#118 | Darine: The Real Reason You Take On the Hardest Project at Work

There is a pattern many high achieving women know intimately.

The difficult project. The struggling team. The impossible deadline. The politically complicated initiative nobody else wants.

And somehow, your hand goes up before you have fully thought about it.

For years, many women have told themselves the same story. I'm strategic. I'm committed. I'm a leader. I'm the kind of woman who steps up.

In this episode, Darine names a different reason successful women keep ending up with the hardest work in every room: “we were raised to believe that carrying more was the price of belonging”.

She calls it the Gratitude Performance. It is what happens when an intelligent woman codes her frustration as professionalism and her ambition as service, so that the room she has been allowed into does not change its mind about letting her stay.

Drawing on fifteen years inside the pattern, Darine names the hidden bill first generation and high achieving women have been quietly paying. What it has been buying. And the harder question of why most of us cannot stop, even after we see it.

If you have been calling your overworking commitment, your overfunctioning leadership, and your exhaustion proof of capacity, this episode is for you.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why capable women often become the default problem-solvers

• The hidden relationship between achievement and worthiness

• The difference between leadership and over-responsibility

• Why awareness alone doesn't immediately change the pattern

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform

Connect with Darine:

- On Instagram

- On LinkedIn

Subscribe & Review:

• If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe to STANDOUT With DARINE on Spotify | Apple Podcast, and leave a review!
• Follow us on Tiktok | Instagram to stay updated.
• Check out our partner, AFROA Beauty, for wellness-focused skincare products that support a radiant, healthy lifestyle.

Other episodes you may like:

The Emotional Load No One Talks About: Why Women Carry More — and How to Put It Down

The Day Success Stops Feeling Like Home

Why High-Achieving Women Feel Lonelier the More Successful They Become