This post is a little different. I want to share a story I rarely talk about—one that I wish someone had told me years ago.

Because back then, I didn’t realize I was burnt out. I thought I was just tired. Maybe overwhelmed. Maybe not trying hard enough. But looking back now, I see the truth: my body was screaming for help, and I didn’t know how to listen.

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What My Life Looked Like from the Outside

From the outside, everything looked picture-perfect. I had a thriving career running my own law practice. I had a growing family—two beautiful babies just 16 months apart. I had the house, the schedule, the checklist of what a “good life” should look like.

And I was grateful. Deeply grateful.
But I couldn’t feel any of it.

I walked through my days in a fog, holding it all together for everyone else, while quietly unraveling inside.

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The Patterns I Thought Were Just “Me”

At the time, I thought I was just ambitious, driven, and disciplined. But in hindsight, I see that I was running on nervous system adaptations designed to keep me safe—overfunctioning, perfectionism, people-pleasing.

Even after pregnancy losses, including a ruptured ectopic that nearly took my life, I didn’t stop. Three weeks postpartum, I was back in the office. I wore busyness and independence like badges of honor, never realizing these were survival strategies.

They weren’t my personality. They were trauma responses. And eventually, they stopped working.

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The Moment My Body Said “Enough”

I’ll never forget the night it all came crashing down. At 3 a.m., nursing the baby in the dark, I broke. My body heaved with sobs I didn’t know I’d been holding. Years of pressure, grief, and exhaustion spilled out.

That was my turning point—not because I suddenly had all the answers, but because I couldn’t pretend anymore. My body was done.

The cracks had been there for a long time: fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, gut issues, irritability. I told myself “next week will be better” until it wasn’t.

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What Didn’t Work

Once I admitted something had to change, I turned to what I knew—mindset work. Journaling, gratitude lists, reframing thoughts. Those practices gave me insight, but they didn’t bring me recovery.

No matter how much I tried to “think positive,” my body still felt braced, on edge, and unsafe.

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What Actually Helped

The real change began when I discovered somatic work. Simple body-based tools helped me send new signals of safety to my nervous system—reminding it that it was okay to soften, to exhale, to come home.

I realized what I had been calling “overwhelm” was actually survival stress that never completed its cycle. I wasn’t lazy or broken. I was dysregulated.

And that’s where recovery started. Slowly, consistently, I began to heal. My sleep improved. My energy returned. I felt present again. Alive again.

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If This Is You…

If any of this sounds like your story, please hear me: you are not ungrateful, unmotivated, or broken. You’re in need of recovery—not just more mindset hacks.

That’s why I created From On Edge to At Ease—a free live workshop on Tuesday, August 26. Inside, I’ll share the same nervous-system-based tools that supported my recovery and that I now teach in my Burnout Recovery Blueprint.

You don’t need to keep pushing through. You deserve safety in your body and the kind of recovery that restores your joy.

👉 Save your spot at michellegrosser.com/workshop.

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Closing

You deserve a life you don’t just perform—but one you can fully feel and enjoy.
And recovery is possible.

Related Episodes to Explore:

• Previous Episode
• Ignoring What Your Body is Trying to Tell You? Pay Attention to These 10 Warning Signs of Burnout
• Low on Energy? Strategies to Prevent and Reverse Adrenal Fatigue and Burnout
• Unlocking Burnout Recovery: 3 Reasons Time Off Isn’t Enough
• Top 3 Reasons You Must Heal Your Burnout
• 5 Burnout Red Flags Every Perfectionist Needs to Know

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