Ewa Błaszczak is a mentor for leaders and teams, an author, professional speaker, and coaching mentor to host Cait Donovan. Recently she wrote a book in Polish that began as a TED talk about the toxicity of sarcasm and developed into a deep dive on how to detoxify communication. 

Communication toxins are a natural defense mechanism that developed in response to our reptilian brain’s need for psychological safety and early humans’ reliance on one another to survive. When you are in a toxic environment, you are likely to fight others through your communication choices, whether by using sarcasm, ignoring people, or being overly critical. These dangerously toxic communication mechanisms reduce the psychological safety of not only yourself, but also those around you and can lead to burnout. It is impossible for trust to thrive in a toxic environment, so removing those toxins is pivotal for healthy relationships to grow.

Pay close attention to the language you use with yourself. When you improve the way you communicate with yourself, it will have a positive impact on how you communicate with others. Tune into today’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast for a conversation with Ewa Błaszczak about how to heal burnout by detoxing your communication. 

Quotes

• “There's a specific thing that makes our relationships crumble, that makes our lives literally miserable, and these are communication toxins.” (18:38-18:47 | Ewa)

• “We lack psychological safety. We are warring with ourselves and others constantly.” (19:09-19:16 | Ewa) 

• “If you are subject to sarcasm on a daily basis, your immune system gets compromised for the next four years and it causes all those autoimmune diseases.” (23:20-23:33 | Ewa)

• “We have to pay close attention to how we treat ourselves on a daily basis.” (36:39-36:45 | Ewa)

• “Start with yourself and start with monitoring your own inner communication, because once you change the way you communicate with yourself, there will be less pain and you'll be less vulnerable.” (38:37-38:49 | Ewa)

• “We are all wounded and toxicity is a natural defense mechanism not to feel our own pain.” (41:46-41:56 | Ewa)

• “There's no trust in a toxic environment. There's no possibility that the trust is going to thrive.” (48:17-48:23 | Ewa)

Links

Connect with Ewa Błaszczak:

https://ewablaszczak.com

https://www.akashicreadings.eu/

https://gottman.com 

https://www.ted.com/talks/ewa_blaszczak_let_s_put_an_end_to_sarcasm

Connect with Cait:

Cait Donovan is a keynote speaker, author, and host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast, specializing in burnout, mis/match, and sustainable performance at work. She partners with corporate leaders, teams, and professional associations through keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions that treat burnout as data, not failure, to help organizations reduce burnout without blame or shame and build healthier, high performing cultures.

To bring Cait to your organization or event, book an inquiry call here: https://bit.ly/bookcait

Learn more about Cait’s speaking work: https://www.caitdonovan.com/speaking

Short on time? Watch this 3-min video: https://bit.ly/caitdreel2025

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm