Master Stress with Dr. S
Welcome to Master Stress with Dr. S, the podcast that empowers high-achievers to unlock their full potential by mastering stress and achieving burnout-proof success. Hosted by Dr. Safia Debar, a renowned stress expert, medical doctor, speaker and coach. Each episode dives deep into the neuroscience of stress, blending logic and intuition to give you practical tools for thriving in a fast-paced world. Whether you’re navigating the pressures of leadership, striving for peak performance, or yearning for a life of balance and freedom, Dr. Safia Debar will guide you through powerful strategies, expert insights, and personal stories to help you regain control, nurture your well-being, and live authentically. Tune in to discover how to stop stress from holding you back and start living your best, empowered life.
Master Stress with Dr. S
How to Love Without Losing Yourself
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Dr. S continues the addiction series by focusing on loved ones and the central question of how to love someone with addiction without losing yourself, staying compassionate without becoming responsible, and stepping out of the rescuer role. The episode describes a turning point where the rescuer recognizes the cost of living in someone else’s “storm,” shifts from action to awareness, and adopts principles such as not causing the addiction, not being able to control it, and giving your life its own center of gravity while distinguishing support from rescue. Dr. S outlines phases including hypervigilance/checking, researching solutions, chronic stress physiology, confused emotions and trust erosion, and quiet clarity. Healing involves telling the truth, observing, seeking safe support, rebuilding identity and relationships, using therapy and somatic practices, addressing physiology with health screening and gradual lifestyle shifts, and viewing the addict–rescuer dynamic as an interactive “dance” explored with curiosity rather than blame.
00:00 Series Setup and Core Question
02:06 The Turning Point Moment
03:34 Shift the Spotlight to You
04:45 Principles Before Action
07:12 Step Back and Observe
08:29 Beyond One Relationship Pattern
11:49 Phases of the Rescuer Cycle
17:40 Clarity and Support Systems
21:35 Healing Body and Identity
25:08 Wrap Up and The Dance Dynamic
28:03 Journaling Prompts and Next Episode
If you recognise yourself in some of these patterns, I’d like to offer a few more journaling prompts to reflect on and I’ll add them to the show notes but I’ll also read them out here.
You don’t have to answer them immediately.
Just notice what arises.
Ask yourself:
- Where in my life do I feel responsible for another person’s emotional stability?
- When something goes wrong in their life, do I immediately feel the need to fix it?
- How much of my time and energy is spent anticipating someone else’s reactions?
- And perhaps the most important question:
- If I stepped out of the role of rescuer — who would I be?
- What parts of my life might return?
- What parts of myself might reappear?
Connect with Dr Safia Debar
Dr Safia Debar
Speaker / Coach | Medical Doctor | Breathwork Facilitator
One of Tatler's "Top 21 private doctors in Britain" 2020
www.drsafiadebar.com
contact@drsafiadebar.com
IG: @drsafiadebar
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Find our free resources here: www.drsafiadebar.com/resource