Burnout Before It Breaks You: One Lawyer's Story
She came to me because she was exhausted. A high-performing woman. A lawyer. Always on. Nights. Weekends. A nervous system that never shut down. On the outside, she was capable and respected. On the inside, everything felt loud and urgent. She told me she wanted to do work in a new way — though she didn't yet know how. She only knew the current pace wasn't sustainable. This is what burnout looks like before it breaks you.
Understanding How We Have Our Experience
It Wasn’t Complicated After All
My son is spending Christmas away for the first time.
Twenty-nine years of shared rituals, and now a quiet change.
I didn’t have an issue with him going. That part felt clean.
What hurt was something else.
I wasn’t held in mind.
Plans were made — with friends, with travel, with what came next — and somehow I wasn’t part of the orientation. When dates were offered later, they landed flat. January 25 didn’t feel like a celebration. It felt like a placeholder.
The meaning that came immediately was familiar:
I don’t matter. I’m not a priority.
What’s Your Intention?
My son called the other day, his voice tight with frustration.
“They never wrote me back,” he said.
“Send me the email,” I told him.
When it landed in my inbox, I could see it. Polite words, thoughtful details, a closing line that sounded like a soft wave goodbye. But no arrow. No request that gave his boss something to respond to.
When I asked him what his intention was, he paused. “I didn’t want to sound pushy. I just…wanted them to respond.”
The Call to Climb
I interviewed James Robbins today on my podcast, My Love of Life Energy. Author of The Call to Climb.
I hadn’t met James before today. Yet when I glanced through his Instagram, I felt a warmth in my chest, the kind that says: yes, this will be good.
And it was.
From the moment he began, his words pulled me in. He calls himself “not a great writer.” But as I scrolled through the first three chapters of his book, I found myself leaning forward, hungry for more, clicking purchase without hesitation.