"What if Burnout Isn't Your Fault?" Artwork

Live Well. Be Wise

Deepening the well-being conversation---the podcast that finds the Gold in your stories of hardship and the connection to Wise action and lived Wellness! Hosted by Kari Lyons-Price & Dorrinda Carlson.

Our Mission:
Sharing stories that reconnect the divide within us and between us through the shared human experience. Sparking connection, inspiration and possibility that helps our community be a place where we can connect, learn and grow—together!

Here's how it all began...

"Hey Dorrinda, let's do lunch."

"Ok, any special occasion?"

"Nope, just wanna connect and feast in your presence." (oh and I also have an idea for a podcast?!)

The brainstorm began and even though we both work in the mental health & wellness field, we quickly ruled out a Wellness podcast because of how overdone they already are. We felt they primarily skim the surface with a repeat loop of ''expert" advice, gimmicks and trends. We wanted to go deeper--much deeper.

What's the real story I wondered, "how do some people manage to be well amidst all kinds of hardship and others with every resource known to humankind, can't even catch the tail of what it means to be well."

What is that thing within us that motivates us to be well--to find our wellness? We're not talking about a health goal or a number, a state that is achieved. We're talking about wellness as a state of mind; contentedness, balance, or an optimal state of being.

And then the VISION fully landed...

At Live Well. Be Wise, we are on a mission to engage with people beneath the "doing" and the products, to find out how wellness is a living, breathing, personal thing that gets shaped through life itself!

Told directly to you by the individuals who have lived it. No experts, no products, and no judgment. Raw, powerful, real life stories told by everyday people about how they met the challenges and hardships of life and came out the other side.

At Live Well. Be Wise we answer the questions:

how do we learn and grow through the storms of life?
what is the wisdom process? how do we cultivate it on purpose?
And...how does our wisdom process inform our wellness?

Live Well. Be Wise is based in North Central Washington State and is explicitly a community-based podcast. This is a place to hear the stories of your neighbors. To celebrate diversity in all ways and to bridge the divide between us; culturally, economically, politically and personally.

Through the shared human experience called, "story" we hope to connect each of us to one another. To recognize parts of ourselves in our neighbors story. And to allow this shared humanity to be an anchor for building connection, community and goodness, one day at a time.

Reach out, share your story, be inspired to cultivate your own wisdom path through hard things. We are 100% in this together!

Kari & Dorrinda

All Episodes

Live Well. Be Wise

"What if Burnout Isn't Your Fault?"

February 26, 2026 • Kari Lyons Price • Season 2 • Episode 2

0:00 | 48:25

We sat down today with Jamie Johnson, a new friend and neighbor in the Upper Valley. She shared with us about how she came to leave the vocation that she loved, teaching. Suffering from overwhelm and demoralization, Jamie says she was no longer willing to be the face of success in an education system that was failing to give it’s students what they needed.

We talk about how systems set us up to fail. How burnout isn’t as much of a personal cause as a systemic one. What is the cost of staying in a system and culture that doesn’t align with your values or allow for you to care for your most basic needs like taking a bathroom break? Hence the title of her book, “Teach and Still have Time to Pee.”

We unpack the deeper threads of overwhelm, motivation and getting comfortable with allowing struggle, for ourselves and those we love and support.

Her business, is called, Kickass Teacher and she has been involved with education in various ways for over 25 years.

Bio in English:

Jamie Johnson is an overwhelm support coach and former bilingual elementary school teacher who spent years working in one of the highest-pressure school districts in the country. After experiencing demoralization inside a system that conflicted with her values, she joined the Peace Corps and discovered that educator overwhelm is a systemic issue, not a personal failure. Jamie has since founded Kickass Teacher, written Teach and Still Have Time to Pee, and directed museum education programs. Today, she helps high-capacity professionals untangle burnout, reclaim agency, and align work with integrity. She believes overwhelm is a signal of misalignment—and that when we get curious instead of critical, we can focus on what truly matters, creating a life rooted in freedom and balance.

In Spanish:

Jamie Johnson es coach en manejo del agotamiento y fue maestra bilingüe de primaria durante varios años en uno de los distritos escolares de mayor presión en Estados Unidos. Tras enfrentar la desmoralización dentro de un sistema que no estaba alineado con sus valores, se unió al Peace Corps, donde descubrió que el desgaste profesional en la educación es un problema sistémico, no un fracaso personal. A lo largo de los años, fundó Kickass Teacher, escribió Teach and Still Have Time to Pee y dirigió programas educativos en un museo. Hoy acompaña a profesionales comprometidos y de alto desempeño a desenredar el burnout, recuperar su agencia y alinear su trabajo con su integridad. Cree que el agotamiento es una señal de desalineación y que, cuando elegimos la curiosidad en lugar de la autocrítica, podemos enfocarnos en lo que realmente importa y construir una vida con mayor libertad y equilibrio.

Resources:

1. Jamie's Coaching Website: Coaching to overcome Overwork & Overwhelm

2. Kickass Teacher- her business

3. Teach and Still Have Time to Pee her book!

4. NCW Healing Arts -the new Collective where we met Jamie!

Books she recommends: A) "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less"

B) "Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How they Can Stay"