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Compassion Fatigue Cure: From Burnout to Radiance for Women Healers 50+

Compassion Fatigue Cure: From Burnout to Radiance for Women Healers 50+

By: Dr. Julie Merriman
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About this listen

You’re a healer.
A helper.

A woman who has spent years—maybe decades—supporting the emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing of others.


And now you’re exhausted.

Not a little tired.
Not “I need a vacation” tired.


You’re living with compassion fatigue and burnout.

They don’t show up separately.
They work together.
They feed each other.


Compassion fatigue is the emotional and nervous system depletion that comes from holding space for others’ pain, trauma, crises, and needs.


Burnout is the physical, cognitive, and soul-level collapse that follows when you’ve spent too long surviving on adrenaline, responsibility, and self-abandonment.

Most women healers 50+ aren’t dealing with one or the other —

You’re dealing with both at the same time.

And you’ve been taught to survive it, not heal it.


This podcast is a lifeline for women who feel:

• Chronically tired or emotionally numb
• Disconnected from purpose, passion, or identity
• Resentful, checked-out, or quietly angry
• Overwhelmed at work and at home
• Sleep-deprived, dysregulated, or shut down
• Unsure whether to quit, collapse, or just keep pushing


I’m Dr. Julie Merriman — Professor, counselor, burnout researcher, polyvagal science nerd, and unapologetic midlife reinvention sexpert.

After 30+ years working with healers (and nearly becoming a compassion fatigue–burnout casualty myself), I learned the truth:


You’re not exhausted because you’re weak.

You’re exhausted because you were never taught to protect your nervous system while doing the work you were born to do.


In every episode, we talk about compassion fatigue and burnout together:

How emotional labor, caregiving, and “being the strong one” overloads your nervous system
How chronic stress reshapes your hormones, brain chemistry, and identity
Why women healers over 50 experience the highest rates of depletion, resentment, and midlife collapse
Why society rewards your sacrifice… but never teaches you recovery
How to begin healing without quitting your calling or abandoning yourself


We talk trauma physiology, polyvagal theory, chakras, somatic reset, boundary repair, and nervous system regulation.

We talk identity, purpose, sensuality, spirituality, meaning, and the parts of you that got buried under responsibility.

We talk about your Radiance Chapter — the season of life where your wisdom, body, and calling stop competing and finally align.


You’ve spent a lifetime holding everyone else up.
It’s time to learn how to lift yourself.


Welcome to Compassion Fatigue Cure: From Burnout to Radiance for Women Healers 50+.

This is where you rise.


Ready to begin your recovery?

👉 Download the Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide — the essential roadmap to stop over-functioning, calm your nervous system, and reclaim your spark.
👉 Get the From Burnout to Radiance Reset — the step-by-step path to rebuild your identity, regulate your system, and rediscover who you were before the exhaustion took over.


Your radiance isn’t lost.
It’s buried.

And together, we’re bringing her back into the light.

© 2025 Compassion Fatigue Cure: From Burnout to Radiance for Women Healers 50+ Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 67 Days to Rewire Burnout: The Year-End Reset Every Woman Healer Over 50 Needs

    67 Days to Rewire Burnout: The Year-End Reset Every Woman Healer Over 50 Needs
    Dec 2 2025

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    Have you ever noticed that every December you promise yourself next year will be different, yet by February you’re right back in the same exhaustion, over-giving, people-pleasing, and burnout cycle?

    If you’ve been wondering why you can’t seem to break patterns that no longer fit who you are, this episode reveals the neuroscience behind it—and why the next 67 days may be the most important reset window of your entire year.

    Women healers over 50 run on deeply entrenched neural pathways built during decades of survival mode. The belief systems that keep you overworking, over-functioning, and putting yourself last are not personality flaws; they are neurologically automated responses shaped by compassion fatigue, chronic responsibility, and the invisible curriculum of caregiving.
    In this episode, I break down Dr. Shannon Irvine’s 67-day neural rewiring research and explain why December is the optimal time for closing outdated burnout pathways and building new ones rooted in groundedness, regulation, clarity, and sustainable energy.

    In the next twenty minutes, you’ll learn:

    • Why your end-of-year burnout isn’t emotional failure—it’s your nervous system hitting capacity
    • How automatic burnout pathways form in women healers and why they intensify after age fifty
    • Why 67 days, not 21, is the true rewiring timeline for shifting beliefs, behaviors, and emotional patterns
    • What makes December a neuroplastic “open window” for transformation
    • How to identify your core burnout belief and interrupt it somatically
    • Why polyvagal regulation, chakra-based grounding, and cognitive rewiring must work together in midlife
    • The five-step Soul Joy 67-Day Reset Method designed specifically for women healers

    You’ll leave with a research-backed, psychologically sound, and spiritually grounded reset process you can begin today—and by early February, your inner world will not look the same.

    If this episode resonates, don’t stop here.

    Download your free Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide or the Burnout to Radiance Reset click link below.

    It’s the essential first step for women healers ready to shut down burnout pathways and open new patterns of Radiance.

    And if you know another woman over fifty who spends her life caring for everyone else while running on empty, please share this episode with her.

    We rise together.

    Ready to feel like you again?
    Get the free Burnout to Radiance Reset and/or Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide to begin your soul-deep reinvention.

    Reach out to Dr. Juls info@juliemerrimanphd.com

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

    With a special guest episode once a month dropping at Thursday at 7am.
    Show More Show Less
    11 mins
  • Holiday Burnout for Professional Helpers: Stop Over-Functioning This Christmas

    Holiday Burnout for Professional Helpers: Stop Over-Functioning This Christmas
    Nov 28 2025

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    It's Black Friday, and if you just spent all of Thanksgiving making everyone else's holiday perfect while eating cold food standing at the sink—this episode is for you.

    Dr. Juls breaks down why holiday over-functioning is literally making you sick, gives you permission to stop the madness, and assigns you homework that will shift your entire Christmas season.

    You'll learn:

    • The research on how holiday stress impacts your cortisol and immune system
    • Why helpers default to over-functioning during the holidays
    • 3 permission slips to change your holiday experience
    • A powerful homework assignment: The Christmas NON-Negotiable Lists
    • How to actually enjoy the holidays instead of just surviving them

    This episode is for you if:

    • You're a helper, healer, caregiver, nurse, therapist, teacher, or social worker
    • You just orchestrated an entire Thanksgiving and you're already dreading Christmas
    • You're exhausted from trying to create "perfect" holidays for everyone else
    • You're ready to stop over-functioning and start living

    Key Topics Covered:

    • Holiday burnout for helpers and caregivers
    • Over-functioning and perfectionism during the holidays
    • Holiday stress and cortisol levels
    • Compassion fatigue and seasonal burnout
    • Setting boundaries during the holidays
    • Self-care for helpers during Christmas
    • How to stop people-pleasing during the holidays
    • Holiday overwhelm and exhaustion
    • Caregiver holiday stress management

    Research & Resources Mentioned:

    • Psychoneuroendocrinology (2018) - Holiday stress and elevated cortisol
    • American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (2020) - Healthcare workers and holiday health symptoms
    • Journal of Family Psychology (2019) - Children's holiday memories and parental presence
    • Journal of Consumer Psychology (2021) - Holiday boundaries and stress reduction
    • Emotion journal (2020) - Personal pleasure activities and burnout prevention

    Free Resources:

    🎁 Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide Get the complete guide to understanding and healing compassion fatigue. [LINK]

    🎁 Burnout to Radiance Reset A 5-day practice to move from depletion to restoration. [LINK]

    Keywords:

    holiday burnout, caregiver holiday stress, Christmas burnout, over-functioning, holiday overwhelm, compassion fatigue during holidays, helper burnout, nurse holiday stress, therapist burnout, caregiver exhaustion, holiday boundaries, self-care for helpers, holiday perfectionism, Christmas stress for caregivers, burnout recovery, seasonal burnout, how to stop over-functioning

    Subscribe & Review:

    If this episode helped you laugh and gave you permission to stop the madness, please subscribe and leave a review!

    Ready to feel like you again?
    Get the free Burnout to Radiance Reset and/or Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide to begin your soul-deep reinvention.

    Reach out to Dr. Juls info@juliemerrimanphd.com

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

    With a special guest episode once a month dropping at Thursday at 7am.
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
  • Stop Being Grateful for Burnout: Why Toxic Gratitude Keeps Helpers Stuck in Compassion Fatigue

    Stop Being Grateful for Burnout: Why Toxic Gratitude Keeps Helpers Stuck in Compassion Fatigue
    Nov 25 2025

    Send us your thoughts!

    This Thanksgiving, it's time to stop being grateful for your compassion fatigue and burnout. In this powerful episode, Dr. Juls breaks down why toxic gratitude is keeping you stuck, what the research says about forced positivity in helping professions, and what to say instead when you're genuinely burned out.

    You'll learn:

    • How toxic gratitude creates throat and heart chakra blockages
    • The neuroscience behind why forced gratitude doesn't work when you're depleted
    • 3 powerful reframes to replace "I'm blessed" and "I should be grateful"
    • A 10-minute Truth & Release Practice to clear emotional suppression
    • How to set micro-boundaries without guilt

    This episode is for you if:

    • You're a helper, healer, caregiver, nurse, therapist, teacher, physician, or social worker
    • You're exhausted but feel guilty for not being "grateful enough"
    • You've been told to "just practice gratitude" but it's not working
    • You're ready to tell the truth about your burnout and actually heal

    Key Topics Covered:

    • Compassion fatigue and toxic positivity
    • Spiritual bypassing in helping professions
    • Toxic gratitude and burnout
    • Nervous system regulation for caregivers
    • Chakra healing for compassion fatigue (throat, heart, sacral, root)
    • Boundary-setting for helpers
    • Emotional suppression and burnout
    • Dialectical thinking for burnout recovery
    • Self-compassion practices for healers

    Research & Resources Mentioned:

    • John Welwood on spiritual bypassing
    • Journal of Positive Psychology (2019) - Forced gratitude and emotional exhaustion
    • Dr. Marsha Linehan - Dialectical Behavior Therapy
    • Frontiers in Psychology (2021) - Boundary-setting language and burnout reduction
    • Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (2020) - Emotional suppression and compassion fatigue
    • Polyvagal theory and vagus nerve activation

    Free Resources:

    🎁 Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide Get the complete guide to understanding and healing compassion fatigue.

    🎁 Burnout to Radiance Reset A 5-day practice to move from depletion to restoration.

    Keywords:

    compassion fatigue, burnout, toxic gratitude, caregiver burnout, nurse burnout, therapist burnout, helper burnout, spiritual bypassing, gratitude and burnout, secondary traumatic stress, emotional exhaustion, boundary setting, self-care for helpers, nervous system healing, chakra healing, burnout recovery, compassion fatigue symptoms, how to heal burnout, burnout in helping professions

    Subscribe & Review:

    If this episode helped you, please subscribe to Compassion Fatigue Cure and leave a 5-star review. Your reviews help other helpers find this podcast and start their healing journey.



    Connect with Dr. Julie:

    • Website
    • Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
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