67 Days to Rewire Your Brain and Wipe Out Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

Have you ever noticed that every December you promise yourself "next year will be different," yet by February you are right back in the same cycle of exhaustion, over-giving, and people-pleasing?

If you can’t seem to break the patterns that no longer fit who you are, it isn't a personality flaw—it is a neural groove. For women over 50 and healers, the belief systems that keep you running on empty are deeply entrenched survival modes built over decades of compassion fatigue and responsibility. Your nervous system has automated self neglect. Research shows that it takes 67 days—not 21—to rewire these pathways. If you start now, you can close the loop on burnout before the new year even begins.

In this strategic episode, Dr. Juls breaks down Dr. Shannon Irvine’s 67-day neural rewiring research and why December is the optimal time for transformation. You will learn to interrupt the automatic behaviors that keep you overwhelmed and build new pathways rooted in clarity and sustainable energy. Discover:

• The Neuroscience of Change: Why your end-of-year fatigue isn't emotional failure—it’s your nervous system hitting capacity (and how to fix it).
• Why 67 Days? Why the "21-day habit" myth sets you up to fail, and the true timeline for shifting the deep-seated beliefs of midlife women.
• The Soul Joy 67-Day Reset: A research-backed, 5-step process to identify your core burnout belief, interrupt it somatically, and finally claim your inner peace and authenticity.

Don't wait for January 1st to save yourself. Press play to start rewiring your brain today and reclaim your mindset.

This podcast supports women healers over 50 navigating burnout, compassion fatigue, and midlife transitions with strategies for nervous system regulation, trauma-informed boundaries, and chakra alignment to heal resentment and self-neglect while cultivating soul joy, radiance, and a purposeful next chapter of freedom and inner peace.

Burnout isn’t your failure—it’s the cost of caring too long without support.
In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue is written for women healers ready to stop surviving and start living again.

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Special guest episodes drop the 4th Thursday of every month at 7am.

Transcript

0:01

Have you ever noticed how every December you promise yourself things will be different next year, but by February you're right back in the same patterns, the same exhaustion, the same over giving, the same people pleasing, huh? The same resentment humming under your skin. Today I'm going to teach you. Why that happens and how your brain can absolutely be rewired by spring, not metaphorically, neurologically, we are talking about the 67 day brain re rewiring window. Empowering brilliant women in healthcare over 50 to transform burnout and compassion fatigue into renewed passion. Reigniting your spark to create a life that energizes you every single day. I'm your host, Dr. Jules. Let's get to it. Identified by Dr. Shannon Irvine and her research team and how women healers over 50 can use the next few weeks to close out old neuropathways that were built in survival mode and build new ones, rooted in groundedness, clarity and radiance. You are gonna walk away today with the science, the strategy, and the soul joy for turning this year in season into your most powerful reset yet, so why your end of year energy feels like a crisis according to neuroscience. Let's dig into that y'all. When we hit December, our bodies. Don't just feel tired. Our neural pathways are overstimulated and over rehearsed. Helpers have spent decades running the same patterns. I should say. Yes. I can push through. My needs come last. I'll rest later. They need me more than I need myself. These are not just thoughts y'all, they're. Well worn neural highways created over years of compassion fatigue over responsibility, and the invisible curriculum of being a woman healer in America, Dr. Shannon Irvine shows that a neural pathway becomes automated the same way a habit does. And the more stress, pressure and repetition, the deeper the path becomes. This, my friend, is why you feel stuck, not broken, not weak, not behind, stuck. Your nervous system is simply running code that was written when you were surviving, not thriving. So let's dig into the 67 day rule. It really caught my attention. How long it actually takes to rewire the burnout brain. Most wellness advice tells you it takes 21 days to change a habit. I think we've been taught that a long time, but that research was misunderstood. Dr. Shannon Irvine's work shows the actual number is 67 days. 67 days to weaken an old neural pathway and strengthen a new one to the point that it becomes the default. That means this belief pathways can be closed, burnout pathways can be shut down. Survival responses can be replaced with grounded, regulated, empowered ones. I think this is exciting. And here's the part most people don't know. The most powerful time to begin rewiring is exactly when your system feels the most exhausted, because your brain is more open to restructuring when old patterns are breaking down. December is not the end of the year. It is the neuroplastic sweet spot. So what this means for us women healers over 50, your brain and midlife becomes more efficient at pattern recognition. And unfortunately, it also becomes more efficient at reinforcing old pathways unless, unless my friend, you interrupt them. This is why burnout feels heavier at 50 than it did at 40. Your neuropathways have decades of reinforcement behind them. But here's the good news. Neuroplasticity does not decline with age. Huh? It evolves. It actually becomes more responsive once you understand how to access it. This is why my entire Soul Joy methodology blends polyvagal informed grounding, chakra based energy clearing, somatic practices, cognitive rewiring, belief deconstruction, and nervous system recalibration, y'all. This is how we close outdated burnout pathways and build new radiant ones. So the 67 day end of year reset our soul joy method way. This is how to begin your reset today. First, I want you to identify the core burnout, belief driving your exhaustion. And for most women, healers, it's one of these, I can't let people down. If I slow down, everything's gonna fall apart. My worth is my productivity. I don't have time to take care of myself. Pick one of those that punches you in the gut. Two, bring that belief into your body. We're walking around these highly educated heads. We need to pay attention to our body. Do those body scans get embodied? But you bring that belief into your body, not your mind. You sit. You exhale, you let your shoulders drop, you let your belly soften, and you wonder, where do I feel that belief living? Is it in my chest, my throat, my jaw, my stomach locating this? Oh, this is exciting. Locating. This begins the unwiring. How cool is that? Next, you need to interrupt the pathway daily for 67 days. This is what Dr. Irvine's work shows. Neural pathways weaken when you interrupt them consistently, y'all, it's not perfect. It's consistent. Your interruption might be a grounding breath, a pause instead of a yes. A 62nd hand on your heart reset. A reframed, regulated thought. Every interruption closes the old pathway, another inch. Then number four, you install a new belief that your nervous system can actually receive. Now this isn't. A pretty affirmation. This is a truth your body can tolerate. I know when I'm working with my clients, I will be working on thoughts, and I ask'em, does that feel real? Can you believe that? Because that's very important as we're rewiring neural pathways. So some examples for us, over 50 gals who are healers might be, I matter too. My needs are not negotiable. Rest makes me more effective. I can choose differently today. And y'all, you pair this with a somatic cue. This is what seals the pathway. So somatic cue, that's something within your body maybe. Maybe it's a tapping, maybe it's a deep breath. There's a cue that you are going to pair that with. And number five, you track that 67 days cycle. February 6th is gonna be here really fast. 67 days is gonna go really fast and if you start now, your brain will not be the same in 67 days. Alright, here's the closing mic drop. Sweet soul. You are not ending a year. You are ending a neural era. Old pathways were built in survival. They started y'all when we were little. I mean, stuff we've built. Neural pathways are no longer true for ourself. They were built in survival, new pathways. Will be built in radiance and the greatest act of service you will ever give the world is staying connected to yourself in this radiant manner. I'm Dr. Jules and y'all. I am here to redefine what it means to heal. If this episode hit home, don't just nod and move on. Give yourself what you actually need. Tap the show notes right now to grab your free Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide, or. The burnout to Radiance Reset. And girl, if you know another woman healer who's running on empty, please share this episode.