Finish What You Started (Without Burning Yourself Out) w/ Patrice Dawkins Jackson

What do you actually have the capacity for right now?

In this episode, I sit down with Patrice Dawkins Jackson, host of Finish What You Started, and we talk about what it really means to follow through without running yourself into the ground.

We explore:

• The difference between discipline and depletion
• How to check your real capacity
• Finishing in a season that looks different than when you began
• Why pushing harder is not always the answer

And of course, I asked her our throughline question:
What is one brave thing you’re prioritizing right now?

Connect with Patrice:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/finishwhatyoustartedpod/
www.finishwhatyoustarted.co

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If this conversation felt a little too familiar in your body… especially around work exhaustion or burnout…

I’m facilitating an 8-week virtual therapy group beginning March 31 called Burnout Recovery for High-Achieving Women. This is a clinical group for women navigating work-based stress who want support regulating, setting boundaries, and rebuilding sustainably.

A brief group fit consultation is required before enrollment closes March 24 .

⁠Learn more here:
https://www.samanthaedu.com/therapy-groups/burnout-reset/

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Share this with someone who’s trying to finish strong without finishing burned out.

Samantha

In a season where everything feels loud, heavy, and urgent, many of us are exhausted while still expecting ourselves to function at full capacity.

In this episode, Samantha Edu explores one of the most damaging lies about self-compassion and how it quietly fuels burnout. What many people are calling “stress” right now is often a threat response. When the world feels unstable, our nervous systems stay on high alert, and compassion can feel like something we can’t afford.

This conversation is about staying awake to the world without burning yourself to the ground, choosing impact without self-erasure, and leading yourself with care in chaotic times.

Brown Heart Affirmation:
I can be honest about what’s happening without abandoning myself.
I can choose impact that does not cost me my humanity.

💛 Support & Next Steps
If your capacity has shifted but your calling hasn’t, you don’t have to navigate that alone.

Learn more about individual therapy and the burnout support group:
https://secure.helloalma.com/providers/samantha-edu/

Share this episode with someone who’s functioning, but not okay.

What happens when your capacity changes but your identity doesn’t?

In this season-opening episode, Samantha reflects on a powerful metaphor. The difference between being a teacup and being a vase. Same purpose. Different capacity.

After a difficult professional interaction, she realized something important. She wasn’t a teacup because she was weak. Her capacity had shifted. And the real harm comes when we expect teacup capacity to produce vase-level outcomes.

This episode is an honest conversation about:

• Allowing your capacity and bandwidth to change across seasons

• Why being tired doesn’t mean you’re less capable

• How burnout shows up when output expectations don’t match reality

• Letting your inner strength rest without disappearing

• Remembering that strength doesn’t vanish just because it’s not needed right now

If you’re in a season where things feel heavier, slower, or more tender, this episode offers permission to stop proving and start honoring where you are.

What shape am I right now?
And what would it look like to honor that instead of fighting it?

🫖 If this metaphor resonates and you want to read the full written reflection, it’s available on Substack.

🎥 Starting this season, the audio version of the podcast lives on Spotify. For the full visual experience, including imagery and presence, you can watch the episode on YouTube.

🤎 Stay close this season as we continue exploring capacity, self-trust, and what it means to lead ourselves with care.

As this year comes to a close, I’m being honest about where I am.

Q4 took more out of me than I expected. My brain felt short-circuited, my body felt tired, and the idea of “finishing strong” just wasn’t realistic. So in this episode, I talk about what it means to simply finish. Not perfectly. Not impressively. Just with compassion.

I reflect on why one season doesn’t define an entire year, why endurance deserves more grace than we give it, and how I’m choosing to move through this ending without rushing myself into clarity or closure.

This episode is for anyone who made it to the end of the year tired, quieter than usual, or still figuring things out. You’re not behind. You’re human.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why Q4 felt heavy and disorienting

• Letting go of the pressure to “finish strong”

• What endurance looks like in real life

• Ending the year with honesty instead of urgency

• Holding hope without forcing a plan

As I close out the year, I also share about The Hall Pass, a community-centered offering created for Black women navigating layoffs, career shifts, and employment transitions. It’s rooted in access, care, and not having to move through uncertainty alone.

Learn more about The Hall Pass here:
https://stan.store/brownheartwellness/p/the-hall-pass-for-black-women-navigating-layoffs

I also briefly name that I’m opening space for new coaching clients as we move into the new year, for those who want support while they figure things out at a humane pace.

Take what you need from this episode. Leave the rest. And thank yourself for finishing.

This week on The Brown Heart Wellness Podcast, I’m joined by Kali Fields Williams a holistic wellness practitioner and author of Renewable You, helping women reconnect with their inner wisdom and live with intention and balance.

