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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 Shannon Irvine’s 67-day neural rewiring research and explain why December is the optimal time for closing outdated burnout pathways and building new ones rooted in groundedness, regulation, clarity, and sustainable energy.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.

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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.

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

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In this quick 10-minute “Friday Funday” episode, Dr. Juls breaks down the truth about gratitude for midlife women in the helping professions. Especially around Thanksgiving.

You’ll learn:

• The psychology behind “performative gratitude”
• What women healers over 50 are actually thankful for
• Why invisible labor and over-functioning don’t qualify
• How the Root and Solar Plexus chakras shape holiday burnout
• A 30-second radiance reset to ground your nervous system

Perfect for therapists, counselors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and women in healthcare navigating burnout, compassion fatigue, and emotional overload during the holiday season.

Grab you free Compassion Fatigue Cure Starter Guide

Connect with Dr. Julie:

• Website
• Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook

Send us your thoughts!

Have you ever had that moment where you think, "If one more person asks me for just one more thing, I'm going to fake my own death and move to New Mexico"?

You're not broken. You're not losing it. You're a woman healer over 50 whose soul is DONE being overused.

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on what burnout REALLY looks like for high-achieving women in medicine, mental health, and caregiving professions—and why your 30-year-old coworker with the Stanley cup does NOT understand your level of exhaustion.

This is identity burnout. This is compassion fatigue at the PhD level. And it's NOT solved with bubble baths.

You'll discover:

• Why burnout hits women over 50 differently (backed by research, not wellness industry fluff)
• A 5-minute nervous system reset you can do anywhere (clinic, car, bathroom stall—wherever you hide from humans)
• The uncomfortable truth about why traditional self-care might be keeping you stuck
• Why burnout isn't your decline—it's your turning point into your Phoenix Era

Spoiler alert: Your soul is waking up, not breaking down. And it's time to stop recovering INTO the same life that broke you.

KEY STAMPS

The Science of Midlife Burnout for Women Healers

• Research on emotional labor load in women over 50
• Compassion fatigue + aging nervous systems
• Why women over 50 feel invisible at work (NIH study)

The Truth You Don't Want to Admit

• You didn't burn out because you're weak
• Why the healthcare system loves women like you (until you crack)
• Burnout as awakening, not collapse

The Phoenix Reset — 5-Minute Nervous System Intervention

• The exhale that tells your body you're safe
• Vagus nerve release technique
• The 3-foot rule for interrupting spiraling thoughts
• Permission statement: "I get to rest because I matter"

The Reframe That Changes Everything

• Burnout is the turning point, not the end
• You've outgrown the role of "everyone's everything"
• Welcome to your Phoenix Era
• This is your return to Soul Joy

The Plot Twist No One Told You

• The uncomfortable truth about the wellness industry banking on your burnout
• Research: Why MORE traditional self-care without systemic change = HIGHER burnout
• Self-preservation vs. self-care
• What if you're not supposed to recover back into the same life that broke you?
• Introducing: The Radiance Chapter

RESEARCH CITED IN THIS EPISODE

📚 Dr. Arlie Hochschild's research on emotional labor in women
📚 Figley's compassion fatigue model
📚 2023 NIH study on women over 50 feeling invisible at work
📚 2024 Journal of Occupational Health Psychology study on the recovery paradox

RESOURCES MENTIONED

🎁 FREE DOWNLOAD: The Radiance Chapter Starter Guide
Get the strategic roadmap for women healers over 50 who are ready to stop recovering and start redesigning.

👉 Download Your Radiance Chapter Starter Guide here

CONNECT WITH DR. JULIE

🌐

Connect with Dr. Julie:

• Website
• Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook

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Ever felt guilty for setting a boundary with someone who's "just trying to help"? In this week's Friday Funday, Dr. Julie shares the hilarious (and slightly mortifying) story of the day she fired her therapist – and what happened in her nervous system when she tried to people-please her way through it.

You'll learn:

• The neuroscience behind why setting boundaries feels so dangerous for helping professionals
• How your polyvagal system keeps you stuck in fawning mode
• A 5-minute Boundary-Setting Nervous System Reset you can do anywhere (yes, even in your car between patients)

This episode is packed with research-backed strategies and practical tools specifically for women over 50 in healthcare who are struggling with burnout.

Featured Research:

• Dr. Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory
• Dr. Kristin Neff's research on self-compassion and backdraft
• Dr. Andrew Huberman's physiological sighing technique
• Journal of Clinical Psychology (2019) – Neural activity in helping professionals

Key Timestamps:

• 0:00 – Hook: Why firing your therapist might be the boundary you need
• 1:30 – The bubble bath incident (aka the moment everything changed)
• 4:30 – The neuroscience of boundaries in helping professionals
• 7:00 – Activity: The Three B's Boundary-Setting Nervous System Reset
• 9:00 – Closing & your weekly challenge

Resources Mentioned:

• FREE Soul Joy Starter Guide
• Book: "In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue"

This podcast is for: Women over 50 in healthcare and helping professions who are brilliant, burned out, and ready to reclaim their joy without leaving their calling.

