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What if exhaustion isn’t a personal failure but a cultural pattern we’ve mistaken for normal? We open our first Foundation Friday episode for the year a two-part exploration of Gabor and Daniel Maté's book 'The Myth of Normal.'

I introduce critical questions about the nature of exhaustion and trauma, emphasizing that they may stem not from personal failure but from broader cultural issues. We look at the importance of understanding trauma as a relational, cultural, and systemic issue rather than an individual flaw.

We explore the difference between what’s common and what’s truly nourishing, and we name the quiet adaptations—over-functioning, people-pleasing, emotional self-containment—that once kept us safe but now keep us distant from not just other people, but more importantly, from ourselves.

Through Gabor Maté’s lens, trauma isn’t only about what happened; it’s about what formed inside us when safety and attunement were missing. That shift reframes anxiety, fatigue, numbness, and irritability as understandable responses to unreasonable conditions, not evidence of weakness. We also trace how systems—workplace pressure, social media churn, constant news—reward speed over presence and independence over interdependence, creating a culture where disconnection feels normal and rest feels unsafe. And how we are is tied to who we think we should be instead of who we are.

I've offered some practical reflection points in this first episode to get you thinking about the areas of your life where what feels normal is actually unkind, where coping has replaced care, and how to invite small moments of kindness into the day—so awareness can lead without force.

Subscribe for part two, share this with someone who’s been quietly enduring, and leave a review to help more listeners find space for compassionate self-understanding.

Don't forget to join our Facebook group, Foundation Fridays, to stay part of the conversation for the Myth of Normal and all our books for 2026 which are:

• Be Good to Yourself — Orison Swett Marden (March/April)
• Brave New World — Aldous Huxley (May/June)
• The Kindness Method — Shahroo Izadi (July/August)
• The Gifts of Imperfection — Brené Brown (September/October)
• Radical Acceptance — Tara Brach (November/December)

Closing out the episode is this poignant thought from Gabor around how our behaviour is often informed by the moments when we are operating out of our own myths of normal – our pain, perfectionism, neglect, perceived rejection, need to please, or pulling away from those around us.

"The meaning of the word “trauma,” in its Greek origin, is “wound.” Whether we realize it or not, it is our woundedness, or how we cope with it, that dictates much of our behavior, shapes our social habits, and informs our ways of thinking about the world.”
― Gabor Maté

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