Want more of this? On Substack, I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

We talk about burnout more openly than ever. Psychological safety, boundaries, work-life balance- it's all part of the cultural conversation now in a way it wasn't ten years ago. So why hasn't any of it actually changed the way work works?

In this episode, Dr. Amy Grimm gets honest about the gap she sees every week in her coaching practice: the growing distance between how much we talk about wellbeing and how little the actual structure of work has moved to match it. Pulled from a recent interview on Work Sucks But I Like It, this episode takes a clear stand on what to do with that gap instead of just being frustrated by it, and how to stop waiting for permission that was never going to come from the top down.

What You'll Learn:

Links & Resources:

Read the companion essay, "The Skill That Matters More Than Confidence," on Substack: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Listen to Amy's full interview with Tony Tenaglier on Work Sucks, But I Like It: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2509955/episodes/19511498

Learn more about coaching with Amy: https://burnoutfreeme.com

About Amy:

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me, the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

If this episode resonated, head to Substack to read the companion essay and get more of this every week: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Loved this episode? Please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you're listening. It helps other burned-out women find the show.

Ready to go deeper? Learn more about coaching with Amy at https://burnoutfreeme.com

Want more of this? On Substack, I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Caring less has never once fixed burnout. So what actually does?

In this episode, Dr. Amy Grimm gets personal about the years she spent running on empty as a young veterinarian, from the friend group she quietly disappeared from to the surgery she still can't stop thinking about. Inspired by a raw conversation she had as a guest on another podcast about nervous system support for caregivers, Amy breaks down why burnout is so much more than an occupational hazard, and why it shows up in your body long before you'd ever call yourself "burned out."

This one is for anyone who's the person everyone counts on, whether that's at work, at home, or both.

What You'll Learn

Links & Resources

Substack: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Coaching & more: https://www.burnoutfreeme.com

About Amy

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and well-being expert, and the host of Burnout-Free Me—the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

Enjoyed This Episode?

The best way to support the show is to leave a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It goes a long way toward helping another exhausted high-achiever find this show.

Subscribe to Substack for more in-depth discussion, strategies, and tools for building a burnout-free life you love.

And if you're ready for hands-on support, learn more about coaching with Amy at https://www.burnoutfreeme.com.

Sometimes the hardest question isn't "What do I want to leave behind?" but "What do I want to move toward?"

What happens when you've accomplished the thing you worked so hard for, but you can no longer imagine doing it for another twenty years?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Shahrzad Rafiee, an emergency physician, therapist, writer, and educator, for a thoughtful conversation about burnout, moral injury, identity, and what it means to create a life that feels meaningful, not just successful.

After nearly three decades in emergency medicine, Dr. Rafiee found herself questioning whether she could continue on the same path. Rather than walking away from medicine entirely, she began exploring what else might bring purpose and fulfillment to her life. That journey eventually led her to become a therapist, where she now helps healthcare professionals and other high-achieving individuals navigate stress, burnout, anxiety, and life transitions.

Together, we explore burnout in high-pressure environments, why so many successful people struggle to identify what they actually want, and how emotions can serve as valuable information rather than obstacles to overcome. We also discuss career pivots, identity shifts, emotional processing, and the challenge of building a life that feels aligned after achieving the goals you once thought would make you happy.

Whether you're questioning your career, feeling trapped by an identity you've outgrown, or simply wondering if there's more to life than checking the next box, this conversation is for you.

Want more of this?

About Amy:

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me — the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

If this episode resonated, please take 30 seconds to leave a rating and review — it helps more women find the show. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Dr. Shahrzad Rafiee (Mushi) is an emergency physician, associate marriage & family therapist, speaker, and educator with a unique perspective on the intersection of medicine, mental health, and human resilience.

After years of caring for patients in the emergency department, she expanded her work to include psychotherapy, helping healthcare professionals and other high-achieving individuals navigate stress, burnout, anxiety, and the emotional demands of modern life.

Her approach combines evidence-based psychology, practical clinical experience, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by people working in high-pressure environments.

Dr. Rafiee has spoken on physician wellness, burnout prevention, emotional resilience, and executive functioning in healthcare settings. She has also facilitated longitudinal process groups for emergency medicine trainees, helping physicians develop healthier ways to understand and respond to the emotional challenges of their work. Through her clinical practice, South Bay Therapy Works, and her writing and speaking, Dr. Rafiee is passionate about helping people move beyond survival mode and create lives that are both successful and sustainable.

Connect with Dr. Rafiee:

Website: SouthBayTherapyWorks.com

LinkedIn: Dr. Shahrzad Rafiee

Article in Psychology Today: When the System Overloads: Lessons From the ER

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-tools-school/202606/when-the-system-overloads-lessons-from-the-er

Want more of this? On Substack I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Episode Details:

You've done the work. You've built the career. So why does it still feel like you're dragging yourself through every single day? In this milestone 150th episode, Dr. Amy Grimm gets real about the three things she wishes she'd known before becoming a coach — and why every ambitious woman in a high-responsibility role needs to hear them.

