Black Girl Burnout

With so much happening in the world, Kelley offers a moment of Zen: a conversation about protecting your nervous system, holding onto your joy, and not losing your focus in chaotic times. She makes the case that rest, regulation, and joy aren’t luxuries, they’re necessities and forms of resistance, and she shares three practical tools for bringing your body back to calm, plus a guided meditation to close out the episode.
Key Takeaways
Rest, regulation, and joy aren’t luxuries, they’re necessities and forms of resistance. Choosing them isn’t a cop-out, it’s how we thrive and survive.
Overworking is a trauma response. You can’t hustle your way out of an unsafe world or a shaky economy, and feeling exhausted or anxious doesn’t mean something is wrong with you, it’s your nervous system doing what it was designed to do.
Three quick practices can bring your body back to regulation: breathwork (inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for six), the 5-4-3-2-1 senses exercise, and a body scan.
Build a joy practice. List five joy practices that are free or inexpensive and take five minutes or less, then choose one to do daily as your act of protest.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
03:00 Why overworking is a trauma response, and why you can’t hustle your way out
08:00 Rest as resistance: practical ways to rest, like shutting your laptop at 5 p.m. and logging off
12:00 How to regulate your nervous system: breathwork, 5-4-3-2-1, and a body scan
20:00 Joy as resistance, and why you need five joy practices you can do in five minutes or less
27:00 Guided meditation to reclaim rest and regulation (2-3 minutes of calm)
Gentle Invitation
Before this episode ends, list five joy practices that take five minutes or less, ones that are free or inexpensive and easy to reach. Then choose one and do it daily this week, small and consistent, as your act of protest.
Support the Show
If you'd like to make a one-time gift in honor of this milestone and support the continued work of Black Girl Burnout, you can donate through Ko-fi at ko-fi.com/blackgirlburnout.
Like, follow, and subscribe across all platforms. Find us @blackgirlburnout.
Subscribe to our newsletter at blackgirlburnout.com. Watch on YouTube. Drop a review, your words make a real difference, and they warm Kelley's whole heart every single time.
Stay in Touch
Join our Substack family for weekly reflections, tools, and behind-the-scenes notes from Kelley.
Become a paid subscriber ($8/month) for exclusive resources and monthly workshops.
Our Sponsors
Savvy Ladies Free Financial Helpline: https://www.savvyladies.org/
Advertising Inquiries: RedCircle | Privacy & Opt-Out: RedCircle

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

With so much feeling heavy right now, Kelley makes the case for doubling down on whimsy, not despite how hard things are, but because of it. She shares a three-step framework for getting delight back into your life, why whimsy doesn't require money or a vacation, and why joy and grief can coexist without one canceling out the other.
Key Takeaways
Whimsy isn't frivolous, it's exactly what we need when everything feels hard. Waiting for perfect conditions to feel delight means waiting forever.
The three-step whimsy framework: remember what delighted you as a kid, experiment without judging whether it "fits" your life, then find and pursue the delight by actually putting it back in.
Whimsy doesn't require money or a complete life overhaul. Try asking, "How can I make this 10% more delightful?" instead.
Joy and grief can coexist. Being joyful doesn't mean you don't understand what's happening in the world, it means you're choosing something different anyway.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
08:00 The three-step framework for bringing whimsy back: remember, experiment, find and pursue delight
14:00 The "10% more delightful" challenge, and why you should stop saving things for a special occasion
17:00 Whimsy without spending: why delight doesn't require money
20:00 Why joy and grief can coexist, and why survival can't be the full measure of your life
Gentle Invitation
This week, name one thing you loved in the past that you haven't done in a long time. Try it, and do it with maximum delight, for no better reason than it will make you smile.
Support the Show
If you'd like to make a one-time gift in honor of this milestone and support the continued work of Black Girl Burnout, you can donate through Ko-fi at ko-fi.com/blackgirlburnout.
Like, follow, and subscribe across all platforms. Find us @blackgirlburnout.
Subscribe to our newsletter at blackgirlburnout.com. Watch on YouTube. Drop a review, your words make a real difference, and they warm Kelley's whole heart every single time.
Stay in Touch
Join our Substack family for weekly reflections, tools, and behind-the-scenes notes from Kelley.
Become a paid subscriber ($8/month) for exclusive resources and monthly workshops.
Our Sponsors
Savvy Ladies Free Financial Helpline: https://www.savvyladies.org/
Advertising Inquiries: RedCircle | Privacy & Opt-Out: RedCircle

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

After a few heavier episodes, Kelley comes in with a celebration of fall, her favorite season. Working off the quote "Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go," she walks through her personal Fall Inventory, five gentle questions about what to release and what to welcome in as the season turns, with zero self-judgment required.
Key Takeaways
Fall is an invitation to let go, not another season to optimize or berate yourself. Reflection can be gentle instead of punishing.
Comfort and coziness aren't selfish or lazy, they're the pathway to safety. And safety isn't a one-time act, it's a ritual you repeat.
The Fall Inventory is five questions: what are you letting go of, what are you leaning into, what keeps you cozy, what keeps you safe, and what keeps you optimistic.
Optimism is a natural byproduct of safety and comfort, not something you force or tie to hitting a specific goal or number.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
01:00 The quote that inspired the episode, "Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go"
03:00 What are you letting go of this fall? (Kelley lets go of obsessively tracking goals and numbers)
06:00 What are you leaning into? (Prioritizing coziness and a slower pace)
14:00 What's keeping you safe? Why safety is a ritual, not a one-time act
9:00 What's keeping you optimistic, and why it's a natural byproduct of safety and comfort
Gentle Invitation
Pick one or two of the five questions, what to let go of, what to lean into, what keeps you cozy, what keeps you safe, what keeps you optimistic, and gently reflect. No self-judgment required, just curiosity.
Support the Show
If you'd like to make a one-time gift in honor of this milestone and support the continued work of Black Girl Burnout, you can donate through Ko-fi at ko-fi.com/blackgirlburnout.
Like, follow, and subscribe across all platforms. Find us @blackgirlburnout.
Subscribe to our newsletter at blackgirlburnout.com. Watch on YouTube. Drop a review, your words make a real difference, and they warm Kelley's whole heart every single time.
Stay in Touch
Join our Substack family for weekly reflections, tools, and behind-the-scenes notes from Kelley.
Become a paid subscriber ($8/month) for exclusive resources and monthly workshops.
Our Sponsors
Savvy Ladies Free Financial Helpline: https://www.savvyladies.org/
Advertising Inquiries: RedCircle | Privacy & Opt-Out: RedCircle

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Kelley tells the story of a surgery that went wrong, and the email from her job that made her realize she'd been doing her life wrong: "So when are you coming back?" In this solo episode, she unpacks what self-abandonment gave her, what it cost her, and how it doesn't just harm you individually, it changes how we relate to each other too. She closes with a three-step practice for staying open instead of closing off.
Key Takeaways
Self-abandonment can work for a while, it makes you look dependable, gets you opportunities, even more money. But the bill always comes due, sometimes as burnout, sometimes as a health crisis.
Ambition isn't the problem. The problem is leaving yourself behind while chasing it.
Self-abandonment doesn't just cost you individually, it costs community too. Depleted, distrustful work environments teach us to be suspicious of each other, even other Black women who genuinely like each other.
When jealousy or comparison shows up, get curious instead of combative. Ask what you actually want, and how you can move differently, not how to take it from someone else.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
00:00 The surgery that went wrong, and the email that changed everything, "So when are you coming back?"
04:00 What self-abandonment actually looked like day to day
09:00 What self-abandonment cost Kelley, individually, health-wise, and long-term
11:00 How depleted work environments teach Black women to distrust each other
14:00 A three-step practice for staying open: sit with it, get curious, ask "how can I get what they got?"
Gentle Invitation
This week, notice one place you might be abandoning yourself for a short-term win.
Ask yourself: how can I keep my hand open without handing myself over?
Support the Show
If you'd like to make a one-time gift in honor of this milestone and support the continued work of Black Girl Burnout, you can donate through Ko-fi at ko-fi.com/blackgirlburnout.
Like, follow, and subscribe across all platforms. Find us @blackgirlburnout.
Subscribe to our newsletter at blackgirlburnout.com. Watch on YouTube. Drop a review, your words make a real difference, and they warm Kelley's whole heart every single time.
Stay in Touch
Join our Substack family for weekly reflections, tools, and behind-the-scenes notes from Kelley.
Become a paid subscriber ($8/month) for exclusive resources and monthly workshops.
Our Sponsors
Savvy Ladies Free Financial Helpline: https://www.savvyladies.org/
Advertising Inquiries: RedCircle | Privacy & Opt-Out: RedCircle

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Kelley is doing Hot Takes today. In this solo episode, she breaks down three money myths circulating as the economy gets shakier: the belief that you need more income streams, that entrepreneurship is an automatic escape from a bad job, and that every hobby needs to become a hustle, and offers a grounded, researched alternative to the panic.
Key Takeaways
Myth: you need more ways to make money. Truth: go deeper before you go broader. Social media isn't a reliable revenue stream, and deepening the skills and relationships you already have often pays off more than chasing seven new income streams.
Myth: entrepreneurship is an escape hatch from a hard job. Truth: it's a different kind of stress, not a lesser one. It requires financial runway, high tolerance for uncertainty, and a level of discipline most people underestimate.
Myth: everything valuable in your life needs to make money. Truth: hobbies don't need customers. Protect at least one thing in your life that exists purely for joy, not revenue.
Relationships over reach. Ten people who trust your work and are willing to pay you will do more for your financial security than a million casual followers.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
02:00 Myth #1: You need more ways to make money, and why social media isn't a reliable income source
14:00 How to vet anyone selling you a "how to make money" program (the receipts test)
24:00 Myth #2: Entrepreneurship is an automatic escape hatch from a bad job
34:00 Myth #3: Don't monetize your hobbies, protecting the things that are just for joy
39:00 Relationships over reach: the story of rebuilding her business after losing a year of work in three days
Gentle Invitation
This week, resist the urge to add. Instead, pick one thing to deepen, one relationship, one skill, one income stream you already have. Ask yourself: am I making this decision from strategy, or from panic?
Support the Show
If you'd like to make a one-time gift in honor of this milestone and support the continued work of Black Girl Burnout, you can donate through Ko-fi at ko-fi.com/blackgirlburnout.
Like, follow, and subscribe across all platforms. Find us @blackgirlburnout.
Subscribe to our newsletter at blackgirlburnout.com. Watch on YouTube. Drop a review, your words make a real difference, and they warm Kelley's whole heart every single time.
Stay in Touch
Join our Substack family for weekly reflections, tools, and behind-the-scenes notes from Kelley.
Become a paid subscriber ($8/month) for exclusive resources and monthly workshops.
Our Sponsors
Savvy Ladies Free Financial Helpline: https://www.savvyladies.org/
Advertising Inquiries: RedCircle | Privacy & Opt-Out: RedCircle

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy