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Your nervous system triggers the same survival response when you listen to your patient’s trauma as it would if you were the one in danger.
After years of clinical work, your brain no longer distinguishes whose trauma it’s carrying.

That’s not emotional weakness.
That’s neuroscience.

In this episode, I unpack what no one explains in training: how mirror neurons, polyvagal activation, and chronic exposure to distress biologically wire women healers for exhaustion, burnout, and compassion fatigue over time.

We look at what happens when trauma is mirrored repeatedly without discharge—and why your body stays on high alert long after the session ends.

You’ll understand:

• Why chronic hypervigilance becomes your baseline
• How decision fatigue drains personal power and clarity
• Why exhaustion shows up as brain fog, resentment, sleep disruption, and loss of self

This episode reframes exhaustion not as failure, but as accurate nervous system feedback.

This conversation introduces a practical, embodied lens for understanding exhaustion—one that replaces self-blame with physiological clarity and opens the door to restoration without adding more effort or self-improvement demands.

We rise together.

This podcast is for women healers over 50 navigating burnout and compassion fatigue who want nervous-system-informed insight into exhaustion, purpose loss, polyvagal regulation, chakra healing, and embodied recovery so they can move from survival into clarity, stability, and restoration.

Burnout isn’t your failure—it’s the cost of caring too long without support.
In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue is written for women healers ready to stop surviving and start living again.

👉 Get the Book!

Book a FREE one on one with Dr. Julie to discern you next move.

Episodes drop every Tuesday at 5am and every Friday at noon.

Special guest episodes drop the 4th Thursday of every month at 7am.

Send us your thoughts!

You’re so good at showing up for everyone else that you’ve quietly disappeared at home—and the people you love most are starting to feel the distance.

If burnout and compassion fatigue have left you emotionally flat, irritable, withdrawn, or numb in your relationships, this episode names what’s actually happening beneath the surface—without blaming you, shaming you, or asking you to “try harder.”

Women healers over 50 don’t lose connection because they stop caring.
They lose connection because chronic burnout exhausts the nervous system’s capacity for relationship.

After years of emotional labor, trauma exposure, and self-neglect, many high-achieving helpers find themselves overwhelmed, resentful, and quietly disconnected at home—not because they lack love, but because their bodies are still operating in survival mode.

When the nervous system is depleted, presence becomes impossible. Intimacy feels like effort. Conversation feels draining. Withdrawal becomes protection.

This episode explains why that pattern makes sense—and how to interrupt it without sacrificing yourself further.

In this episode, Julie Merriman, Ph.D., LPC-S explores:

• Why compassion fatigue drains relational capacity long before it shows up as open conflict
• How burnout creates emotional withdrawal, irritability, and “ghosting” in close relationships
• The neuroscience behind dissociation, nervous-system depletion, and loss of connection
• Why resentment in relationships is information, not failure
• How unfinished stress cycles keep you trapped in exhaustion and disconnection
• Three somatic practices that support relational repair without self-abandonment
• How heart-centered, body-based work restores connection without re-depleting yourself

This episode is for women who feel confused by their own withdrawal—and want real tools, not platitudes, to reclaim connection, clarity, and purpose.

If this episode described your inner world, don’t ignore that recognition.

Read In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue. The book walks you through nervous-system-informed recovery, embodied practices, and sustainable repair—for both your energy and your relationships.

If one woman came to mind while listening, share this episode with her.
We rise together.

This podcast is for women healers over 50 navigating burnout and compassion fatigue who want nervous-system-informed insight into exhaustion, overwhelm, resentment, self-neglect, identity loss, and purpose so they can move toward clarity, boundaries, liberation, wisdom, and renewal.

Burnout isn’t your failure—it’s the cost of caring too long without support.
In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue is written for women healers ready to stop surviving and start living again.

👉 Get the Book!

Book a FREE one on one with Dr. Julie to discern you next move.

Episodes drop every Tuesday at 5am and every Friday at noon.

Special guest episodes drop the 4th Thursday of every month at 7am.

Send us your thoughts!

Have you experienced emotional exhaustion or brain fog that leaves you feeling lost and empty? This episode dives deep into the challenges women healers over 50 face, including burnout, compassion fatigue, and the impact of perimenopause on cognitive function. Discover the concept of the Estrogen Void — a misunderstood condition that is not aging or dementia, but a hormonal shift affecting brain health and purpose.

Join Dr. Julie Merriman, Ph.D., LPC-S, as she explores somatic healing techniques, boundary setting, and the role of estrogen as a brain-protective hormone. Learn how functional mushrooms and a Solar Plexus chakra somatic reset can aid emotional recovery and promote self-compassion. This episode draws on polyvagal theory and trauma-informed nervous system strategies to help you regain clarity, confidence, and ignite your passion beyond burnout and compassion fatigue.

If you are a woman healer navigating the challenges of life after 50 and seeking to move from survival to restoration, this episode offers insightful guidance and support. Share it with someone who needs to hear these empowering truths — together, we rise.

This podcast is for women healers over 50 navigating burnout and compassion fatigue who want nervous-system-informed insight into exhaustion, cognitive fog, identity loss, purpose erosion, and embodied recovery so they can move from survival into clarity, stability, and restoration.

Burnout isn’t your failure—it’s the cost of caring too long without support.
In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue is written for women healers ready to stop surviving and start living again.

👉 Get the Book!

Book a FREE one on one with Dr. Julie to discern you next move.

Episodes drop every Tuesday at 5am and every Friday at noon.

Special guest episodes drop the 4th Thursday of every month at 7am.