In this reflective year-end episode, I take listeners on a gentle pause to sit with the reality of the year they've just carried. It's not the polished, social-media version of the year, but an honest look at what women, especially in leadership and career spaces, have held—often invisibly. From emotional loads and endless mental tabs to the weight of responsibilities, self-doubt, and cultural change, this episode speaks directly to those feeling stretched and tired.

What We Carried:

• The high expectations, emotional labor, unending mental lists, unclaimed responsibilities, and even self-doubt—all these made the year heavier than most realize.

What It Cost Us:

• Rest, clarity, confidence, joy, boundaries, parts of our identity, and sometimes our own breathing space suffered under the weight of all that carrying.

Compassion for Ourselves:

• Resonate Leadership Podcast Host reassures listeners: fatigue hasn’t come from weakness, but from holding too much, for too long.

Lessons Learned:

• This year revealed our limits, the importance of belonging, the exhaustion of masking, and the difference between performing strength and true strength. It taught us who supports us—and who only sees the results.

What to Put Down:

• Before the new year, listeners are encouraged to shed burdens they don’t need to carry: the pressure to always be available, the belief they must earn rest, invisible emotional labor, guilt for saying no, and the need for constant competence.

What to Welcome:

• By putting some things down, we make space to pick up new boundaries, honest joy, real belonging, supportive communities, and permission to be unapologetically ourselves.

Takeaways:

• Leadership is human work—messy, emotional, relational, systemic.
• Rest is not something to be earned; it’s something we deserve.
• Putting down unnecessary loads makes space for renewal.
• The hard year does not define your worth or strength—your continued showing up does.

Thanks for being part of Frustrated and Exhausted this year. Here’s to the reset you need and deserve!

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