We talk about what it really means to heal the whole woman,mind, body, and spirit, and how to move from simply setting intentions to fully integrating them. Kali shares her journey of balancing motherhood, entrepreneurship, and self-healing, and how breath, boundaries, and being still have become her anchors.

If you’ve been craving alignment or searching for the next brave step in your healing journey, this conversation will remind you that you already hold the wisdom you need within.

🤎 Brown Heart Affirmation:
“I honor the woman I’m becoming — whole, grounded, and guided by truth.”

🧘🏾‍♀️ Brown Heart Mindful Moment:
Take a slow, deep breath. Place your hand over your heart and whisper to yourself: “I am safe in my becoming.”

00:00 – Opening + Brown Heart Affirmation
02:15 – Introducing Kali and her wellness journey
05:45 – From intention to integration: embodying healing
10:30 – How motherhood and entrepreneurship changed her practice
15:20 – The power of boundaries and stillness in self-leadership
21:10 – Breathwork and energy as tools for regulation
25:40 – Brown Heart Mindful Moment
27:10 – Outro + Call to Action

Here's how to find Kali

• Renewable You Book Waitlist

• LinkedIn - Kali Fields Williams (let her know you heard her here)

If this episode spoke to your spirit, share it with a friend who’s walking her own healing journey.
🤎 Join the One Brave Thing community for free until November 8, 2025
and follow along at @brownheartwellness for daily reflections and mindful moments.

After a beautiful, intentional break to bring the Positioned to Pause Retreat to life, Samantha returns with reflections on the power of community, compassion, and rest.

This episode is a love letter to the women who showed up, the ones who helped make it happen, and the reminder that you don’t have to recreate the same oppressive systems inside the business you’re building.

“Rest isn’t what happens when everything stops. Rest is what allows you to keep becoming.”

Brown Heart Affirmation:

“Today, I choose compassion over comparison.
I honor the season I’m in.
My pause is not proof of failure, it’s evidence of faith.”

Today's conversation is all about:

• The beauty of pausing with purpose

• What it means to heal with other people

• How community and joy fuel brave living

• A gentle invitation to join the One Brave Thing Community (free until Nov 8)

Healing happens with other people.
Join the free community through November 8 → samanthaedu.com/obtcommunity

This episode and the Positioned to Pause Retreat were made possible by partners who believe in rest, joy, and community care:

• The Honey Pot Co – Wellness reimagined for the modern woman.

• Smooth September Tea – Hand-blended teas that soothe and center.

• Georgia in a Jar – Southern sweetness and local love in every bite.

• Get Into Wine – Charcuterie pairings and bottles that make community gatherings even sweeter.

• Hormonal Cookie – Balancing indulgence with nourishment for your inner goddess.

Thank you for pouring into this moment of rest and reflection. 🤎

Samantha Edu is a licensed therapist, certified coach, and founder of Brown Heart Wellness—a community where Black women leaders, caregivers, and creatives learn to live bravely, rest intentionally, and lead authentically through the ROOT Framework (Reflect, Open, Overcome, Thrive).

A gentle reset before the pour. I open with a short intro, then Dr. Nicole Pertillar and I dig into what a real pause looks like and why it matters.

Episode overview:
Today I’m sharing our co-live conversation with Dr. Nicole Pertillar as we partner her Sip from the Well: 10 Days of Pause (Oct 1–10) with my Positioned to Pause mini-retreat (Oct 11). We talk about rest as a brave choice, how to pause without guilt, and practical ways to return to yourself so you can pour from overflow, not empty.

What you’ll hear:

• How to pause with intention and not lose your momentum

• Simple practices to create room for rest in a full life

• Why community helps you keep your pause promise to yourself

Save your seat for Positioned to Pause on Oct 11. Light bites, teacher-led mindful movement, journal time, community space, and a wellness kit.
www.samanthaedu.com/retreats

• Sip from the Well: 10 Days of Pause with Dr. Nicole Pertillar (Oct 1–10) — Register Here

• • Follow Dr. Nicole Pertillar on IG

  Resources:

  • Join the Brown Heart Substack Community

  Disclosure:
  This conversation is a collaboration to uplift rest, reflection, and community care.

  
  

In this episode of the Brown Heart Wellness Podcast, Samantha sits down with Khalia Davis Philp and Demetrius Philp, co-founders of Smooth September. They share the inspiration behind their wellness beverage company rooted in Caribbean healing traditions, the role of tea as a daily ritual, and the “One Brave Thing” guiding their journey as entrepreneurs. Samantha also shares her own experience with Smooth September’s Awakening Blend and how it has become part of her morning ritual.

Smooth September is a proud sponsor of the Positioned to Pause Retreat happening October 11 in Atlanta. Early bird tickets are going fast, and listeners can also enjoy 15% off Smooth September teas and juices with code BHW2025.

👉 Shop Smooth September: smoothseptember.com/discount/BHW2025
👉 Join the retreat: samanthaedu.com/retreats