Writings & Musings
Rested. Rooted. Radiant.
Insight and inspiration on living unhurried lives, overcoming feminine burnout, reclaiming our radiance and self-sovereignty and embracing our brilliance.
Burnout Begins Long Before it Happens : When Women Don’t Have a Village
Recently, I’ve been immersed in a lot of films, books and content that speak to the early days of motherhood. I’ve been viscerally reminded of the immense rush of love and care we often experience at this life-changing threshold. But also of the less spoken about raw exhaustion, tender hormonal rollercoaster and emotional fragility that so many of us experience concurrently.
It got me reflecting on my experience of profound burnout over ten years ago …
We often think of burnout as a switch that is flicked quite suddenly.
And in truth, it often presents this way.
Many of the women I have supported over the years feel like they were coping, functioning, managing one day, before seemingly ‘crashing’ through sheer exhaustion the next.
But in reality, burnout begins long before it happens.
In the many seasons of carrying too much without being properly held.
A Softer Way to Begin the Year: Gentle Nervous System Support for More Peace and Less Pressure
There’s an energy to new beginnings that’s incredibly compelling - it’s fresh, vibrant and exciting.
So many of us start the year feeling the pressure to sprint right out of the gate.
Yet, we might still be digesting the past year, and our nervous system might still be trying to soften the survival energy that has kept us going, perhaps for months.
One key ingredient to embracing what is new and unfamiliar, which is often overlooked is this: having enough capacity and stability to move from comfort to stretch, from familiarity to newness, from what has been to what could be, from where we are to exciting new possibilities.
Nature teaches us that we cannot plant new seeds in arid soil.
For us, it means starting with tending to our body and nervous system, so the soil becomes enriched, fertile and supportive of growth.
The Edge of Burnout: Listening to the Body Before It Shuts Down
Before we experience the full force of burnout, we often find ourselves in a confusing space.
We are still holding everything together, but beneath the surface, we sense that something within us has begun to fray and to deplete.
Even if a part of us knows that something needs to shift, we don’t feel that we have the time to pause, explore a more sustainable path, or recalibrate.
So while we double down to make sure that the veneer stays intact on the outside, on the inside, our heart races for no clear reason, our sleep doesn’t seem to restore us in the same way, and we wake up in the middle of the night with thoughts racing in infinite loops.
If this feels familiar, you could be standing at the edge of burnout.
Beyond Learned Helplessness: A Somatic Path For Women to Reclaim Their Energy, Voice, and Agency
When I look back on my experience of burnout, one of the most profound parts of that experience was the sense that no matter what or how much I did, nothing seemed to make any difference.
My efforts felt futile.
I was expanding every ounce of energy I had, and yet it felt like pushing against an immovable wall.
Most of the time, I felt like I was drowning.
For a long time, I gave increasingly more, believing that eventually, things would shift.
But over time, the ‘fight’ energy that initially mobilised me into action started to dwindle, and slowly I fell into what psychologists call ‘learned helplessness’. A subtle erosion of hope, an insidious and devastating settling in my heart that said: “What’s the point anyway?”.
The Invisible Giver: Why Emotional Exhaustion Comes from More Than Just Doing Too Much
We naturally assume that exhaustion comes from doing too much. From overcommitting, overextending, and carrying too much on our plates.
And of course, this absolutely contributes to a sense of feeling physically exhausted and depleted.
But often, there is a deeper layer to our exhaustion, which we may not perceive.
It comes from giving without being met.
Pouring out without being poured into. Offering support without being acknowledged.
It’s the emotional exhaustion of being so reliable and endlessly available that our giving becomes invisible.
This kind of exhaustion is rooted in a lack of reciprocity, and beyond leaving us tired, it leaves us feeling hollow…
Recovering From Burnout: A Somatic Approach To Healing And Flourishing Again
Burnout doesn’t come crashing down on us all at once. It’s more like a tap dripping - slow, steady, almost imperceptible - until one day, the tank is empty. It’s a gradual wearing away of our energy, our capacity, and our vitality. And because the slope is so gentle, we may not even realise how far we have gone until we are completely depleted.
For women, who often juggle caregiving, demanding careers, and conflicting responsibilities, burnout can feel like an inevitability - almost a byproduct of constantly holding multiple strands.
Burnout can often be accompanied by a sense of shame or a feeling of inadequacy, but it isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s our body’s intelligence at play saying “It’s time to stop, I can’t keep going like this”. Wisely, our body pulls the emergency brake on our behalf to stop further depletion.
Burnout is our body’s way of protecting us, asking us to pause, rest, and recalibrate.
Breaking Free from Overgiving: Including Ourselves in Our Circle of Care
Do you tend to be the last person on your list of priorities?
Do you consistently put others’ needs above your own, sometimes at the expense of your own wellbeing?
This way of being is so ingrained in many of us that we have stopped noticing it, let alone, questioning it.
Overgiving is something I am very familiar with - so are many of the women I support. How often do we tell ourselves, “I will get to me when everything else is done” or “It’s easier if I just handle this myself” or “I’ll make time to look after myself later.”
But later never comes, and each one of these small moments where we give beyond our capacity is an act of self-abandonment. It erodes us by chipping away at our energy, our joy, and ultimately our sense of self.
For so many women, this self-sacrificing narrative feels normal. As women, our culture praises us for how much we give, how much we do, and how little we ask for in return.
We need reminding of this fundamental truth: others matter, but we do too.
Somatic Practices to Support You When You Feel Drained, Flat, or Numb
Many of us experience moments in our lives when we feel drained, flat, or numb—disconnected from our bodies, our emotions, and maybe our sense of purpose.
This can feel heavy and unsettling, leaving us unsure of how to find our way back to a sense of presence and vitality.
During these times, somatic practices can be a lifeline. They can offer simple but profound ways to restore our energy, bring us back into our body, and help us feel present again.
In this blog post, we’ll explore what it means to feel somatically disconnected, and simple, nurturing practices to help you begin to reconnect with your body and restore your energy.
Resting into Wholeness: Yoga Nidra as a Journey Home to Who We Are Beyond The Exhaustion and Stress
So many of us live fast-paced, rushed and demanding lives.
Lives that our human nervous system hasn’t yet adapted to living, which means that we tend to spend a lot of time in sympathetic activation: what is known as the fight or flight response.
Even though actual threats to our survival might be relatively rare in our everyday lives, our nervous system frequently perceives threats or cues of unsafety: a car cutting us off in traffic, an email from our boss popping into our inbox, a difficult conversation with our partner, a challenging presentation we have to deliver to the board, ….
Overcoming Feminine Burnout: How to end the perpetual quest towards being enough
Over 10 years ago, I experienced a severe burnout. It left me feeling utterly broken, raw, cracked open - hanging on by a very fine thread. My sense of identity was shattered, I felt completely empty, and simply moving through each day was incredibly challenging.
I felt lost: I had no idea how to move forward, and my inner critical voice was relentless.
The Truth About High Functioning Anxiety - And How It Causes Burnout In High Achieving Woman
High functioning anxiety is a sneaky type of anxiety. It often goes unrecognised, because of its high functioning nature.
On the surface, you appear together, grounded and in control.
You overachieve at work, and are often admired for your hard-work, commitment, and attention to detail.
You have a successful career and seem to have an incredible ability to juggle a high level role with the demands of everyday life.
You seem to 'have it all'.
But it comes at a cost.
