Beyond “Tired”: When You Reach Burnout
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re tired—but not just any kind of tired. Like, bone tired- could drink a quadruple espresso and take a NAP- level exhausted. And when you try to explain it to someone, they nod knowingly- “oh yeah, I didn’t sleep well either last night.” You want to scream: That’s NOT what I mean! I feel like I’m 95 years old! And I slept 10 hours!!! It’s not fair!
You’re the woman who’s always pushing through. You’ve built a successful career, manage your responsibilities like a pro, and do everything “right”—the supplements, the green smoothies, the workouts.
But you still wake up feeling exhausted. You’re tired and wired every night- physically exhausted and achy but your brain is running a million miles an hour. Your hair is thinning, your cycles are irregular and may come with tsunami-level mood swings, and no matter what you eat (or don’t eat), you end up bloated like you’re 6 months pregnant.
It’s not all in your head. It’s not a lack of willpower.
It’s your thyroid and adrenals waving a white flag.
Let’s talk about why, and more importantly—how to start healing.
Spoiler: the habits and mindset that got you into this mess…won’t get you out of it.
The Burnout Loop
Your thyroid doesn’t just slow down out of nowhere. Often, it’s responding to years of stress and dysregulation in your nervous system. Think of it this way:
🔁 Chronic stress → dysregulated nervous system → overworked adrenals → slowed thyroid function.
Over time, this domino effect also disrupts your gut, immune system, and hormones—leading to the perfect storm of burnout, autoimmunity (aka feeling like a shell of your old self). Your body has been attempting to compensate for years of physical, emotional, and psychological stress. It has begged and borrowed from other body systems to try to keep you afloat. Why do I say that? To remind you that your body does not hate you, and it’s not “just being difficult”. Your body LOVES you unconditionally and has tried to support you when it didn’t really have the resources.
But there’s a way out. And it doesn’t involve “doing” more—it involves softening, regulating, and reconnecting. (Yikes!)
Start with Safety
Before your body can heal, it needs to feel safe. I talk about this all the time in my practice. Women come to me confused and frustrated that they’re “doing all the right things”- cardio, calorie deficit, no sugar, low carb, green juice, sauna- but they can’t lose weight, they feel exhausted… and they might even be gaining weight or feel puffy. This is why! Your body has been in a state of chronic stress and restriction for years- or decades- from crash dieting, achieving, no days off. Without meaning to, you’ve put your body into a state of survival. Its priority isn’t losing weight and looking cute in a bikini; it’s trying to store all the food it can to help you overcome this stress!
Stress tells your body it’s not safe to rest, digest, or repair. So instead of jumping straight into protocols, supplements, or detoxes—start with your nervous system.
First, look at the stressors you can remove or limit:
Limit screen time within an hour of waking or going to bed: not only does the blue light confuse your circadian rhythm, but I bet you’re scrolling social media, getting constant message notifications, and hopping from app to app. That’s a surefire way to tank your dopamine and keep your nervous system set to high alert.
Take a Break from Constant DOING: I don’t mean this in a “bubble bath self care” way (although that’s great too!). Take at least 15 minutes in the morning to sit with yourself- no distractions. This can feel uncomfortable at first, but it’s a precious time to actually feel into your body and state of mind. So often we’re running too fast to realize how overwhelmed we are until we snap (almost always at an inconvenient/ inappropriate time). Having this daily check-in with yourself will help you navigate your days with more awareness of your mood.
Ease Up on Caffeine and Alcohol: While these drinks may help you escape or “feel something”, they’re doing more harm than good to your nervous system. You know logically that they’re a temporary fix, but you go back to them habitually (and that’s okay- but now that we know better, we do better). Both these substances disrupt your sleep cycle, making it harder for your body to heal, feel rested, or in control of the day.
Nix the HIIT and Cardio for now: If you’re already using terms like “fried” and “wired” to explain how you feel, adding a high intensity workout on top of it all is just asking way too much of your body. When healing from adrenal and thyroid burnout, opt for low impact like pilates, yoga, and even light strength training paired with outside walks. These forms of movement are more nourishing when your body’s in this vulnerable, over-stressed state.
