Why Empathy Is Destroying Your Adrenals, Sacral Chakra Leak, and Compassion Fatigue

Do you come home after a long shift, sit in your car, and feel like your soul has been scraped raw? You feel like you have absorbed every single ounce of your patient's pain, and no matter how long you shower, you cannot seem to wash the heaviness off.

Dr. Julie needs you to listen very closely: That is not standard burnout. That is something far more dangerous called "Secondary Traumatic Stress"—a clinical injury to your nervous system caused by your own unchecked empathy. For women healers over 50, your mirror neurons are hijacking your physiology, causing you to "catch" trauma like a virus. If you keep treating this deep energetic wounding with vacations and bubble baths, you will never get better because you are energetically leaking from a specific point in your body.

In this episode, Dr. Julie reveals the "Empathy Sponge Syndrome" and how it depletes your Adrenals via the Sacral Chakra. You will learn why you feel drained and resentful, and exactly how to close the energy valve that is letting everyone else in. We teach you the "Zip-Up" Technique—a 30-second visualization tool that stops you from absorbing toxic energy instantly. You will discover how to implement this before you even walk through the hospital or clinic doors, ensuring you keep your energy for yourself.

The idea that "you cannot pour from an empty cup" is a myth; the truth is you can pour until you become the empty cup. Press play to stop the damage now and learn the critical difference between being "tired" and being "wounded."

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

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

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the 12 Days of Radiance Reset. We're ditching the holiday overwhelm to take you from exhausted and trapped to radiant and free. This is your end of the year reclamation. Let's go. Do you come home after a shift? Sit in your car and feel like your soul has been scraped raw. Like you absorbed every single ounce of your patient's pain, your client's trauma. And no matter how long you shower, you can't wash it off. I need you to listen to me very closely. This is not burnout. That is something far more dangerous. And if you. Keep treating it like burnout. You are never going to get better. 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. Today we are distinguishing between being tired of work and being wounded by work. You need to listen to the end of this episode for three specific reasons. One, I'm going to reveal the specific symptoms of secondary traumatic stress. You are likely mistaking this just for having a bad day or getting old, but it is actually a clinical injury to your nervous system. And two, we are going to talk about your sacral chakra. I'm gonna show you how your empathy sponge is actually leaking your vital life energy. And this leaves you dry While everyone else gets filled up. Three, I'm going to teach you the zip up technique. It's a 32nd visualization tool that stops you from absorbing other people's trauma instantly. You can do this in the elevator. You can do it in the hallway. You can do it right before you walk in the door of your home. So let's dive in. We use the word burnout, y'all as an umbrella term for everything. But here, accuracy matters, burnout, it's environmental burnout is what happens when the bureaucracy is too heavy. It's the paperwork, the long hours, the lack of resources, and I believe the disconnection. But y'all, it's being worn out by the system. Now. Compassion fatigue is different. It is the cost of caring. It is being worn out by the trauma, by attending to those that you're caring for. Again, I think being disconnected has something to do with both. Here is the science. As a healer, you have highly active neurons as a healer, you have highly active mirror neurons. These are neurons in your brain that allow you to empathize. I mean, they're important. When you see someone cry, your brain fires in the same pattern as if you were crying. If you have been doing this for 20 to 30 years, your mirror neurons are exhausted. You are literally catching their trauma like you would catch a cold. You aren't just tired. You are emotionally hijacked. You are also disconnected from yourself because you are so plugged in to everyone else. Now, that's a big one. I'm gonna say it again. You are disconnected from yourself because you are so plugged in to everyone else that matters. Okay, so let's visit the chakra that is impacted by this. And we're gonna look at this energetically. Science calls it mirror neurons. Energy medicine looks at the sacral chakra. That's the one right in your lower belly. It sits below your navel, and it is the center of your feelings, your relationships, your sexuality, your creativity, when you have compassion fatigue. Your sacral chakra is blown wide open. Y'all. It's flooded. You're walking around like a sponge without a wrapper. You're absorbing the fear. Your patients are exposing you to the anger you feel from your colleagues. Not that they're angry at you. They're just angry at the system and the anxiety in your family. I mean, you are wide open, absorbing everything, but you're not connected to self. You're focusing on the other energy coming in, and this leads you to feeling overwhelmed. But here's the kicker. It's not even your emotion, right? You are carrying the luggage that doesn't belong to you. And you don't need to do that. Let's set that down. So I came up with this activity called the zip up activity, and this is how we stop the flood. You use the zip up, want you to do this with me right now. I don't care if you're driving, cooking, cleaning, or sitting at a desk. Stand up tall if you can stand up or sit up with your spine straight. Take your dominant hand and place it at your pubic bone, and I want you to imagine a giant golden zipper running up the center of your body. I want you to take a deep breath in, and as you inhale, pull that hand straight up the center of your body. You're zipping up past your belly button, past your heart, past your throat, all the way to your bottom lip. Imagine locking that zipper right at your mouth. Now lock it. Now, visualize a golden bubble surrounding you, and you tell yourself, I can see out. I can send love out, but toxic energy, it bounces right off. I'm contained. I am safe. I want you to do this at the beginning of your workday. I want you to do this before you answer the phone. If it's a really tough call, this is your way to protect your energy. Okay? So today we learned that your pain is real and it has a name. Compassion fatigue. We learned that your sacral chakra needs boundaries and we practiced the zip up. Before you go, I have one question. Are you actually suffering from compassion fatigue or is the classic burnout? And y'all, the distinction matters for the cure. So I've linked in the show notes, my free quiz, watch your burnout, compassion fatigue. Archetype, it's quiz, and again, it's in the show notes. Go take it right now, two minutes and it will give you the roadmap you need to heal. And I will see you tomorrow for day three, two minutes, and it will give you the roadmap you need to heal. And I will see you tomorrow for day three. 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.