Burnout Solutions- Stress Management Tools For High Achievers and Healthcare Workers

Mona Tippets, RN, Certified Life Coach
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

This podcast is all about understanding why your brain and nervous system get stressed and how to rewire to recover from feeling burned out and overwhelmed. I help healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, veterinarians) as well as teachers, caregivers and parents with burnout. I understand high achievers and how they feel stress- I am an RN and Certified Life Coach and help clinics and hospitals with staff workshops to teach emotional resiliency skills and how to resolve stress and burnout in the workplace and in personal relationships. I also work with clients one on one.

  1. 5d ago

    E68: The Fawn Response: When “Being Nice” Is Your Nervous System in Survival Mode

    The Fawn Response: When “Being Nice” Is Your Nervous System in Survival Mode Mona shares a coaching story about a talented choreographer/director who ran a children’s community play and couldn’t stop thinking about a cast-party moment where a parent pressured her into breaking a clear “cast members only” rule. Mona reframes this not as weakness or being a pushover, but as the nervous system choosing the fastest path to safety through the fawn response—appeasing to avoid conflict. She explains how fawning differs from simple people-pleasing, how it often forms through early experiences like emotional unavailability and learning to manage others’ moods, and what it can look like in adulthood (overexplaining, constant apologizing, anxiety around boundaries, resentment). Mona offers questions to spot fawning and emphasizes healing by building tolerance for the discomfort of saying no and holding boundaries. 00:00 Cast Party Conflict 02:59 Reframing as Fawn 04:13 What Is Fawning 07:04 Fawning vs People Pleasing 08:41 How Fawning Forms 12:02 Adult Signs of Fawning 15:32 Relationships and Burnout 17:38 Healthy Empathy vs Fawn 22:47 Why We Keep Fawning 28:25 Breaking the Pattern 29:39 Wrap Up and Next Time To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  2. Jul 13

    E67: Disappointed? You can blame your biology

    E66: Disappointed? You Can Blame Your Biology Mona shares how her son’s door-to-door fiber internet sales job shows the emotional toll of repeated rejection, then connects that experience to what she’s learning in neuroscience about burnout. She explains the habenula—especially the lateral habenula—a tiny brain structure that tracks when effort doesn’t match reward and can suppress dopamine and serotonin when stress and disappointment become chronic. Mona describes how this “nothing good is coming” signal can show up as loss of motivation, anhedonia, brain fog, decision fatigue, sleep disruption, and feeling unrewarded even when good things happen. She emphasizes burnout isn’t a character flaw, and outlines what helps: intentional small wins, movement, safe social connection, addressing what’s truly uncontrollable, reframing after regulation, and protecting sleep, plus an invitation to book a burnout call. 00:00 Door to Door Reality 01:28 Coaching Through Highs Lows 04:23 Burnout Has Biology 07:20 Meet the Habenula 09:27 Disappointment Center Explained 11:20 When Stress Sensitizes 13:36 Son Example and Burnout Loop 16:49 Signs of Hyperactivity 20:53 What Actually Helps 29:38 Recap and Next Steps To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  3. Jul 6

    E 66: Declaring Emotional Independence

    Declaring Emotional Independence (Replay) Mona shares that summer parenting with teenagers and getting less sleep in Boise has made her more emotionally reactive, so she’s replaying a popular episode on emotional independence in the spirit of the 4th of July. She explains how many of us hand the “remote control” of our feelings to kids, spouses, coworkers, or strangers, and how codependency and old wounds can keep us stuck in reactivity. Mona blends life coaching concepts with nervous system regulation, emphasizing that dysregulation narrows our window of tolerance and blocks agency and intuition. She walks through a practical process for when you’re triggered: notice dysregulation, do a mindful release, meet physical needs, clarify the relationship, separate facts from story, process emotions, consider what’s true and not true, reclaim how you want to feel, set boundaries, and let love and compassion be the final word. 00:00 Summer Parenting Struggles 00:45 Replay Episode Setup 02:22 What Emotional Independence Means 03:20 Remote Control And Codependency 06:58 Agency Intuition And Regulation 10:09 Triggers And Window Of Tolerance 10:55 Text Message Trigger Example 13:21 Mindful Release Exercise 17:36 Facts Versus Stories 20:14 Processing Emotions Properly 23:22 Finding Truth And Disagreement 25:42 Reclaim Power And Choose Love 29:21 Recap And Next Steps 32:46 Closing Coaching Invitation To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  4. Jun 29

    E65: Resentment- What It's Really About

    Resentment- What It's Really About Mona unpacks what resentment really is and why it shows up when an unspoken need goes unmet or a boundary never gets drawn (or held). Using familiar examples—summer parenting overload, saying yes to a “quick” favor that keeps expanding, or always picking up extra shifts—she explains how resentment can feel like it’s about other people, but is often a mirror pointing back to what we needed and didn’t ask for. Mona shares Brené Brown’s definition of resentment, connects it to nervous system patterns and chronic low-grade stress, and explores why speaking up can feel dangerous, especially for helpers in caregiving roles. She offers three questions to start untangling resentment and invites listeners to take small, honest steps toward clearer communication and self-trust. 00:00 Resentment Warning Signs 02:35 What Resentment Feels Like 04:23 Resentment As A Mirror 05:45 Brene Brown Definition 10:55 Nervous System And Safety 15:18 Self Blame In Disguise 18:25 Why We Stay Silent 23:47 Three Questions To Untangle 27:45 Reframe And Wrap Up 30:15 Final Encouragement And Next Steps To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  5. Jun 22

    E64: Laziness Gets a Bad Rap

    Laziness Gets a Bad Rap In episode 64, Mona unpacks why the word “lazy” can be both inaccurate and damaging—especially for high achievers who beat themselves up when they hit a wall. She walks through what’s actually happening in the body when motivation disappears, including the nervous system’s shutdown/freeze response, and why you can’t “push through” an emergency-brake state with more discipline. Mona also explores why some people seem to live in low gear, offering reframes like effort-reward math, overwhelm, learned helplessness, differing values around “good enough,” and factors like depression or ADHD. The takeaway: replace judgment with curiosity, ask what the system is protecting against, and practice more grace for yourself and everyone else. 00:00 Why Lazy Hurts 02:45 Laziness Is a Label 05:06 Freeze Shutdown Explained 08:37 Safety Over Willpower 09:35 Always Low Gear 11:01 Juice Worth Squeeze 13:39 Effort Culture Shift 18:03 Overwhelm Thresholds 19:42 Learned Helplessness 20:38 Good Enough Values 22:58 Other Hidden Causes 24:26 Curiosity Not Judgment 27:31 Graceful Wrap Up To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  6. Jun 15

    E63: Work and Play, Ep 7, It's not Work- Life Balance that we are after- It's Integration

    It's not Work- Life Balance that we are after- It's Integration In the final episode of the Work and Play series, Mona ties everything together and challenges the idea that “work-life balance” is the goal, arguing that balance can frame work and life as enemies and leave high achievers feeling guilty on both sides. Instead, she explores work-life integration—bringing meaning, humor, creativity, connection, and restoration into everyday life—so work can sometimes feel like play and help prevent burnout through flow. Mona shares what thriving looks like in real life (from healthcare workers and teachers to hobbies that enrich the workplace) and highlights wholehearted living: knowing you’re enough beyond productivity. She closes with four practical ingredients—protected recovery, remembering your “why,” scheduled play, and invested relationships—and a simple weekly planning approach to make them real. 00:00 Series Recap 02:57 Integration Over Balance 03:57 Why Balance Fails 06:48 Flow Makes Work Play 07:46 Real World Examples 13:31 Wholehearted Living 14:11 Four Integration Pillars 15:25 Weekly Planning Blocks 19:08 Summer Sendoff To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  7. Jun 8

    E62: Work and Play Series Ep 6. Play Like you Mean it

    Play Like You Mean It: A Practical Plan to Restore Your Nervous System In episode six of Mona’s Work and Play series on Burnout Solutions, she digs deeper into Charlie Hoehn’s book Play It Away and how restoring play helped him resolve burnout and anxiety after relentless overwork. Mona describes how anxiety can show up in the body, why common wellness tools may help only marginally if play has been evacuated from life, and how play and movement can help the nervous system return to a more connected, regulated state. She introduces “stress anchors” (the persistent worries that keep fight-or-flight humming) and a simple method for identifying and reducing them. Mona also walks through Stuart Brown’s play personalities (like joker, kinesthete, explorer, competitor, director, collector, and creator) and closes with a gentle four-week play plan and a small weekly challenge to start scheduling purposeful play. 00:00 Play Like You Mean It 01:47 Series Recap And Focus 02:30 Meet Charlie Hoehn 03:43 Burnout Anxiety Symptoms 05:15 Why Wellness Wasnt Enough 06:40 Play Restores Safety 08:28 Stress Anchors Explained 10:29 List Reduce Delegates 13:30 How Adults Play 14:02 Find Your Play Personality 15:28 Joker And Kinesthete 17:04 Explorer And Competitor 18:39 Director Collector Creator 22:13 Build Your Play Plan 22:51 Four Week Play Protocol 26:05 Tiny Play Counts 26:42 Weekly Challenge And Wrap To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

  8. Jun 1

    E 61: Work and Play, Ep 5: The Happiness Gap and Getting Macronutrients Right

    Work and Play, Ep 5: The Happiness Gap and Getting Macronutrients Right Mona reflects on her son’s high school graduation and uses it to introduce the “happiness gap” many high achievers feel when accomplishments don’t deliver lasting satisfaction. She explains the hedonic treadmill and Arthur Brooks’ idea of the striver’s curse: dopamine fuels the chase, not the arrival, so the baseline resets and the next goal shows up fast—often leaving people depleted. Using weight loss and sustainable habits as an example, Mona shares how the nervous system can link safety and worth to achievement, making standing still feel unsafe. She offers an alternative: build happiness through three “macronutrients”—enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning—especially for healthcare workers facing documentation burdens and moral injury, and gives simple challenges to strengthen each one by staying present and reconnecting to your why. 00:00 Happiness Gap Intro 01:48 Graduation Reflections 03:59 Why Goals Disappoint 05:59 Hedonic Treadmill Explained 08:42 Striver's Curse for Achievers 10:06 Weight Loss as Example 13:13 Enjoy the Journey 15:43 Three Happiness Macronutrients 16:59 Enjoyment Through Presence 19:38 Satisfaction and Wanting Less 22:40 Meaning and Moral Injury 26:47 Rebuild Happiness Practices 30:19 Final Challenge and Wrap To to find out more about how I can help your workplace or work with me one on one, please see www.monatippets.com Want to understand your stress a little better? Get my free Stress Management Guide for High Achievers here.

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5
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About

This podcast is all about understanding why your brain and nervous system get stressed and how to rewire to recover from feeling burned out and overwhelmed. I help healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, veterinarians) as well as teachers, caregivers and parents with burnout. I understand high achievers and how they feel stress- I am an RN and Certified Life Coach and help clinics and hospitals with staff workshops to teach emotional resiliency skills and how to resolve stress and burnout in the workplace and in personal relationships. I also work with clients one on one.

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