Drop the Fasting: in the same vein of removing HIIT, fasting for over 12 hours has got to go. Remember: your body’s already in a state of starvation/ survival, and skipping breakfast is only going to fuel that fire. Aim to eat breakfast within an hour of waking (you can enjoy it before you go on your phone! 😉)
Second, add in exercises to calm yourself in the moment and also expand your nervous system to hold more in the future:
Vagal nerve toning: humming, gargling, cold face plunges (I would skip the full-body cold plunge at this stage. While it is a “good” stress for a healthy, balanced body…if you’re recovering from burnout, it’s going to be too much too fast)
Breathwork: add box breathing or physiological sighs throughout your day (bonus points if you do it before mealtime!)
Daily safety anchors: a walk in nature, a slow cup of tea, holding your heart and saying “I am safe now”. Set an alarm (in a calming tone) three times during the day to check in with yourself and practice one of these behaviors.
Somatic work: gentle shaking, stretching, or swaying to move energy out of the body. This may feel silly, but consider: you spend the majority of your day sitting and working- your body is meant to move energy instead of staying stuck!
These practices may feel “too simple” at first. Because these things feel too easy, they’re easy to forget or to not see how they could be helpful. A gentle reminder: you’re moving away from overdoing everything, so it’s normal that these exercises feel frivolous. But they’re a way of reassuring your body that you’re safe now. Every time you practice, it’s strengthening that trust.
Heal the Gut
Over 70% of your immune system lives in your gut, and so does a huge portion of your active thyroid hormone conversion. (Not to mention 90% of your serotonin is synthesized in the gut!) If your digestion is off, your thyroid, mood, and energy will be too. When you’ve been in a state of chronic stress, you can develop leaky gut that will raise levels of inflammation and inhibit your ability to absorb nutrients from your healthy diet!
If you’re like most of us, you’ve had multiple rounds of antibiotics and spent a few years on hormonal birth control. These two major exposures disrupt not only the gut lining but allow “bad bugs” in your gut to take over. What does this mean? Bloating, nutrient deficiencies, skin issues, low mood, fatigue, mood swings, and cravings. Rebalancing the gut is key in virtually any healing protocol because it is tied to the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries, brain…you get the picture.
Support your gut by:
Removing irritants: ultra-processed foods, gluten (especially if Hashimoto’s is present), and excess caffeine. This can include conventional dairy, eggs, and soy as well.
Adding healing foods: bone broth, cooked greens, wild blueberries, and fermented foods (if tolerated)
Supporting digestion: digestive bitters or lemon water before meals, mindful chewing (aka eating slowly and chewing thoroughly), and not eating on the go. Actually sitting and paying attention at mealtimes will signal your body to downregulate from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest”
Repairing the gut lining: with nutrients like L-glutamine and collagen. My personal favorite? My morning ritual of warm bone broth (collagen!) with L-glutamine and Celtic sea salt.
Gently Support the Adrenals
Your adrenals love rhythm, nourishment, and rest—not biohacks or extremes. This truth is even deeper for women because we have the added complexity (and sensitivity) of our menstrual cycle to consider. Note: this doesn’t make us weak or overly sensitive. I have clients who are attorneys and entrepreneurs that are absolute powerhouses… and they got even better at their jobs when they learned how to support their bodies and minds in softness. With a full cup, you have more to give and you can shine even brighter!
In addition to the nervous system- focused behaviors we covered earlier:
Focus on blood sugar balance – gone are the days of just grabbing a protein bar as a meal. Focus on a full, balanced meal with protein, fat, fiber, and yes- CARBS (your body views carbs as safety!). For example, a goddess bowl with wild salmon, sweet potato, roasted veggies, and avocado will keep you fueled and happy for hours.
Replenish electrolytes: they’re not just for “hydration”- electrolytes are chronically depleted when you’ve been in fight or flight for years. Instead of a gallon of plain water, add in a mocktail with coconut water, juice from a lime or orange, and 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt (my client lovingly calls this “put the lime in the coconut”! 🥥🍋🟩) The best time to drink it? In place of your afternoon coffee to help with that 2PM energy slump.
Prioritize slowing the heck down: This might just be me, but when I’m multitasking and feel like a 5 alarm fire…I’m not *actually* getting that much more done that I would if I did each task individually and then shifted to the next. I know it can feel impossible, but practice being where your feet are. You are an incredible, capable woman who CAN get everything done. If it’s all getting completed anyway, why do it with so much intensity?
Catch Yourself Hitting the Reward Button: the biggest culprit that’s driving your mental overwhelm? Checking your phone. 👀 Yup- when you’re in the bathroom, in the elevator, at a red light, in the checkout line. All. The. Time. Constantly. You’re seeking dopamine, but it’s literally causing a stress response on a physiological level. Experiment with this for just a day: catch yourself reaching for your phone in those “in between” moments and instead take one deep breath. (then check your phone if you have to)
Release Stuck Emotions
Many women I work with carry the silent weight of unprocessed emotions—grief, shame, perfectionism, and most often…anger and resentment. These emotions get stored in the body, subtly driving stress and inflammation. You might have gone to traditional talk therapy and found that you can intellectualize your way out of feeling…you can make sense of your childhood or breakup, but it still feels like you can’t “scoop” those feelings out of your gut or your heart. That anger or shame stays simmering under the surface, surprising you every time it rears its ugly head.
Moving through these emotions is a crucial part of recovering from burnout. You can drink all the bone broth and spend time off your phone, but if you refuse to move through these emotions, they’ll stay stuck and wreak havoc on your health. I know you probably don’t think you need to revisit these feelings- it was so long ago, I should be over it by now, etc…and logically you might be “over it”, but your body isn’t.
Emotional release can look like:
Crying: save the eye roll please. As women we carry grief and a lot of it. The grief of being a sensitive child with big emotions that weren’t understood. The grief of losing so much time to diet culture and people pleasing. The grief of generational and cultural trauma. The grief of discovering how hard this world can be. The grief of all the versions of you that you won’t be. It’s okay. Just cry. It doesn’t need to make sense, but you have got to set that pain down and let it move through you. (I promise you won’t cry forever.)
Journaling—especially freewriting with prompts like “What am I holding onto that isn’t mine?”. Set aside at least 30 minutes to sit in stillness with the version of you who was hurt and listen to what she has to say. This isn’t about shutting down those emotions or saying “well I’m fine now”. Allow younger you to speak her piece.
Safe connection with others where you can be fully seen and heard- this one can be incredibly uncomfortable because we are so accustomed to being the “strong responsible one”. If you don’t have people like this in your personal life, don’t stress. There are incredible practitioners in the wellness and spirituality spaces that are trained to hold space for you.
A note on “anger release”: some practitioners advocate for screaming or going to a rage room, but I find this is only helpful in releasing anger from a current situation. If you’re trying to release childhood anger, screaming or breaking things can actually re-traumatize you because you’ll feel “in trouble”. Often under that anger is sadness that has stewed for decades. Allow that pain out- write letters and burn them, work with hip and heart somatic exercises, and guided inner child work.
Boundaries: An Identity Shift
This one is tricky- obviously we can’t say “no” to everything, nor should we. We’re not built to be hermits! But especially in the first few months of burnout recovery, scale back your professional and social obligations as much as possible. Maybe that means going to a birthday dinner but declining the football watch party. But here’s why this is important: you got into this situation of burnout by never saying no. By stretching yourself too thin and putting everyone else’s wants and needs above your own. Schedule self care dates with yourself and honor those appointments. Your time with yourself is JUST AS IMPORTANT (and valid) as any other meeting or brunch outing. I know you weren’t taught how to prioritize your time alone- neither was I. Lean into the joy of missing out. The joy of doing literally nothing for an hour.
Along this healing journey, you’ll begin to understand that the anger and resentment trapped in your body is rooted in over-giving. All the times you went above and beyond only to discover that other people won’t do the same for you- it hurt, but you told yourself that if you just gave more, people would love you and show up for you. I’ll let you in on a secret: YOU have to show up for you first. Then, when other people do it’s just a bonus. It doesn’t make or break your mood and nervous system.
Your Body Isn’t Broken—She’s Asking You to Listen
Your symptoms aren’t random. They’re wise signals from a body that’s been working overtime to keep you afloat. Healing your thyroid and adrenals is less about doing more and more about undoing the patterns that got you here.
This path takes courage—but you don’t have to walk it alone.
If you're ready to rebuild from the inside out, my 3-month 1:1 holistic coaching container was designed for women just like you. We'll gently guide your body back into balance—through nutrition, nervous system work, emotional healing, and deep lifestyle shifts—so you can feel like you again.
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You deserve to heal. You deserve to feel safe in your body. Let’s get you there—together.
