Quick note: Enrollment is open for Love It or Leave It (Leaving the Chair).
Closes January 30 (at the time of recording).
Join Love It or Leave It (Open Enrollment):
https://balanced-thunder-281.myflodesk.com/jhvxnbroxe
Book a consult call (limited availability):
https://calendar.app.google/JBkK3aUPXyvxr46F7
About this episode
Micah Freeman interviews Jen for Episode 100.
We talk about milestones, burnout (in real life), cognitive overload, and why so many therapists are done with 1:1 as it’s currently structured.
What we cover
- What 100 episodes actually feels like (and why “arrival” doesn’t land the way we expect)
- The arrival fallacy and the “have done list”
- Jen’s current relationship with burnout and learning to be gentler with herself
- Cognitive burnout: screens, tabs, constant input, nervous system fatigue
- The added layers for many therapists: caregiving, emotional labor, hormones/menopause
- Why Jen started studying burnout before becoming a psychologist (therapeutic foster care)
- Burnout vs depression and the overlap in symptoms
- Therapist isolation, clinical grief, and why support matters
- Community, meaning, and the messy middle of spirituality/faith
- Why listener emails and reviews matter more than you think
A few lines that stuck
- “Earth School is very hard.”
- “There are only so many times you can walk through fire and not get burned.”
- “I wanted to give it the breadth of time. 100 felt like doing that.”
Reflection questions
- What am I waiting to achieve so I can finally feel okay?
- What would be on my “have done list” this year?
- What’s burning me out most: work, life load, cognitive overload, or all of it?
- What would a sustainable next step look like (not a dramatic pivot)?
Guest
Micah Freeman
Website: egostrength.net
Podcast: the self-study lab
