The Disconnection Epidemic: Why Women Healers 50+ Burn Out & How to Reconnect to Your Body, Relationships, and Purpose

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “When did I stop feeling like me?” this episode explains exactly why. 

Burnout and compassion fatigue in women healers over 50 aren’t caused by doing too much. They’re caused by disconnection—from your body, your relationships, and your purpose. This is the piece no one talks about, and it’s the piece that’s been keeping you exhausted, overwhelmed, and running on survival mode for years.

You’ll hear the research behind this:

• Polyvagal Theory and why ignoring internal cues pushes you into chronic nervous system dysregulation
• Emotional labor science showing women healers carry double the invisible load
• Identity burnout research explaining why midlife brings a values-purpose mismatch you can’t outwork or out-organize

You’ll finally understand why rest hasn’t been enough—and why your spark feels harder to access the older you get.

This episode shows you how to break that cycle through reconnection, not more effort.

• You’ll get a simple, 60-second chakra-centered grounding practice—Root, Heart, Solar Plexus—that helps regulate your nervous system, restore reciprocity, and reconnect you to the version of yourself you miss.
• This is a powerful reset for women over 50 who feel overwhelmed, exhausted, resentful, or invisible.

Take the What’s Your Burnout & Compassion Fatigue Archetype?™ Quiz below. It will tell you exactly which form of disconnection you’re experiencing—and the first step toward Radiance.

You’ll also find the Compassion Fatigue Starter Guide™ and the From Burnout to Radiance Reset™ for deeper support.

This episode is your reminder: you’re not burned out because you’re broken. You’ve simply been disconnected for too long. And reconnection is available today.

We rise together.

THE DIAGNOSIS: Are you the Martyr who can't say no? Or the Warrior who fights until she collapses? You cannot heal what you cannot name.

👇 Take the 60-Second Quiz to find your Burnout Archetype: [CLICK HERE TO REVEAL YOUR ARCHETYPE]

Join the Rebellion: If this episode woke something up in you, share it with a colleague who needs permission to stop. We rise together.

Reach out to Dr. Julie

Episodes drop every Tuesday at 5am and every Friday at noon.

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

Transcript

0:02

Have you ever looked at your life and thought, wait, when did I stop feeling like B? Because here's the truth, burnout and compassion fatigue don't start with exhaustion. They start with disconnection. Today you're going to walk away with two things that actually move the needle. A research back. Understanding of why disconnection in the body, relationships and purpose is the real root of burnout and compassion fatigue in women. Healers over 50 and y'all, a simple chakra center of reconnection practice you can use today to reset your system and start feeling like you beneath the stress again. 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. I want to start with what I call the floating head syndrome Women. Healers over 50 are some of the most brilliant minds on the planet, but our culture trained us to live from the neck up thinking, fixing, helping, planning, with zero awareness of what our bodies have been trying to tell us for decades. Dr. Steven Boor, POEs worked. His work with the polyvagal theory shows that when we disconnect from our own signals, hunger, fatigue, pleasure, boundaries, intuition, the nervous system slips into chronic survival mode without us even realizing it. And here's the kicker. When your system stays in sympathetic activation too long, the research shows cortisol stops being a helper and starts being a hazard. Long to long term cortisol dysregulation predicts burnout more than workload ever has. Y'all, even your chakras agree your root chakra that governs safety and groundedness, that's important. And though that starts from your sits bones all the way down to your tippy toes, when women tell me I can't feel my feet on the floor, it's a big hint. Or they might say, I can't slow down. Yeah. That is root chakra depletion. And yes, sometimes the only grounding we're doing is through coffee and sheer determination, which is clinically speaking, not grounding strategy. This one hits home for almost every woman healer I know you are surrounded by people, clients, patients, colleagues, family, yet not one single person. Is pouring back into you at the level you pour into them. Dr. Arley Hus, child's emotional labor research found that women, especially women in caregiving professions, perform twice the invisible labor of their male peers twice and in midlife, that road increases. But here's the silent grief I see in my clients. They don't have reci, reci, reciprocity. They have responsibility. You know, that leads to compassion fatigue. Not because you don't care, but because you've been caring so long, so long. So we'll have a quick humor break, just an announcement in case y'all don't recognize it. For the humor it is. But if I had a dollar for every woman healer who told me I'm surrounded by people, but I feel like the teen emotional support puppy, I would have to retire to a beach with a margarita. Ago, meaning I've heard a lot, maybe that joke didn't land, but I've heard a lot. The connection isn't optional for your nervous system, y'all. It's medicine. You've got to connect. This is why your heart chakra gets so depleted. Not because you can't love, but because there's no one pouring back into you with the same depth tenderness and attunement you give to others. Now, I wanna go a little deeper. Burnout in women over 50 is not garden variety. It's identity burnout. Dr. C, Dr. Christine Mash probably slaughtered her name. Research shows the heaviest predictor of burnout is not workload, but mismatched between values and the lived reality of your work. And for women over 50, this mis mismatch grows. As your body changes, your life priorities shift and your tolerance for nonsense plummets purpose becomes tangled with per performance perfection, people pleasing, professional identity, and your solar plexus chakra. That's the center of your personal power and identity. Girl, it takes a hit. I hear it over and over. I don't know who I am if I'm not helping someone. I live my whole life as the dependable one. I've lost the spark that used to feel like mine. This is the soul level disconnection that leads to the exhaustion you can't fix for the weekend off. Here's a 62nd reset you can do today. Right here, right now, I call it the three point reconnection root heart solar plexus. So with the root, you sit or stand and you feel your feet. I mean, you really put your mind's eye in your feet. Feel it. And you say out loud, I am here. I am supported. Wake up that amygdala. Make it true for your heart chakra. I want you to place your hand on your chest, slow your breath and say, I deserve reciprocal care. Now, may take a hot minute to believe that, but you do. We can go to a whole spiel about. How helpers have a hard time receiving. But if this is a start, hands on chest, then your solar plexus, place your hand on your upper abdomen and say, my worth is not tied to my output. My purpose is alive in me. See, your nervous system will respond immediately because connection is safety. You're trying to reconnect with you so you can then reconnect with others. Okay, so that was fast, but here's what you learned today. Disconnection is the real root of burnout and compassion fatigue. It's not workload, although workload plays in, but you've got to look at that disconnection piece. You learned how the nervous system, emotional labor research and chakra depletion all explain why women healers over 50 burnout differently. You learned a simple, powerful chakra center of reconnection practice. Take 60 seconds to help you recenter your body relationships and purpose today without adding a thing to your plate. Remember this, you're not burned out because you're broken. You're experiencing burnout, compassion, fatigue because you've been disconnected from yourself for too long. Reconnection is possible, and it starts with small, embodied moments like this. So y'all, if this resonated with you, don't skip the show notes. Take the watch, your burnout and compassion fatigue archetype quiz. It's brand new that I've dropped into the show notes. It's my most accurate assessment yet, it will tell you exactly which form of disconnection you've been living in and what to do to move toward radiance. You deserve. Deserve a life that energizes you. So let's rebuild this together. 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.