FRIED. The Burnout Podcast

Burnout is less a breaking point than a slow unravelling of identity and the seven messy phases high achievers cycle through on the way back to themselves.

We’re revisiting a conversation with Dr. Mandy Lehto that still holds relevance for anyone who has pushed past their limits and felt the ground shift beneath them. Mandy and Cait talk through burnout as a gradual process shaped by denial, urgency, over-efforting, and grief, rather than a single moment of collapse. Mandy’s “seven-ish” buckets offer language for patterns many high achievers recognize but rarely name. When the strategies that once drove success stop working, how do you begin to make sense of what comes next?

Burnout is framed here as an identity reckoning rather than a problem to fix or outwork. It often surfaces when performance quietly replaces self-trust and effort becomes the main source of worth. What happens when pushing harder no longer brings clarity or relief? What does it ask of you when the body stops cooperating with the plan?

The episode invites a different relationship with healing. One that allows uncertainty, grief, and slowness to exist without turning them into another project. Wholeness does not arrive as polish or resolution. It shows up through honesty, embodiment, and the growing ability to stop performing for approval. For anyone navigating the space between who they were trained to be and who they are becoming, this episode offers perspective, language, and permission to stay with the process.

Episode Breakdown:
00:00 The Seven Phases of Burnout Recovery for High Achievers
01:35 Denial and the Push-Harder Pattern That Starts the Slide
06:38 Triage Mode and Why Your Worth Can Feel Tied to Productivity
15:19 Reluctant Surrender and the Grief of Losing Your Old Identity
19:10 The Humbling and What Acceptance Actually Looks Like
30:31 Achievement Addiction, Dopamine, and the Crash After Big Wins
39:02 Chutes and Ladders and Practicing Self-Acceptance in Real Life
42:28 Wholeness Equals Whole Mess and Reclaiming Your Energy
47:14 When Support Helps Most and Why Recovery Becomes an Inside Job

If today’s episode sparked ideas for your team, Cait is available for keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions. Learn more here: https://caitdonovan.as.me/inquire

Connect with Mandy Lehto:
Visit Mandy's Website
Follow Mandy on Instagram
Connect with Mandy on LinkedIn

Book Cait to Speak: https://bit.ly/bookcait

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

What if you could step into a room filled with the people who hold the keys to the big stages, the book deals, and the most powerful platforms for your voice? The Gateway Gathering Pitch Fest is a visibility accelerator for thought-leaders. Whether you’re ready to pitch or just want to discover what’s possible, join us January 13 – 15. Visit: https://bit.ly/friedgateway

Why do millennials seem more exhausted than everyone else, and what does that say about the world they came of age in? Cait Donovan and Tess Brigham challenge the idea that burnout is caused by laziness, entitlement, or bad time management and instead look at the conditions that shaped an entire generation’s relationship to work, money, and ambition.

Millennials were taught to chase fulfillment through work while absorbing the expectation of constant availability, rising debt, and shrinking financial stability. That combination created a version of success that looked good on paper but often felt unsustainable in real life. Burnout, in this light, reads less like a personal breakdown and more like a rational response to a system that never powered down.

The conversation also reframes generational tension as misunderstanding rather than failure. Gen Z’s boundaries and openness around mental health are not rejections of effort. They are adaptations shaped by watching what relentless grind actually costs. What looks like resistance may be awareness.

This episode asks a quieter but harder question: what happens when the path you committed to no longer fits who you are or the life you want? Burnout becomes an invitation to reassess rather than a reason for shame. Less judgment, more curiosity, and the courage to question stories about success that were never designed to hold up under the weight they now carry.

Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Why Burnout Is a Generational Issue, Not a Personal Failure
01:15 Tess Brigham on Her Quarter-Life Crisis and Early Burnout
09:25 Why Millennials Experience Burnout Differently Than Other Generations
19:26 Student Debt, Financial Pressure, and the Burnout Equation
30:11 Mental Health, Boundaries, and What Gen Z Is Doing Differently
39:03 When Burnout Signals It’s Time to Reassess Your Path

Connect with Tess Brigham:
Visit Tess' Website
Follow Tess on Instagram
Connect with Tess on LinkedIn

Connect with Cait:
Initial Call with Cait

Burnout Recovery works better with support. UNFRIED is our small group (6 people max!) coaching program to help guide you through your recovery. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/unfried

If this episode resonated and you’re not sure where to go next, the FRIED Episode Finder can guide you to the next right listen: https://bit.ly/friedfinder

What if you could step into a room filled with the people who hold the keys to the big stages, the book deals, and the most powerful platforms for your voice? The Gateway Gathering Pitch Fest is a visibility accelerator for thought-leaders. Whether you’re ready to pitch or just want to discover what’s possible, join us January 13 – 15. Visit: https://bit.ly/friedgateway

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

What if you could step into a room filled with the people who hold the keys to the big stages, the book deals, and the most powerful platforms for your voice? The Gateway Gathering Pitch Fest is a visibility accelerator for thought-leaders. Whether you’re ready to pitch or just want to discover what’s possible, join us January 13 – 15. Visit https://bit.ly/friedgateway

Stress pushes high-achieving women toward alcohol and alcohol quietly erodes sleep emotional stability and clarity.

