Winter isn’t a launchpad. It’s a cave. A compost season. And if you’re a high-responsibility helper who’s been white-knuckling your way to the finish line, your nervous system already knows the truth: you don’t need a resolution—you need rhythm.

In this season finale of Between a Hot Mess & a Therapist, we’re talking about why “new year, new you” pressure doesn’t work (especially for helpers), how winter naturally asks your body to slow down, and how to choose intention over performance—so you can move into the next season a little less cooked and a lot more honest.

Want to do this in your real life (not just in your head)?

Join the Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30 (10a–12p CST) — a 90–120 minute live Zoom workshop (replay included) to stop performing “I’m fine,” use your Human Design environment + your actual home/work space to create a nervous system sanctuary, and make tiny shifts your body can actually handle.

🎧 Workshop details: https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/messymiddlereset

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

Being tangled in travel was born in the in-between—the moments when life feels tangled, work piles up, and your nervous system whispers that something has to give. In this episode, I share the story behind Lovin Thy Travels, exploring why travel, stillness, and reclaiming your own space aren’t luxuries—they’re acts of self-preservation, transformation, and quiet magic.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

Feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or stuck between purpose and stability? This episode explores the exhaustion beneath the exhaustion, the quiet clarity that shows up in travel, nature, and stillness, and how understanding your energy can help you navigate life’s messy middle with more presence and alignment.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

Thanksgiving has a way of bringing out the best in us… and the parts we’d rather hide.

The messy family dynamics, the overstimulation, the emotional landmines, the pressure to feel grateful on command.

In this episode, I’m naming the quiet part out loud: gratitude isn’t always pretty, peaceful, or polished.

Sometimes it’s gritty. Sometimes it’s tired. Sometimes it’s the shaky breath you take in the bathroom before you walk back into the noise.

As a mental health therapist, a projector, someone who’s lived through more burnout cycles than I care to admit, I’ve learned that gratitude inside chaos hits different. It becomes less about the “list” and more about the nervous system—what your body can hold, what you’re releasing, and what still needs space.

Inside this conversation:

• How to practice gratitude when your life feels loud and your brain feels crowded
• The nervous system side of the holiday season overwhelm
• Why chaotic gratitude actually builds more emotional resilience than the curated version
• The real mental health work that happens behind closed doors—before the table is set
• How slowing down creates room for the moments you usually miss

This is not the “be grateful no matter what” pep talk.

It’s the reminder that your mental health counts just as much as the holiday expectations.

And that gratitude can coexist with grief, frustration, exhaustion, and being human.

If Thanksgiving feels messy this year, you’re not doing it wrong.

You’re just telling the truth.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

In this episode, I share the story of watching my niece—the same little girl who once scattered petals at my wedding—step into her own. This isn’t a story about weddings. It’s about time, presence, identity, and the nervous system capacity required to actually feel your own life.

If I had still been living inside burnout, emotional overload, and survival pace, I would have missed the meaning of this moment entirely. This episode explores what happens when you slow down enough to take in your own story — and how travel, transitions, and family dynamics can reveal who you’ve become.

This is an invitation to breathe, remember, and be here for your life.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

If you’ve ever been called “inconsistent,” “too emotional,” or “not a team player,” this episode is your mirror. Shawna Lovin, therapist and emotional Projector, unpacks the exhaustion and quiet rebellion of trying to prove your worth inside systems built for endless doing. Learn how resentment becomes your reroute, perfection becomes your poison, and sovereignty starts the moment you stop performing care for a system that can’t see it.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

After 25 years in the mental health field, I’ve witnessed too many helpers—therapists, first responders, teachers, and healers—burn out while trying to hold space for everyone else. In this episode, I share why the next evolution of my own healing isn’t found in the therapy room, but in travel, adventure, and intentional experiences that restore the nervous system and reignite wonder. From curating wellness retreats to reclaiming joy, I explore how stepping outside our daily rhythm can be a powerful act of self-care and burnout prevention for those who spend their lives caring for others.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

Halloween isn’t just candy and costumes — it’s a culturally sanctioned invitation to play, to flirt with the shadow, and to shake off the weight of constant caretaking. In this episode, we explore why helpers, healers, and therapists often lose touch with their wildness, what our nervous systems need from ritual and release, and how embodied joy becomes medicine for burnout. This is for anyone who thinks adulting stole their capacity to play and wants a permission slip to reclaim it without shame.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

Marriage after 18 years isn’t just anniversaries and celebrations—it’s the messy, quiet, everyday reality of living with someone who, like you, is a helper. In this episode, I explore what it’s like when both partners are therapists, healers, or helpers: juggling nervous systems, energy, and emotional labor while trying to stay connected. We’ll talk about the magic in the mundane, the tension beneath the surface, and how showing up fully—messy, human, and embodied—creates lasting connection, growth, and intimacy.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.

You help people navigate rejection, belonging, and boundaries every day — but what happens when you’re the one left out? Midlife friendships are tricky: they start by proximity, convenience, or kids, and then slowly shift. In this episode, I pull back the curtain on the quiet shame, hidden hurt, and nervous system impact of realizing your “friend group” isn’t what it used to be. I share the messy middle of staying connected while honoring your needs, and how to show up fully in friendships — not as a fixer or helper, but as a human who belongs as they are.

Over it but not done? Join The Messy Middle Reset on Friday, January 30, 2026 from 10a-12p CST, my live nervous system sanctuary workshop for helpers. Get the details at https://shawnalovinlpcs.com/services.

Got a Question? SUBMIT IT HERE

This podcast was brought to you by Healing Roots Wellness & Botanicals. For more information, please visit www.ShawnaLovinLPCS.com. Although Shawna is a licensed counselor in the State of Texas, this podcast is not therapy and should not be used as a therapeutic intervention. Many of the practices and products mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only. Should you need support, please seek appropriate, qualified, and licensed professionals.