This episode isn't just for aspiring coaches. It's for the new grad vet suddenly expected to lead a whole team. The woman who just got promoted and is quietly terrified. The entrepreneur who left stability to chase something that actually lights her up. These are the lessons nobody tells you — and they might change how you see everything.

What You'll Learn:

Plus — Amy celebrates 150 episodes and reflects on the evolution from The Daring DVM Podcast to Burnout-Free Me, and what it means to finally be building something that feels like her.

Links & Resources:

About Amy:

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me — the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

If this episode resonated, please take 30 seconds to leave a rating and review — it helps more women find the show. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Want more of this? On Substack I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Episode Details:

You've hit the milestones, built the relationship, chased the goals. So why doesn't anything feel that different? In this episode, Dr. Amy Grimm gets real about what turning 40 actually taught her -- and it's not what she expected.

Amy shares three of the biggest mindset shifts from her 39th year: how she coached herself through the gut-punch of discovering people she cared about held beliefs she finds genuinely harmful, why no single achievement will ever change your life the way you think it will, and how she made high-stakes decisions in the middle of real economic uncertainty without losing her mind. The thread running through all of it? Whether you're willing to tell yourself the truth.

Honest, a little political, deeply personal, and completely relatable. You're going to hear yourself in this one.

What You'll Learn:

Links & Resources:

About Amy:

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me -- the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

If this episode resonated, please leave a rating and review—it helps more women find the show. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Want more of this? On Substack I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Episode Details:

What if your job has been quietly affecting you — and you never knew it had a name?

Secondary traumatic stress is one of the most underrecognized contributors to burnout in high-achieving professionals. It doesn't arrive all at once. It accumulates slowly, invisibly, the way water heats around a frog in a pot. And most people don't realize how far it's gone until they've already crossed their limit.

In Part 2 of this special Mental Health Awareness Month series, Dr. Amy Grimm goes deep on secondary traumatic stress — what it is, what makes you vulnerable to it, how to recognize it in your own body and behavior, and where to start when it comes to taking care of yourself. She walks through the Contributing Factors Venn Diagram developed by Françoise Mathieu and the TEND Academy — a powerful framework for understanding the eight risk factor categories that shape your personal stress threshold.

This is one of the most important conversations in the burnout space. And nobody taught us this.

What You'll Learn

Links & Resources

Substack: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Coaching & website: https://burnoutfreeme.com

TEND Academy (Françoise Mathieu): https://www.tendacademy.ca

Contributing Factors Venn Diagram: https://www.tendacademy.ca/venn-diagram/

Missed Part 1? Listen to Episode 147: Trauma 101: Understanding the Basics of Traumatic Stress

About Dr. Amy Grimm

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me -- the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if this show has been valuable to you, please take a moment to leave a rating and review. It helps other women find this community — and that matters.

Want more of this? On Substack, I share longer reflections, practical tools, and honest conversations that don't make it onto the pod. Join the Burnout-Free Me community: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Episode Details:

You've probably felt it — completely wrecked by your job in a way that sleep doesn't fix, or on edge in a way you couldn't quite explain. What if the missing piece wasn't a solution, but a language?

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and in this episode, Dr. Amy Grimm kicks off a special two-part series timed to her upcoming presentation on compassion fatigue at AVMA in July. Episode 147 lays the foundation: the trauma terminology that changes how you understand yourself, your stress, and your burnout.

This isn't therapy. It's information — the kind that finally makes the things you've been carrying make sense.

What You'll Learn

Links & Resources

Substack: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com

Coaching & website: https://burnoutfreeme.com

ACE Questionnaire: https://www.acesaware.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ACE-Questionnaire-for-Adults-Identified-English-rev.7.26.22.pdf

About Dr. Amy Grimm

Dr. Amy Grimm is a veterinarian, success coach, and wellbeing expert and the host of Burnout-Free Me -- the podcast for high-achieving women who are done running on empty. Real talk, practical tools, and honest mindset shifts every week.

Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe so you don't miss Episode 148, where we go deep on secondary traumatic stress — the burnout you don't see coming. And if this show has been valuable to you, please leave a rating and review. It helps other women find this community.

Join me on Substack:

👉 Subscribe here: https://amygrimmburnoutfreeme.substack.com/

That’s where I share deeper insights, behind-the-scenes thoughts, and practical ways to start shifting out of survival mode.

Share This Episode:

The Burnout Fix

Learn more at: burnoutfreeme.com

If you're a high-achieving professional who feels like you're constantly running on empty, Amy helps ambitious women understand burnout, regulate their nervous systems, and build careers that support their lives rather than consuming them.

Learn more or book a consultation: burnoutfreeme.com

If you enjoyed this episode of Burnout-Free Me, make sure you're subscribed so you never miss a conversation about burnout recovery, nervous system health, and creating success without sacrificing your wellbeing.

Leaving a quick review also helps more high-achieving women find the show.

Episode Notes:

If you feel exhausted all the time… even though you’re doing everything “right”… this episode is going to make that make sense.

Because this isn’t about time management or being more disciplined.

In this episode of Burnout-Free Me, I’m breaking down why so many high-achieving women feel constantly drained despite being capable, responsible, and on top of their lives… and what’s actually going on beneath the surface.

We’re talking about the hidden cost of chronic stress, how your nervous system adapts to pressure over time, and why “used to it” doesn’t mean “okay.”

If you’ve ever felt like you should have more energy, more motivation, or just be handling things better… this conversation is for you.

This is where we shift from “What’s wrong with me?”

And that shift changes everything.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

Meet Amy:

Dr. Amy Grimm is a success and well-being coach, speaker, and veterinarian who helps high-performing professionals lead with clarity, energy, and purpose without sacrificing their well-being.

A former medical director who experienced burnout firsthand, Amy now coaches leaders across industries to recognize the hidden costs of hustle culture and create sustainable success through strategic prioritization and people-first leadership.

She also hosts the Burnout-Free Me Podcast (previously Daring DVM Podcast), a free resource for high-achievers and career professionals who want to live with less stress and create a life of balance, fulfillment, and joy.

Outside of work, Amy and her partner enjoy travel and all things outdoors. You’ll most likely find them on top of a mountain, in the middle of a desert, somewhere underwater, or 100 miles into a ride on their tandem mountain bicycle.

High-achievers love a good plan.

We map out the perfect workout routine. The ideal morning ritual. The healthy habit that will finally help us feel organized, productive, and in control again.

And then… we quit.

Not because we lack discipline or because we don’t care, but because perfectionism quietly turns habit-building into an impossible standard.

In this episode of Burnout-Free Me, Dr. Amy Grimm explores why perfectionism is actually a terrible strategy for creating healthy habits, especially for ambitious professionals who are already carrying a lot of responsibility.

When your brain defaults to all-or-nothing thinking, habits tend to follow a predictable pattern. You start strong with an ambitious plan, life inevitably disrupts it, and your brain decides that if it can’t be done perfectly, it’s not worth doing at all.

That cycle isn’t a motivation problem. It’s a nervous system problem.

When stress narrows your capacity and shrinks your window of tolerance, the rigid plans perfectionists rely on simply stop working. Sustainable habits require a different approach. One that works with your real life, your energy levels, and the reality that high-responsibility careers rarely run on a perfectly predictable schedule.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to shift away from perfectionistic habit building and toward a strategy that actually supports long-term consistency. Amy shares the powerful concept of a minimum baseline habit, how to create a backup plan for chaotic days, and why building habits around your current capacity is the key to making them stick.

This conversation blends nervous system awareness, mindset shifts, and practical habit strategies so you can stop quitting on yourself and start building routines that support your health, energy, and life outside of work.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the start-stop cycle with healthy habits, this episode will give you a much more sustainable way forward.

Choose one habit you’ve struggled to maintain.

Instead of focusing on the ideal version, define the smallest version that still counts. Something you can do even on stressful days.

Then decide on a backup version for when life inevitably gets messy.

The goal is not perfection. The goal is continuity.

Small, consistent actions train your brain and nervous system to support the identity you want to build.

If you want to better understand what burnout is actually doing to your brain and nervous system, start with my free resource:

The Burnout Fix

You can download it at:

If this episode resonated with you, make sure you follow the podcast so you don’t miss future conversations about burnout, nervous system regulation, and creating a life that actually feels good to live.

You can also watch full episodes and additional content on YouTube and explore coaching resources at: burnoutfreeme.com

Many high-achieving women quietly wonder the same thing:

Is it actually possible to have a fulfilling career and a fulfilling relationship?

When you care deeply about your work, carry a lot of responsibility, and want to do things well, it can start to feel like your career and your love life are competing for the same limited energy.

You may find yourself emotionally exhausted at the end of the day, mentally preoccupied with work when you're trying to be present with your partner, or wondering if pursuing success has unintentionally pushed relationships to the side.

In this episode of Burnout-Free Me, Dr. Amy Grimm explores why this happens and why the real issue is often not time management or “balance.”

Instead, the root of the problem often lies in the productivity trap many ambitious women grow up internalizing. When your worth becomes unconsciously tied to achievement and responsibility, work can slowly consume more energy and capacity than you ever intended.

Over time, this affects your nervous system, your emotional availability, and your ability to fully connect with the people you love.

In this conversation, Amy shares how burnout and chronic stress influence intimacy and presence in relationships, why nervous system regulation is essential for connection, and how high-achieving women can build careers that support their lives rather than quietly draining them.

You’ll also hear a real coaching example that shows how shifting your internal experience of work can dramatically improve your relationship without requiring you to sacrifice your career.

This episode is for any ambitious woman who wants success, meaningful relationships, and a life that actually feels aligned.

Amy explores:

The Burnout Fix

Learn more at:

If you're a high-achieving professional who feels like you're constantly running on empty, Amy helps ambitious women understand burnout, regulate their nervous systems, and build careers that support their lives rather than consuming them.

Learn more or book a consultation:

If you enjoyed this episode of Burnout-Free Me, make sure you're subscribed so you never miss a conversation about burnout recovery, nervous system health, and creating success without sacrificing your wellbeing.

Leaving a quick review also helps more high-achieving women find the show.