Cait Donovan welcomes back Casey McGuire Davidson, host of the Hello Someday podcast and a trusted voice for sober-curious women, to examine a pattern many women experience without fully naming. Alcohol is often positioned as relief, reward, and sophistication, yet over time it can leave women feeling more anxious, more reactive, and less resilient in their daily lives.

Rather than treating drinking as a moral issue or a personal failure, the focus stays on information and awareness. How does alcohol affect sleep and emotional regulation? What shifts when hormones change in midlife? How much of what feels like stress, burnout, or anxiety might be amplified by something we were told would help? Removing alcohol, even briefly, becomes a way to see your real baseline and understand what your body and nervous system are actually asking for.

This episode is an invitation to experiment with curiosity instead of judgment. What might you learn about yourself if you stopped numbing for a month? What becomes possible when rest feels deeper, moods feel steadier, and choices feel more conscious? Dry January is framed less as a challenge and more as a chance to gather clarity and decide what truly supports the life you are building.

Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Meet Casey McGuire Davidson
02:00 How Stress and Alcohol Reinforce Each Other
06:00 Alcohol’s Impact on Sleep, Anxiety, and Emotional Regulation
18:05 Perimenopause, Hormones, and Changing Alcohol Tolerance
23:55 A Practical and Sustainable Approach to Dry January

Connect with Casey McGuire Davidson:
Casey’s Website
Follow Casey on Instagram  
Connect with Casey on LinkedIn
Get The Free 30-Day Sober Guide To Quitting Drinking

Hire Cait to Speak:
Initial Call with Cait

If you’re tired and can’t quite name why, this is a good place to start. Cait’s free Core Values guide helps you figure out what’s draining you and what’s worth protecting. Grab it here: https://bit.ly/corevaluesfreebie

What if you could step into a room filled with the people who hold the keys to the big stages, the book deals, and the most powerful platforms for your voice? The Gateway Gathering Pitch Fest is a visibility accelerator for thought-leaders. Whether you’re ready to pitch or just want to discover what’s possible, join us January 13 – 15. Visit https://bit.ly/friedgateway

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Sometimes the next step is simply asking for help. Sarah Vosen is here to guide you through it: https://caitdonovan.com/coaching

Winter fear can feel like burnout recovery slipping away but this episode reframes fear and depletion as a natural part of winter rather than a sign of winter burnout or failure. 

In this #sarahshares episode, Sarah Vosen speaks directly to the quiet panic that surfaces when low energy and fear return during the darkest part of the year. When light fades and energy pulls inward, burnout recovery can feel fragile. Fear often replaces simple exhaustion, especially when the nervous system is already depleted. Sarah offers a grounding reframe. That fear is not proof you are backsliding. It is information. Winter exposes depletion more clearly, which can feel unsettling, but it also invites a different response.

Instead of pushing through or overriding low energy, the conversation centers on safety, rest, and conservation. What does safety actually feel like in your body? What helps you settle when fear is loud and rest feels out of reach? Winter is not asking for progress or productivity. It is asking for care, containment, and trust that restoration often begins when you stop fighting the dark.

Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Embracing Winter's Wisdom
05:06 Understanding Fear in Winter
09:47 Seeking Safety and Self-Care
17:10 Navigating Hibernation and Restoration

Related episodes you might want to listen to next:
Irrational Fears are a Sign of Depletion
Burnout and Sleep

If you’re ready to take the next step toward healing, you can explore 1:1 coaching with Sarah Vosen at bit.ly/unfriedcoach

Connect with Cait:
Initial Call with Cait
Initial Call with Sarah

Sometimes the next step is simply asking for help. Sarah Vosen is here to guide you through it: https://caitdonovan.com/coaching

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

The Best Burnout Coaching starts here - (this is a great way to ask for help!): https://caitdonovan.com/coaching
Burnout recovery starts when you stop treating self-sufficiency as strength and learn how to ask for help without shame.
In this Coaching session, Sarah Vosen sits down with Samira, a longtime listener facing burnout rooted in over-responsibility, financial stress, and a habit of doing everything alone. Rest has started to bring back some energy, yet doubt remains. What if it is still not enough? What if needing support means something is wrong?
At the heart of this conversation is the realization that self-reliance often begins as protection. When early attempts to ask for help led to disappointment, independence became the safest path. Over time, that strategy can quietly turn into isolation and exhaustion. Sarah reframes resilience as something built through receiving rather than pushing harder and invites Samira to see that she can learn how to ask for help and build it as a skill.
They also explore how support works best when expectations are clear and realistic. Not everyone in our lives can meet every emotional need. Some people bring calm. Others bring practical relief. Releasing unmet expectations can soften resentment and make space for real support to land.
This episode invites reflection on long-held beliefs about strength and worth. What changes when asking for help feels neutral rather than shameful? What becomes possible when support is treated as nourishment rather than failure? Burnout recovery begins at the roots, and sometimes the bravest step is allowing yourself to receive.
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Burnout Recovery and the Cost of Self-Reliance
03:09 Why Asking for Help Feels Unsafe
08:58 Letting Go of Unmet Expectations in Relationships
11:54 Asking for Help as a Skill That Builds Resilience
14:47 Restoring Emotional Roots to Heal Burnout
Links
If you’re ready to take the next step toward healing, you can explore 1:1 coaching with Sarah Vosen at bit.ly/unfriedcoach
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm