because peace does not come from just like no one getting on your nerves, you not being annoyed. Peace comes from fulfilling your purpose, peace comes from feeling like you're doing what God put you here to do. Peace comes from feeling like you're being obedient and he chose you for it and he's pleased. I probably should have defined that a long time ago, because that's the piece that is proof. Not the peace because I'm cutting out the drama, the piece that I don't let people like just create chaos in my life. That kind of piece is important now. I'm I'm hope that you've done that a long time ago because you're gonna have to learn how to create boundaries with that kind of peace before you can even have the attention span to acknowledge what God has you doing and honor his work to get this kind of peace. Two different kinds of peace, both important. One I would say is a first step, then the other is a second step. And it's funny how there's layers to everything and there's different meanings for every word. And so as I was saying it, I was like, wait, hold on. There's two different kinds of peace, and there probably is a third kind of peace, right? As you evolve on your journey, you're like, wait, this is a different level of peace. And if you're listening and you found that level of peace, share it with me. Listen, DM me, let me know. I'll share it with the people. I'm here for it. If you're listening on Apple, you could leave it in the comments. So I know I just asked you to comment what being present, having peace, and all the things feel like. But I just want you to know like we're not built for presence that you post. It's really presence that you feel, presence that looks like enjoying your living room, enjoying your kitchen, enjoying your backyard, your porch, or your bedroom. Listen, I'm here for uh enjoying my bedroom. That is my favorite place in the home. Listen, but laying with your kids, like going into their rooms, checking on them, being present with them, right? Being a good steward of the things you already have, your partner, your pet, yourself. Listen, I had to sit in yourself because I feel like we ignore ourselves as beings, and we just perform and we just do. And maybe I'm talking to me because I've really been enjoying the moments that I just take a step back and recognize you are not a human doer, you are a human being, you are enough, like listening, singing, dancing to the oldies but the goodies, right? Like really not rushing the experience of your human experience. We're built to be here to live on purpose, and it just doesn't require an applause. It just doesn't require an applause. Social media has got us thinking it has to be a follow, it has to be a like, it has to be a repost, it has to be a reshare. Listen, go ahead and do all that with It's the Human Experience Podcast on it's human AF on Instagram. Listen, do it. Listen, oh my god, pot calling the kettle black. No, but anyways, I digress. I couldn't help myself, I just had to. No, but for real, for real, I feel like our growth is really measured by our progress. And for so long, we're taught to do, to be, to get the ache, to get the award, to make our parents proud, to you know, do the thing. How much I learn about history, how much I learn about the world, how much I learn about myself. That is not progress. Listen, I'm gonna take a step deeper. How much resilience I have to endure and ensure I'm not the reason I'm I'm not where I should be. How many times have I told myself that? Like, how many times do you tell yourself that? Like, it is so important to make sure you're not in your way. But I need you to recognize that who gauges how far you should be and where you should be other than you. You are the only person that gauged that, not society. Because why are we trying to keep up with societal expectations, societal trends, societal how-tos? It's a mindset shift I had to shift from. I don't want to be the strong one, I just want to do my best, and I share that because peace doesn't require the same kind of grind, like there's a sense of peace that is provided from not grinding, but knowing you are enough as long as you are doing your best, right? And I feel like there's a difference between that level of peace that comes from fulfilling your purpose. We talked about it already, and actually just kind of getting checkboxes, like they're two different things. It takes courage to not perform, it takes courage to not need to be booked and busy, it takes courage to not show you're doing all the things because who the hell are you on stage for? Who's really watching? If everyone is really trying to live their life, who the hell is watching you? And who are you distracting to do it? To give yourself that pat on the back, to make yourself feel like you're doing the thing. This is a part of growth that we don't talk about enough. The part that doesn't sparkle, it doesn't trend, it doesn't deserve a highlight reel, or maybe it does. But I want you to pause and really ask yourself, am I holding on to who I used to be? Or is life actually as hard as I keep saying it is? Is it life or is it you? Ask yourself that. Is it life or is it me? Resisting the next level that God's been trying to show me. Because if I can be real with you, in order for you to get to that next level, you gotta let go. Because the next level needs a different you. It has different actions, different tasks, different things it has to do. Its mindset is different. It can't only be worried about societal goals when it's worried about really fulfilling its purpose. Let's be real, it's bigger than you. If we follow the natural progression of life, you already know like seasons shift, tides change, flowers bloom again, which means that at some point they dry, these trees are dry, all the things. Like, listen, you don't have to be on top at every season. You get to go vertical sometimes and just trust the process. I feel like we live in a world that's just so obsessed with climbing. I live in that world, I'm obsessed with climbing until my knees start hurting, right? Until my knees start hurting. But guys, we sleep for a reason. The sun even needs to set. So I have to ask you, where exactly are you climbing to? I'm asking for you. Because you want to know too. Where are you climbing to? If your last climb didn't lead to where you thought it would, right? Why are you so afraid of repositioning? Why is rest such a bad thing, right? Why is the R word such a big problem? Like, why? I'm asking for a friend, actually, I'm asking for you because going vertical means returning back to faith, back to your purpose, back to the version of you who didn't need to be seen to feel significant. And here's the truth: this is where you learn that mindfulness was never a buzzword, is not hype, it's substance, right? It's substance, it's showing you that your mind is full of a lot ofness and mindfulness. I'm so cute, but no, like no performativeness, programmedness, perfectioness, people pleasingness. Listen, I like to say awesomeness, right? We're gonna do the awesomeness, but all of thatness leads you to somewhere where you don't even recognize that you arrive, but you don't even feel home where you've arrived. Listen, listen, COVID might have ended on paper, but its fingerprints are still all over our lives in our hustle, in our health, in our hope. Because ever since COVID, it's been like inflation that keeps going up. We're not even gonna talk about the president, like we're not going to talk about the president, but what I am going to talk about is your growth, your success, you're enjoying life while you're here. And that's why we gotta go forward. We gotta go back to go forward, back to the root, back to the truth, back to what actually matters when the noise stops. And if you're listening right now and you found yourself nodding, I need you to do one thing. It's this one thing that got me tripping. I love singing to y'all, and I feel like I haven't been doing a lot of this, but the one thing that I need you to do is follow me on Instagram at it'shumanaf. Yes, I know I'm literally creating noise. I just told you to tune out, but it's intentional noise because human AF isn't for the masses, it's for the mature, it's for the ones who've done the work falling apart, but still show up. Like we still show up. The ones that know that healing and ambition, it can coexist in the same heartbeat. It's for the people who understand the community isn't cute, it's critical. It is so necessary, and just reality is that proximity, proximity to peace is priceless. That iron sharpens iron environment, even when we're tired, is priceless. I love building a community with sharp people who are authentically open about where they are, what they're growing through. Yes, they're growing through it, and they don't give up no matter what, right? But we also don't keep going when we know we need to pause. So I need you to DM me seriously, because I have a membership that's not all about the hype, it's about healing because we have to grow together, and it's time to be consistent to grow to heal with people who get it, and you know, essentially lovingly hold you accountable while you do the thing. If this episode touched you, I need you to share it. Don't just keep it in your downloads, send it to your friend who's been quiet lately. Listen, I needed this episode because I've been quiet lately. The one who's strong but tired, the one who keeps saying, I'm fine, but you know they're not fine. You know they're not fine because that's how movement grows. Not by like promotion, but by people reminding people that being human isn't a flaw. It's our freedom. DM me to tell me what you think about the podcast, share it with your people, and just know you're built for more, more alignment, more peace, more presence. You don't need a title, you need your drive. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00: 23:26

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