Connect with Dr. Julie:

• Website
• Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook

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Feeling lost after 50? You're not broken—you're transitioning. In this episode, Dr. Julie Merriman explores the identity crisis many women over 50 experience, especially healthcare professionals and helpers who've spent decades caring for others. Learn the neuroscience behind why this happens, why your nervous system is recalibrating, and practical steps to reconnect with joy and desire without another self-improvement project.

Perfect for: Women over 50, healthcare professionals experiencing burnout, counselors, therapists, social workers, nurses, physicians, empty nesters, and anyone navigating midlife identity transitions.

KEY TOPICS COVERED

• Identity Crisis After 50 – Why it's developmental, not personal failure
• Burnout in Healthcare Professionals – How helpers experience identity loss differently
• Nervous System Science – Polyvagal theory and why you feel "lost"
• Perimenopause and Identity – How hormone shifts force recalibration
• Compassion Fatigue – The cost of over-caring for decades ✓ Grief and Midlife Transition – What you're actually mourning
• Finding Purpose After 50 – Why that advice often makes it worse
• Practical Recovery Steps – Nervous system regulation and identity reclamation

KEY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE

"This disorientation is not personal failure. This is identity being returned to you."

"You have never had this much freedom before. You just haven't learned how to desire again."

"Your nervous system has been in crisis mode for so long, it thinks silence means something is wrong."

"Helpers burn out differently than other professions. It's not just overwork. It's over-caring."

"You don't need a new purpose. You need to reconnect with desire."

"Purpose asks: 'What should I do with my life?' Desire asks: 'What makes me feel alive right now?'"

"You cannot think your way out of nervous system dysregulation. You have to feel your way through it."

"You are not starting over. You are returning to yourself."

"You are entering the chapter where your life finally becomes your own. And that is terrifying. And that is beautiful."

RESEARCH & RESOURCES MENTIONED

Psychological & Developmental Frameworks

• Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
  Generativity vs. Stagnation (ages 40-65)
  Understanding midlife as a normal developmental transition

Neuroscience & Nervous System

• Polyvagal Theory by Dr. Stephen Porges
  The three states of the autonomic nervous system
  Understanding why you feel disconnected or numb
• Neuroscience of Identity Formation
  Brain requires: quiet, novelty, curiosity, rest, and play
  Neural pathway reformation in midlife

Burnout & Compassion Fatigue Research

• Compassion Fatigue in Helping Professionals
  How counselors, therapists, social workers, nurses, and physicians burn out differently
  The cost of "over-caring" vs. overwork

Hormone Health

• Perimenopause and Menopause Effects on Identity
  Estrogen's role in stress resilience, mood, and tolerance
  How hormone shifts lower your threshold for accepting unacceptable things

PRACTICAL TOOLS & EXERCI

Connect with Dr. Julie:

• Website
• Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook

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Ever find yourself replaying conversations from 1997 at 2 AM? Welcome to the overthinking club—we meet in our heads, constantly, at all hours.

In this Soul Joy Friday Fun Day episode, we're diving into the spiritual and scientific reasons behind your mental hamster wheel. Perfect for healthcare professionals who've spent decades problem-solving for everyone else and now can't turn off their own racing thoughts.

What You'll Learn:

• Which three chakras are behind your overthinking (hint: your third eye is overachieving again)
• Why healthcare professionals overthink more than most—and why it's actually intensified after 50
• The neuroscience behind why you can't "think" your way to peace
• Three research-backed, spiritually-grounded practices to quiet your mind in under 5 minutes
• Why your overthinking isn't your enemy—it's just exhausted

Key Research Mentioned:

• Harvard University study on mind-wandering (47% of our waking hours)
• UC Berkeley research on overthinking in women over 50
• Yale's Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema on rumination and control
• HeartMath Institute on breathing and nervous system regulation
• Dr. Kristin Neff's UT Austin research on self-compassion vs. rumination

Practices Shared:

1. The Third Eye Pressure Release (60 seconds) - Instant relief for analysis paralysis
2. The Throat Chakra Truth Bomb (5-minute journaling) - Reduce intrusive thoughts by 40%
3. The Crown Chakra Surrender Practice (evening ritual) - Permission to be enough

Quotable Moments:

• "You can't think your way out of a problem that requires you to FEEL."
• "Your chakras aren't broken. They're just overworked, like you."
• "Is this thought serving me, or am I serving this thought?"
• "You're not trying to be perfect. You're trying to be present. Big difference."

Resources:

• Book a clarity call: [your link]

Connect with Dr. Julie:

• Website
• Instagram: @dr.juliemerriman
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook