A Love Letter To Overachievers

There’s a moment most high-achieving women reach.

It’s not loud.  It doesn’t always look like burnout.  It’s a quiet ache. A whisper you can’t ignore anymore.

I can’t keep living like this.

If you’ve worked your whole life to be the one who holds everything together, this might feel… unsettling.

You’re smart. Capable. Trusted. You get things done. You deliver. You carry it all.

And you’ve worked like this your whole life.  Because that’s what you were taught:
Do more. Achieve more. Run harder. Be better.

Always be more.

You learned early that your worth came from output, how well you performed, how little you needed, how much you gave.  And it worked.  Until it didn’t.

I know how it feels.

I didn’t get it either.  Not really.  Not until I started my own business and all the old rules fell away.

No job title to hide behind. No performance review to chase. No boss to please.
Just me. My brain. My patterns. My beliefs.

And one day, in the middle of a very normal afternoon, I realised…I was still trying to outrun the feeling that I wasn’t enough.

And I thought:  What is it all for… if I still feel this way?

Let’s talk about the brain for a moment.

Your brain doesn’t care about your happiness.  It cares about certainty.

So if the pattern of overachieving has kept you safe, has earned you love, attention, validation, your brain will keep repeating it. Even if it’s exhausting you.

Your brain’s job is to conserve energy and avoid perceived threats. And any shift away from the familiar? That feels hard.

That’s why slowing down, softening, resting, can feel terrifying.

But that fear? That’s just a sign your brain is doing what it’s always done: trying to protect you.

You are not broken.  You’re wired for survival.

But you get to choose something different now.

Ask yourself:

• Why is it so important that I work as hard as I do?
• Are you actually feeling what you want to feel? 
• And if not, how do you want to feel? 
• If you had the power, what would you change?  (hint: you have the power)
  
  

These questions are uncomfortable.  But they are powerful.  They are the beginning of liberation.

You don’t need to carry it all anymore.  You don’t need to keep proving how strong you are.

You are allowed to want joy. Peace. Slowness. You are allowed to feel proud, not just productive.

You are allowed to say:  I don’t want to live like this anymore.

That moment isn’t failure.  That moment is your turning point.

Ready for a new way?

I coach brilliant, exhausted women who are ready to shift from survival mode to sustainable success.

Together, we rewrite the beliefs that keep you stuck, and rebuild a way of working, leading, and living that actually feels like yours.

You don’t have to keep carrying it all.  Not alone. Not anymore.

👉 Book a discovery call with Julie
👉 Or start with the free Thriving in 2025 Toolkit

Your next chapter starts with one choice:  To stop surviving, and start leading on your own terms.

With heart,
Julie
Chief Hope Officer

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