Do you wake up feeling anxious before the day has even started?

Before you’ve checked your phone. Before anything has gone wrong. Before anyone has asked you for anything.

If you’re a high-functioning woman who carries responsibility well, this episode will make something click.

Morning anxiety isn’t always about fear. It’s often about activation.

Your body has learned that morning means responsibility. So it prepares you.

In today’s episode, we talk about:

• Why anxiety often hits before thought • Why high-functioning women feel it more • The difference between anxiety and readiness • Why evenings feel softer • A simple morning shift to retrain the pattern • A gentle faith-based reminder that you don’t carry the day alone

This is not about fixing yourself.

It’s about understanding your nervous system and meeting it with steadiness instead of frustration.

When you wake up and feel that familiar tightness:

Say quietly: “My body is preparing me.”

And if it feels natural: “God, You’re already here.”

Then sit up slowly. Put your feet on the floor. Take one slow breath out — longer than you breathe in.

Small interruption. Gentle retraining.

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That’s how patterns shift.

What if anxiety, overwhelm, and emotional exhaustion aren’t signs that something is wrong with you?

What if they’re signs that you’ve been carrying too much for too long — often quietly, and often without enough support?

In this episode, I share a deeply personal reflection on how I came to realize that my mental health wasn’t the real problem. The real issue was overload — responsibility, pressure, and emotional weight that never seemed to let up.

This conversation is about reframing what we’ve been told, letting go of shame, and understanding what our symptoms have actually been trying to communicate.

In this episode, we talk about:

• why overwhelm is often mislabeled as a mental health issue

• how anxiety and burnout can be signals, not flaws

• why strong, capable women are often the most overwhelmed

• how living in survival mode affects the nervous system

• and why relief matters more than “fixing yourself”

This episode is for you if:

• you feel emotionally exhausted even when life looks “fine”

• you’ve been told to work on your mental health when what you needed was support

• you’re tired of feeling like you should be able to handle more

• you want a gentler, more compassionate way to understand yourself

This is a space to slow down, breathe, and realize you’re not broken — you’re burdened.

And burdened people don’t need fixing. They need relief.

🌿 Join our FB group: Overwhelmed Women Finding Stability → Join Our Community

👉 Want encouragement and simple tools for steadying your mind each week? Join our email community

💌 Connect with Richelle: richelle@richellebraybrook.com

In this episode, we talk about why saying no feels so hard — especially for women who’ve lived through trauma, addiction, or unstable relationships. We unpack where guilt really comes from, how boundaries are tied to self-worth, and why protecting your peace doesn’t make you selfish.

This is an honest, grounded conversation about learning to set boundaries without losing your softness, your kindness, or your faith. We also walk through real-life boundary examples with family, ex-partners, friends, church spaces, and even with yourself.

If you’re tired of people-pleasing, over-explaining, and carrying everyone else’s emotions, this episode is for you.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why boundaries can feel unsafe and triggering

• Where guilt shows up when you start saying no

• How boundaries support healing and recovery

• What healthy boundaries look like in real life

• How to protect your peace without shutting people out

Reflection for the week: Where am I saying yes out of fear instead of alignment?

Next steps:

You don’t have to walk this journey alone.

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👉 Join our email community

🌿 Join our FB group: Overwhelmed Women Finding Stability → Join Our Community

💌 Connect with Richelle: richelle@richellebraybrook.com