Burnout as a Biological Mandate: Why "One More Year" Costs You More

Have you ever driven to work thinking, “I can’t do this one more year”—and immediately felt guilty for even thinking it?

That’s not weakness.
That’s your body telling you the truth.

In this episode, Dr. Julie names what so many women healers over 50 are afraid to say out loud—and explain why that thought matters.

Stay with me to the end because I walk you through:

• The research-backed reason “sticking it out” is no longer neutral for your nervous system
• The energetic power leak keeping you trapped in exhaustion, resentment, and self-neglect
• A somatic practice—The Shadow Audit—to help you feel, not just think, your next right step

Burnout and compassion fatigue are not personal failures.
They are systemic injuries.

For women over 50, what once felt manageable has become biologically and energetically unsustainable. When you understand what’s happening in your body, your nervous system, and your sense of power, clarity begins to return.

If this episode resonated, don’t dismiss that knowing in your body.

Share this with one woman healer who’s quietly saying, “I can’t do this one more year.”

We rise together.

This podcast is for women healers over 50 navigating burnout and compassion fatigue who want nervous-system-informed insight into exhaustion, overwhelm, resentment, self-neglect, identity loss, and purpose so they can move toward clarity, boundaries, liberation, wisdom, and renewal.

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.

👉 Get the Book!

Reach out to Dr. Julie - Tell her how you're feeling to get a personalized plan to feel alive and thrive.

