Navigating Burnout, Business, & Motherhood: A Rebellion Against Shaky Foundations

Burnout usually doesn’t look like falling apart, but it feels that way.

Burnout rarely shows up as that breakdown where all the spinning plates you've been balancing come crashing down.

Most of the time, it shows up as:

• getting things done but not really being there

• staying busy without feeling connected

• knowing what needs to happen but not having the energy to follow through

High-capacity people don’t usually crash, they accumulate slow leaks. It shows up in subtle ways:

Your tolerance gets thinner.

Your patience shortens.

Your body starts sending signals like tight shoulders or a heavy chest that you brush off with " I'll get to you, but I have to finish this."

What we see as hinderances to overcome is actually communication that we are ignoring.

When Your Body Starts Pushing Back

Most people think burnout is a motivation problem. That's fair I suppose, but not accurate.

It’s a capacity problem.

Usually when people are transitioning into changes, or adding responsibility to their plate, the signs of burnout show up.

You might notice:

• you’re still functioning, but everything takes more effort

• rest doesn’t really restore you

• small things irritate you more than they used to

• your body feels tense even when your mind says, “I’m fine”

This is usually the moment people try to think their way out of it.

Push harder.

Plan better.

Optimize.

But burnout doesn’t respond to better thinking. It responds to acknowledgment.

What Burnout Actually Is

Burnout isn’t just exhaustion.

More often, it’s a misalignment inside your system.

A gap between:

• what your mind is asking for

• and what your body can realistically sustain

It shows up as:

• vision without capacity

• momentum without nourishment

• responsibility without support

Your life isn’t too big.

Your system just isn’t reinforced enough to hold it yet.

That’s an important distinction.

Reinforcement Instead of Overhaul

The body doesn’t ask for dramatic change.

It asks for support in very basic places.

Over time, I’ve noticed the cracks almost always show up in the same three areas:

movement

nutrition

creativity

They’re foundational.

And foundational things matter because everything else rests on them.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: A pyramid depicting the essential human needs starting from basic physiological needs at the base, progressing upwards through safety, love and belonging, self-esteem, and finally reaching self-actualization at the peak.

How Capacity Is Actually Rebuilt

Movement — Letting the Body Finish What the Mind Can’t

A lot of burnout isn’t mental, its stored right in your body.

Stress that never got truly expressed.

Emotion that never moved through.

Patterns that didn’t get an exit.

When the body stays still, that energy piles up.

Movement doesn’t need to be intense.

It needs to be consistent.

Things like:

• walking

• stretching

• shaking

• spinal movement

• gentle bouncing

• vibration

• anything that gets energy moving again, don't let your mind overcomplicate it.

Movement tells the nervous system:

“I’m not stuck. I can release.”

That alone frees up capacity.

Nutrition — What You’re Actually Asking Your Body to Run On

Food isn’t just fuel.

It’s instruction.

Every choice tells your system something:

• build or brace

• restore or conserve

And nourishment isn’t only about what you eat.

It’s also:

• what you consume mentally

• what you tolerate emotionally

• what you expose your nervous system to daily

A simple check:

“Is this building me… or just keeping me functional?”

Survival mode can’t create.

It can only maintain, so you're always right on the line of burnout here.

Creativity — Returning Authority to Yourself

Creativity is usually the first thing to disappear when life gets heavy.

And it’s almost always the thing that brings people back to themselves.

This isn’t about being an artist or this generations Picasso, (or maybe it is, the sky is the limit babe)

It’s about having one place in your day where:

• nothing is expected of you

• there’s no outcome to manage

• your expression belongs to you

Creativity gives your system somewhere to process life without collapsing into the mind.

It restores a sense of agency.

Of authorship.

Of choice.

And that’s stabilizing.

Capacity Isn’t Balance — It’s Support

This isn’t about finding balance.

It’s about building capacity.

When capacity increases:

• you hold more without leaking energy

• clarity comes faster

• decisions feel quicker and more confident

• expansion doesn’t seem impossible

Most people don’t struggle because their vision is unrealistic.

They struggle because their system hasn’t been taught how to hold it.

Vision lives in the mind.

and

Capacity lives in the body.

When the body is supported, everything else translates more easily into reality.

If you’re in this season

If any of this sounds familiar,

Burnout isn’t a personal failure.

It’s a signal to reevaluate where your energy is going.

And when you know how to listen to it,

it stops running the show and becomes a welcomed alley that tells you that you're growing.