Katie Nguyen

The piece most burnout advice completely misses.

Burnout doesn’t always look like lying in bed unable to function.

Sometimes it’s…

Waking up tired no matter how much you sleep.

Overthinking decisions you used to make easily.

Feeling irritated when someone needs one more thing from you.

Doom scrolling at night because it’s the only time that feels like yours.

Buying things or booking another trip because you need something to look forward to.

Fantasizing about quitting a career you worked so hard to build

Saying yes…and immediately resenting it.

Canceling plans and avoiding calls

Or realizing you don’t even know what you want anymore.

And then we try to fix our symptoms …

More discipline.
More gratitude.
More productivity.
A new job.
A vacation.
Another wellness routine.

But what if you didn’t have to eliminate every symptom before you could get out of burnout?

Because the symptom isn’t always what’s keeping you stuck.

Your relationship with the symptom might be.

Where, “how do I get rid of this”
may sound like the right question

How do I stop ____?!

But it might actually be the question that’s keeping you stuck.

Because what if the symptoms you’ve been trying so hard to fix aren’t actually the problem?

What if it’s your relationship to those symptoms that’s keeping the burnout cycle alive?

That distinction changes everything.

Save this post if you recognize yourself in any of these symptoms.

And follow me, because in the next part I’m going to show you what to do instead!

☝️Here’s what you may not be admitting to yourself:

There’s something you’re getting from staying burned out. What could that be be for you?

I know that sounds crazy. Why would you choose something that’s making you miserable?

Because every pattern—even the ones that hurt us—has a positive intention.

Though you’re not consciously choosing burnout…

Some part of you may believe it’s safer than what would happen if you actually let it go.

What do you think that is??

Things are definitely getting spicy now!!

TUNE IN TOMORROW for part 3 ❤️

Before you come for me 🤣

I’m not saying you want to feel exhausted, overwhelmed, resentful or completely disconnected from yourself.

I’m saying there may be a part of you that has learned that staying in survival mode does something for you.

Maybe it keeps you from feeling the discomfort of disappointing people.

Maybe it makes you finally feel worthy of rest.

Maybe being needed makes you feel valuable.

Maybe slowing down would force you to face something you’ve been too busy to feel.

Even the patterns that hurt us often began as the best way at the time to protect us.

So instead of only asking, “How do I get out of burnout?”

I want you to get curious 👀

What might some part of me be getting by staying here?

Because if we’re still doing it, it’s bc it’s doing something FOR us!

And until we understand what that positive intention is, we’ll keep trying to change the behavior without healing what’s underneath it.

And that’s where this conversation gets interesting.

FOLLOW for more tomorrow. ❤️

Before you come for me 🤣

I’m not saying you want to feel exhausted, overwhelmed, resentful or completely disconnected from yourself.

I’m saying there may be a part of you that has learned that staying in survival mode does something for you.

Maybe it keeps you from feeling the discomfort of disappointing people.

Maybe it makes you finally feel worthy of rest.

Maybe being needed makes you feel valuable.

Maybe slowing down would force you to face something you’ve been too busy to feel.

Even the patterns that hurt us often began as the best way at the time to protect us.

So instead of only asking, “How do I get out of burnout?”

I want you to get curious 👀

What might some part of me be getting by staying here?

Because if we’re still doing it, it’s bc it’s doing something FOR us!

And until we understand what that positive intention is, we’ll keep trying to change the behavior without healing what’s underneath it.

And that’s where this conversation gets interesting.

FOLLOW for more tomorrow. ❤️

The burnout industry might not like this…

Recovery isn’t the finish line.

Remembrance is.

Because if we only treat the symptoms, we miss the identity that created the burnout in the first place.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Because where else in your life outside your career have you also felt burnt out??

Burnout isn’t meant to convince you to go back to who you were.

It is meant to compel you to RECLAIM who you have forgotten.

Recovery goes backward.

Remembrance comes home. ❤️‍🔥👑

I don’t help women go back to who they were before burnout.

I help them embody the woman they would have been before they believed they had to abandon themselves in the first place.

If this shifted something in you, pls tell me what resonated below. ⬇️

I’m speaking at the Elevate Legacy Festival on August 8th — and I cannot wait!

My talk:
How to Lead Without Leaving Ourselves Behind.

This is something I wish someone had told me years ago. It’s the culmination of what I’ve learned over 13 years of healing and leadership to help you achieve meaningful and sustainable success on your journey.

If you’re a leader who knows there’s another level — a deeper layer of your impact that you haven’t fully accessed yet — this one’s for you.

Come for the connection, the reflection, the celebration — and stay for the missing ingredient to becoming the best version of you!

Link ELEVATE LEGACY FESTIVAL 🔥

This reel isn’t really about one man.

➡️➡️ It’s about the moment every woman recognizes she’s been living inside a system where she feels she has to prove she’s worthy in the first place.

And moments like these don’t just challenge the woman we are today. They awaken the little girl who learned that love, approval, and attention had to be earned by being good, being perfect, or achieving.

Maybe it was in a boardroom.
Maybe it was in a relationship.
Maybe it was with your family.
Maybe it was in a conversation that left you questioning yourself long after it ended.

For years, I thought the answer was to become more impressive.
More accomplished.
More prepared.
More undeniable.

But all that did was reinforce the very belief that was keeping me trapped:

That my worth lived somewhere outside of me.

Today, I define it differently.

It’s my courage to keep showing up.
My resilience after heartbreak.
My willingness to tell the truth.
My capacity to hold space for someone’s healing and guide them to the transformation they desire.

The way I love.
The way I live.
The woman I’ve become.

And here’s what I want every burned-out woman to know:

You don’t have to compete to be worthy.
You don’t have to outperform anyone—including men—to deserve your place.

The moment you stop trying to prove your worth…
is the moment you finally begin living from it.

Maybe our freedom isn’t found in proving we’re equal to anyone.
Maybe it’s found in remembering we were never meant to measure our worth against someone else’s definition of success.

If you’ve ever felt like you had to defend your value just to be taken seriously…

I hope this helps you realize the most important person who needs to believe in your worth is you.

Save this for later or share with someone you know who needs reminding ❤️

Today, after a discovery call, I caught myself thinking, ‘Who am I to charge that?’

And it made me ask a question I think every high-achieving woman needs to ask herself.

💰 How do we define worth and what are actually capable of receiving?

As I shared my price, I noticed something happening in my body.

A resistance. An objection.

A part of me still letting my résumé decide my worth. A part that still believed that I haven’t achieved enough — evidence, recognition or social proof—to actually ask for what I want.

I thought I’d overcome that.

But there it was again.

And it made me wonder…

How many women are doing the same thing?

We decide what we’re allowed to receive based on our achievements, our titles, our productivity, or how much we’ve sacrificed.

But what if your worth was never supposed to be measured by any of those things?

Because the moment you stop asking, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’

…and start asking THIS QUESTION instead…

Everything changes.

🤲🏻 Because the answer to that question may be shaping far more than your confidence… it may be influencing what you’re willing to ask for, receive, and create.

Tomorrow, I’ll share what happened next—and the realization that completely changed how I think about worth, money, and achievement.

If you’ve ever questioned your value, undercharged, or felt like you had to earn the right to receive more, you’re going to want to follow this series.

✨ Follow along—you may recognize yourself in this story.

Are you in a situationship and don’t even know it?

For 13 years, I told myself I was preparing for the life I wanted.

Healing.

Learning.

Growing.

But, I was actually WAITING.

For the moment I felt “healed” enough.

Confident enough. Clear enough.

Certain enough. Safe enough.

Over these 13 years, I did the deepest work of my life.

Detaching myself from the perfection, constant need to prove myself, from the burnout and old survival patterns that had quietly been running my life.

I stopped trying to become someone else…

and found my way back to the woman I’d always been but lost along the way.

And I can honestly say…
I know who I am and what I stand for.

I know what matters to me and the life I want to create.

But knowing isn’t the same as living.

And what’s been standing in the way of taking action on that clarity?

Courage.

Courage to stop hiding and to start committing.

To give this life everything I’ve got …
AND risk that it still might not be enough.

That all those years devoted to my healing still wasn’t enough.

That I still wasn’t enough.

So as I stand here…

At the threshold between my old identity and the life I’ve been preparing for, I ask myself…

Can I really do this?

Honestly?

I don’t know.

BUT for the first time…

I’m ready to find out.

This is the start of a new chapter.

And I’m inviting you to follow along.

If you’re at a crossroads in your life.

You know you’re meant for more but don’t know how to step towards it yet.

This journey is for you.

In this series, I’ll be sharing steps to help you cross over that bridge.

❤️‍🔥Some days, I’ll share the fears that almost made me turn back.

❤️‍🔥Some days I’ll show you the inner work that keeps me moving forward.

❤️‍🔥Some days I’ll celebrate the risks , the wins and results that are aligned with the life I’m building

It doesn’t have to take you 13 years

Healing isn’t the finish line.
At some point we have to trust in who we are NOW and start living it.

If you’re at threshold of your next chapter.

It’s time to stop waiting.

FOLLOW 𝑫𝒓. 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆 |Burnout Coach|Healer

Let’s cross over it together.