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

If you are driving to work thinking, I cannot do this one more year, your body is telling you the truth. And today we're going to listen to our beautiful bodies. 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. So I want you to stay with me until the very end of this podcast, because today I'm sharing, oh, the startling research on why sticking it out is actually a biological gamble you're currently losing and why your body is keeping score. We're gonna dive into specific energetic blockages that are keeping you trapped in a cycle of resentment, invisibility, and self neglect. And I am walking you through a very powerful somatic practice called the Shadow Audit, and that's gonna help you decide with absolute clarity what your next move needs to be. So let's start with the data. It's a good place to start because I want you to understand something y'all at a cellular level. This isn't about you being deficient in any manner. This is about you being damaged by a toxic work environment. Sadly, 41% of US helpers and healers professional helpers are actively considering leaving healthcare right now. Y'all we're not thinking about it. Vaguely. There's an active plan for the exit, but here's the part that really breaks my heart, especially for my sisters over 50, among those who have already left nearly half, didn't. Retire because they hit their financial goals. They retired early because they hit a wall. A physical, emotional, spiritual wall. Yeah. When you say, ah, I can't do this one more year, girl, that's not drama. That's not weakness. That is your nervous system screaming that it has maxed out. It's it's load, the cumulative wear and tear on your body from chronic unrelenting stress. And here's what they don't tell you in your performance reviews. And remember, we become very disconnected from our sacred why. When we are always held to this performance review our, when our, our worth is tied to our performance, to our job, girl, we've got to get back to that sacred why, and here's what they're not telling you at that performance review. For high achieving women over 50, we no longer have that, that beautiful hormonal protection that we once had. Our estrogen. Which is the very chemical that used to help buffer us from the very worst effects of high cortisol. Y'all, it's gone or it's dramatically reduced. So that same job that was hard at 35, it's now biologically harder at 55 and beyond. And this isn't just burnout. This is a health crisis masquerading perhaps as a career. Problem. So let's look at that beautiful solar plexus of yours and the cost of service. So we're gonna talk about what's happening energetically, because burnout isn't just a work problem, it's a power problem. When you are experiencing this level of exhaustion and compassion fatigue, we have to look at your solar plexus. This is the chakra that's right here in your upper belly. It's your power center. Your seat of personal will boundaries and y'all, your individual identity for decades. Maybe your entire, entire adult life, you have functioned from a place of service at all costs. I can't be the only one. Oh, I've gotta do it because I said I would. I've gotta serve. You've poured every ounce of your solar plexus energy into the healer archetype. You've been the strong one, the dependable one, the one who shows up no matter what. But somewhere along the way, oh girl, you stopped showing up for yourself. When your solar plexus is depleted, you feel invisible. You feel trapped. You feel like you are screaming underwater. And no one can hear you. Have you had those dreams? Your spark? Oh, that inner fire that made you fall in love with healing in the first place? That sacred calling. It's being suffocated by a system that views you as a commodity, not a human being. Oh, and the resentment. You feel that bone deep, soul level resentment, huh? That makes you feel guilty because you should be grateful, right? To have such a great job. But that resentment is holy and it's a signal. It is your power telling you that it's being drained, leaked, and stolen. And it wants to come home. So I created a little activity for us to go through. I call it the Shadow audit, and I want you to do something with me, which is the Shadow Audit right now. Uh, if you're driving, folding laundry on the treadmill or sitting at your desk pretending to be working, I want you to participate in this. Put your hand on your upper abdomen right where your ribs meet in the center, and take a really deep breath and feel that warmth. This is your power center girl. It's where it all comes from, your solar plexus. So the first thing we have to do has to be done. You've got to stop the leak. So first we're gonna visualize that leak. So close your eyes for a moment. If you're driving, just soften your gaze. I want you to visualize a golden cord of light coming from your solar plexus, and I want you to follow it. Where? Where does it go? Does it go to your hospital, to your clients, to your clinic, to a demanding supervisor who never has enough? Ugh, to the endless. Charts that we have to do to your family members who still need you to hold everything together. This is just a time to be curious. All I want you to do is just notice there's no judgment, just witness where this power of yours is going. I know mine used to go all to work, sadly, and I was drained, and that's if you ever, um, are up to it. Read my book in Pursuit of Soul Joy because I talk all about my burnout and crash. I never want y'all to do that, but I just share that. Mine used to go just completely to work. I think that's a very sad thing because we have so much more in our lives. We're so much more than our job. So just take a deep breath and allow yourself that non-judgmental curiosity go Where? Where is this golden light going? Where's all my energy being go leaking to step two is the somatic truth. So now I want you to ask yourself this question, and I want you to answer to be from your body. Not that floating head of confidence. Competence is confident too, but competence that we all have. Your body, you've got a somatically. Get in tune with this. Our brain is far too logical. We spend way too much of the time there'cause of our jobs. You've got to get into your body. And you ask yourself, if I stay in this exact position for 365 more days of the very limited days we have left. I don't mean that to be icky, but it's true. We're over 50. Our days are not as many as they were when we were 10. So. If I stay in this exact position for 365 more days, same job, same stress, same depletion, huh? What is the cost to my physical body? Do not, don't you dare Think about the money. Don't think about the benefits. Don't think about other people who might need something from you. You listen to your jaw. Is it clenched? Listen to your shoulders. Are they upper on your ears? Are they loose? Listen to your gut. What is it telling you? Girl, your body, it does not lie. Doesn't, it doesn't. It's been keeping the score the whole time. So step three, here is the boundary breath. So now I want you to inhale deeply for four counts. And as you breathe in, I want you to imagine a golden, beautiful, vibrant, light feeling. Your solar plexus see it glowing, brighter and brighter. And as you exhale, I want you to say one word out loud. No, not a no to helping people. Mm-hmm. Not a no to your purpose or your calling.'cause that's sacred and we're gonna get back in touch with that. This is a no to the self neglect that is killing you. Say it again? No. Feel what happens in your body when you give yourself permission to set that boundary? Okay, we're just getting started. It's just we have so much work to do, but for today, we face some hard truths together. You learn that burnout is a healthcare. Ah, it's systemic. It's a systemic injury. It's not a personal failing. You desire to leave a, your desire to leave is a healthy response to a very unhealthy environment that. You learn that your solar plexus chakra holds the key to moving from exhaustion to empowerment. This is your power center from depletion to reinvention. We're gonna reclaim our power. And you also learn that one more year might be a price your soul is simply not willing to pay anymore. Listen to me. Huh? You have spent 30 years saving everyone else. It is time, girl. It is past time to save yourself. You don't need to figure it all out today. You won't figure it all out today. Don't you even try. You don't need a perfect plan. You just need to start listening to the truth Your body has been trying to tell you. If this episode resonated with you at all, please share it with another woman. Yeah, we rise together and if anything in this resonated with you, please click in the show notes or on my website to take the shadow healer archetype quiz. You need to do this for you. This is just your beginning, so I will see you next time. If this episode hit home, don't just nod and move on. Give yourself what you actually need. Tap the show notes right now, and girl, if you know another woman healer who's running on empty, please share this episode, y'all. We rise together.