Brown Heart Wellness Podcast

Recorded on a solo trip I almost didn't take: two years of the podcast, a hard year, and finding joy in the middle of the storm.

Hey y'all 🤎 This one is special. It's my birthday week, the Brown Heart Wellness Podcast just turned two, and I recorded this episode on the beach during a solo trip I almost talked myself out of.

I'm sharing what this past year has really looked like: being laid off last October, my family shifting all at once, and the long work of finding my footing when it felt like I was drowning. I talk about why it's okay to pause, why coming up for air is part of saving yourself, and why bravery doesn't always feel brave.

This season isn't about the storm itself. It's about finding joy and finding ourselves in the middle of it. So get your umbrella. Let's talk about it.

In this episode:

- Why I started this show two years ago, and how it grew into the Brown Heart community

- Where the Brown Heart came from

- Last October: the layoff, the family shifts, and the spiral I wasn't ready for

- Letting my footing find me, one day at a time

- Saving yourself: dive in, come up for air, go back in

- Travel, escape, and the difference between running away and needing a pause

- Giving yourself a full-bodied yes

- Why the brave thing doesn't always feel good in the moment

- Getting your umbrella and finding joy in the storm

Brown Heart Affirmation:

I am coming up out of the water. I've got my umbrella. I don't have to wait for the storm to pass to find my joy.

Brown Heart Mindful Moment:

Let your shoulders drop and sit with me by the ocean for a moment. Picture yourself opening your umbrella. Breathe in slow, and let go. You are covered, and you can rest right here, even in the rain.

One Brave Thing:

Before you hit a reason to cancel on yourself, ask "What's the solution?" before you say "I quit."

Timestamps:

00:00 The solo trip I almost didn't take

02:00 Why I started this podcast

04:54 Where the Brown Heart came from

06:28 Last October: when the storm hit

09:27 Letting my footing find me

13:55 Come up for air, go back in, save yourself

15:37 Travel, escape, and needing a pause

18:00 On the beach, full of gratitude

18:31 What do you deserve a full-bodied yes to?

20:39 Bravery doesn't always feel brave

23:03 Get your umbrella

27:03 Brown Heart Mindful Moment

29:21 A birthday gift for the show

It's my birthday week and the show's birthday too. The gift I'm asking for: share this episode with a friend who needs a pause, and hit follow so you don't miss what's coming next. 🤎

#BlackWomenLeaders #Burnout #Rest #FindingJoy

Burnout isn't just being tired. Robin Hopkins and I talk about the beliefs that keep us running on empty. 🤎

This season is about finding who we are after the storm. But sometimes we have to talk about resting in the middle of it.

I joined Robin Hopkins and producer Steph Colburn on Well...Adjusting to talk about how to recognize burnout, why so many of us end up there, and what we learned about work, rest, and bravery from the generations before us. We get into my grandmother's answer when I asked her about bravery, why doing less can feel like panic, and why "lazy" is usually a judgment, not the truth.

Affirmation: I don't have to earn my rest.

Brown Heart Mindful Moment: Stay to the end for a short breathing practice. You are not broken.

One Brave Thing: Practice STOP this week.

CTA: Oldest or only daughter? Join The Oldest and Only waitlist at oldestandonly.samanthaedu.com

Credit: Originally released on Well...Adjusting, an editaudio original. Follow Robin at @realrobhops and editaudio at @editaud.io. Shared with permission.

Tags: burnout, rest, Black women leaders, self-leadership

Note: This episode contains explicit language.

My capacity is my capacity. After a season of living my own lessons, I'm back for Season 3 and ready to talk liberated living.

Hey y'all, welcome back to the Brown Heart Wellness Podcast. After a podcast sabbatical filled with learnings, growth, and a lot of transition, including a layoff from my corporate role, I found myself living out the lessons from Seasons 1 and 2. The biggest one? My capacity is my capacity.

In this reintroduction, I share what this season taught me, why your mental wellness deserves more space, and what's ahead for Season 3: liberated living, choosing your preferences first, and deconstructing the boxes we've been put in (and the ones we put ourselves in). Because we aren't always the problem. We live and work in systems too.

Stay with me, share this with a friend, and sit with me. We are a community.

Brown Heart Affirmation:I am allowed to exist fully in the life I have built.

Brown Heart Mindful Moment:Take a big deep breath, exhale, and ask yourself: What's one thing that I know I like?

Your One Brave Thing:Choose one preference this week and put it first.

Join The Oldest & Only waitlist:Update since recording: the waitlist is still open, and the first cohort now begins January 2027. A 6-month coaching program for oldest and only daughters who are done holding it all together.www.oldestandonly.samanthaedu.com

Take care of your brown heart. 🤎

Finish What You Started (Without Burning Yourself Out) w/ Patrice Dawkins Jackson

What do you actually have the capacity for right now?

In this episode, I sit down with Patrice Dawkins Jackson, host of Finish What You Started, and we talk about what it really means to follow through without running yourself into the ground.

We explore:

• The difference between discipline and depletion
• How to check your real capacity
• Finishing in a season that looks different than when you began
• Why pushing harder is not always the answer

And of course, I asked her our throughline question:
What is one brave thing you’re prioritizing right now?

Connect with Patrice:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/finishwhatyoustartedpod/
www.finishwhatyoustarted.co

—

If this conversation felt a little too familiar in your body… especially around work exhaustion or burnout…

I’m facilitating an 8-week virtual therapy group beginning March 31 called Burnout Recovery for High-Achieving Women. This is a clinical group for women navigating work-based stress who want support regulating, setting boundaries, and rebuilding sustainably.

A brief group fit consultation is required before enrollment closes March 24 .

⁠Learn more here:
https://www.samanthaedu.com/therapy-groups/burnout-reset/

—

Share this with someone who’s trying to finish strong without finishing burned out.

Samantha

In a season where everything feels loud, heavy, and urgent, many of us are exhausted while still expecting ourselves to function at full capacity.

In this episode, Samantha Edu explores one of the most damaging lies about self-compassion and how it quietly fuels burnout. What many people are calling “stress” right now is often a threat response. When the world feels unstable, our nervous systems stay on high alert, and compassion can feel like something we can’t afford.

This conversation is about staying awake to the world without burning yourself to the ground, choosing impact without self-erasure, and leading yourself with care in chaotic times.

Brown Heart Affirmation:
I can be honest about what’s happening without abandoning myself.
I can choose impact that does not cost me my humanity.

💛 Support & Next Steps
If your capacity has shifted but your calling hasn’t, you don’t have to navigate that alone.

Learn more about individual therapy and the burnout support group:
https://secure.helloalma.com/providers/samantha-edu/

Share this episode with someone who’s functioning, but not okay.

What happens when your capacity changes but your identity doesn’t?

In this season-opening episode, Samantha reflects on a powerful metaphor. The difference between being a teacup and being a vase. Same purpose. Different capacity.

After a difficult professional interaction, she realized something important. She wasn’t a teacup because she was weak. Her capacity had shifted. And the real harm comes when we expect teacup capacity to produce vase-level outcomes.

This episode is an honest conversation about:

• Allowing your capacity and bandwidth to change across seasons

• Why being tired doesn’t mean you’re less capable

• How burnout shows up when output expectations don’t match reality

• Letting your inner strength rest without disappearing

• Remembering that strength doesn’t vanish just because it’s not needed right now

If you’re in a season where things feel heavier, slower, or more tender, this episode offers permission to stop proving and start honoring where you are.

What shape am I right now?
And what would it look like to honor that instead of fighting it?

🫖 If this metaphor resonates and you want to read the full written reflection, it’s available on Substack.

🎥 Starting this season, the audio version of the podcast lives on Spotify. For the full visual experience, including imagery and presence, you can watch the episode on YouTube.

🤎 Stay close this season as we continue exploring capacity, self-trust, and what it means to lead ourselves with care.

As this year comes to a close, I’m being honest about where I am.

Q4 took more out of me than I expected. My brain felt short-circuited, my body felt tired, and the idea of “finishing strong” just wasn’t realistic. So in this episode, I talk about what it means to simply finish. Not perfectly. Not impressively. Just with compassion.

I reflect on why one season doesn’t define an entire year, why endurance deserves more grace than we give it, and how I’m choosing to move through this ending without rushing myself into clarity or closure.

This episode is for anyone who made it to the end of the year tired, quieter than usual, or still figuring things out. You’re not behind. You’re human.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why Q4 felt heavy and disorienting

• Letting go of the pressure to “finish strong”

• What endurance looks like in real life

• Ending the year with honesty instead of urgency

• Holding hope without forcing a plan

As I close out the year, I also share about The Hall Pass, a community-centered offering created for Black women navigating layoffs, career shifts, and employment transitions. It’s rooted in access, care, and not having to move through uncertainty alone.

Learn more about The Hall Pass here:
https://stan.store/brownheartwellness/p/the-hall-pass-for-black-women-navigating-layoffs

I also briefly name that I’m opening space for new coaching clients as we move into the new year, for those who want support while they figure things out at a humane pace.

Take what you need from this episode. Leave the rest. And thank yourself for finishing.

This week on The Brown Heart Wellness Podcast, I’m joined by Kali Fields Williams a holistic wellness practitioner and author of Renewable You, helping women reconnect with their inner wisdom and live with intention and balance.

We talk about what it really means to heal the whole woman,mind, body, and spirit, and how to move from simply setting intentions to fully integrating them. Kali shares her journey of balancing motherhood, entrepreneurship, and self-healing, and how breath, boundaries, and being still have become her anchors.

If you’ve been craving alignment or searching for the next brave step in your healing journey, this conversation will remind you that you already hold the wisdom you need within.

🤎 Brown Heart Affirmation:
“I honor the woman I’m becoming — whole, grounded, and guided by truth.”

🧘🏾‍♀️ Brown Heart Mindful Moment:
Take a slow, deep breath. Place your hand over your heart and whisper to yourself: “I am safe in my becoming.”

00:00 – Opening + Brown Heart Affirmation
02:15 – Introducing Kali and her wellness journey
05:45 – From intention to integration: embodying healing
10:30 – How motherhood and entrepreneurship changed her practice
15:20 – The power of boundaries and stillness in self-leadership
21:10 – Breathwork and energy as tools for regulation
25:40 – Brown Heart Mindful Moment
27:10 – Outro + Call to Action

Here's how to find Kali

• Renewable You Book Waitlist

• LinkedIn - Kali Fields Williams (let her know you heard her here)

If this episode spoke to your spirit, share it with a friend who’s walking her own healing journey.
🤎 Join the One Brave Thing community for free until November 8, 2025
and follow along at @brownheartwellness for daily reflections and mindful moments.

After a beautiful, intentional break to bring the Positioned to Pause Retreat to life, Samantha returns with reflections on the power of community, compassion, and rest.

This episode is a love letter to the women who showed up, the ones who helped make it happen, and the reminder that you don’t have to recreate the same oppressive systems inside the business you’re building.

“Rest isn’t what happens when everything stops. Rest is what allows you to keep becoming.”

Brown Heart Affirmation:

“Today, I choose compassion over comparison.
I honor the season I’m in.
My pause is not proof of failure, it’s evidence of faith.”

Today's conversation is all about:

• The beauty of pausing with purpose

• What it means to heal with other people

• How community and joy fuel brave living

• A gentle invitation to join the One Brave Thing Community (free until Nov 8)

Healing happens with other people.
Join the free community through November 8 → samanthaedu.com/obtcommunity

This episode and the Positioned to Pause Retreat were made possible by partners who believe in rest, joy, and community care:

• The Honey Pot Co – Wellness reimagined for the modern woman.

• Smooth September Tea – Hand-blended teas that soothe and center.

• Georgia in a Jar – Southern sweetness and local love in every bite.

• Get Into Wine – Charcuterie pairings and bottles that make community gatherings even sweeter.

• Hormonal Cookie – Balancing indulgence with nourishment for your inner goddess.

Thank you for pouring into this moment of rest and reflection. 🤎

Samantha Edu is a licensed therapist, certified coach, and founder of Brown Heart Wellness—a community where Black women leaders, caregivers, and creatives learn to live bravely, rest intentionally, and lead authentically through the ROOT Framework (Reflect, Open, Overcome, Thrive).

A gentle reset before the pour. I open with a short intro, then Dr. Nicole Pertillar and I dig into what a real pause looks like and why it matters.

Episode overview:
Today I’m sharing our co-live conversation with Dr. Nicole Pertillar as we partner her Sip from the Well: 10 Days of Pause (Oct 1–10) with my Positioned to Pause mini-retreat (Oct 11). We talk about rest as a brave choice, how to pause without guilt, and practical ways to return to yourself so you can pour from overflow, not empty.

What you’ll hear:

• How to pause with intention and not lose your momentum

• Simple practices to create room for rest in a full life

• Why community helps you keep your pause promise to yourself

Save your seat for Positioned to Pause on Oct 11. Light bites, teacher-led mindful movement, journal time, community space, and a wellness kit.
www.samanthaedu.com/retreats

• Follow Dr. Nicole Pertillar on IG

Resources:

• Join the Brown Heart Substack Community

Disclosure:
This conversation is a collaboration to uplift rest, reflection, and community care.