#sarahshares: When Burnout Recovery Feels Like Punishment, This Is What You Do

“We sometimes resist our own healing because it feels like punishment,” says Sarah Vosen in this latest #sarashares episode of FRIED. Today, she discusses the challenge of healing, which despite being good for us, doesn’t necessarily always feel great. And because of this, we are tempted to self sabotage, retreat back into our old coping mechanisms, and continue to sacrifice long term growth and greater reward for smaller, short-term rewards—or merely the illusion thereof. You may recognize yourself in a few of the scenarios that Sarah shares to illustrate how we can backslide down the slippery slope of healing. She also shares her own journey toward healthy eating and forming a new relationship to alcohol, and the incremental success in forming new habits. 

As with everything in nature and the universe, contraction is as natural an element of the growth and healing process as expansion. So, on our healing journey, for every step forward there may be a retreat back to old, comforting habits, especially when we’re physically and emotionally exhausted. That’s why we must take it slow and steady, show ourselves grace and reward, and look for and accept support. Sarah discusses the subject of “revenge procrastination,” and the big questions that lay at the heart of our resistance to change. 

With vulnerability and courage, Sarah continues to share her own journey with us so that we can learn more about what it means to heal from burnout and take bold action along our own path. 

Quotes

• “Continuing to use only these instant gratification comforts is like choosing a consolation prize that’s depleting over time because they’re like empty calories—sometimes literally—or sometimes more like empty fulfillment, like how a diet soda is sweet but not really. It isn’t exactly satisfying.The real prizes are the ones that healing provides.” (2:33 | Sarah Vosen) 
• “All periods of growth have a retreat following them, just like winter is a retreat of energy from the full out growth period of the summer.” (8:23 | Sarah Vosen) 
• “When you are embarking on a healing journey, remember that in order to change, you have to change, and with change comes growing pains, mostly because you have to shift your habits away from a lifestyle that is the only safety you know, and has been comforting you in some way, for years. Even if it wasn’t helpful for you in many other ways.” (11:52 | Sarah Vosen)
• “You’ve heard it said before and I’ll say it again: make smaller changes. If you’re very tired, make even smaller changes. I know it won’t seem like enough, but it will add up.” (19:04 | Sarah Vosen)

Links

Dahlia blooming: https://www.instagram.com/thesusanakennedy/reel/C4IFC-wA3pN/

Scheduling acupuncture with Sarah near Minneapolis, MN:

https://acusimple.com/access/7008/#/appointments/8888/list/42506/2024-03-14/

Connect with Cait:

Burnout isn’t a personal failure or a lack of resilience. It’s a signal that something in the system, expectations, roles, pace, or support, is out of alignment. Conversations like this one help surface the human experience of burnout, while the broader work continues to explore how organizations can respond more intelligently and sustainably.

To explore burnout, leadership, and sustainable performance through a workplace and organizational lens, connect with Cait Donovan: https://bit.ly/bookcait

Learn more about Cait’s speaking work: https://www.caitdonovan.com/speaking

Short on time? Watch this 3-minute reel: https://bit.ly/caitdreel2025

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm