What if burnout isn’t a badge of hustle, but your body begging you to recover? We sit down with naturopath, author, and speaker Jen Jefferies—“the present-day wise woman”—to trace a life that moved from army witch hunts and corporate excess to a grounded mission serving women’s health, LGBTQ+ rights, and everyday resilience. Jen opens up about growing up shy with dyslexia and ADHD, being interrogated out of the army at twenty for being gay, and spiraling into corporate burnout fueled by booze and busyness. Her turning point came at a health retreat that restored her energy and redirected her career into naturopathy and preventative health. She breaks down general adaptation syndrome in plain English, explaining how many of us got stuck in stage-two stress after 2020, with cortisol kept high, vagus nerve tension shutting down the gut-brain axis, and joy slipping away. You’ll learn the early signs of adrenal strain—2–4 a.m. wakeups, tight shoulders, low mood—and what to do next. This conversation is packed with practical tools. Jen shares simple grounding habits: wriggling toes on stage, hand-on-heart resets, walking meditation when sitting still backfires, and daily chanting to calm a creative mind. She reframes ADHD as a superpower that needs structure—alarms to stand, breaks to eat, surfing to get still. And she offers a liberating mindset shift: choose excellence over perfection. Ship at 80 percent, iterate in public, and let momentum multiply impact. We also talk about manifesting opportunities, preparing for a TED Talk, and why abundance beats scarcity when mentoring the next wave. If you’ve felt overclocked, numb, or stuck in survival mode, this story gives both science and heart to find your way back. Follow for more wise-woman insights, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help us reach more listeners ready to trade fear for love and perfection for progress. The Podcast's 7th Season Welcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing. Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode. Ge...
