Women Under Pressure

Too tired to relax after work, and too depleted to even know what you need? Kristen answers a listener's question with the recovery paradox: the harder the day, the more recovery you need, and the less capacity you have left to get it. She comes back to last week's hospice social worker and looks at what happens when you leave a job where people depend on you and walk straight into a home where they depend on you again.
Some takeaways:
The harder the day, the harder it is to decompress
Even decompressing asks for energy you may not have left
Most rest advice assumes an after-work you with energy to spare
Judge the whole day, not the last five minutes at home
Signs a better transition after work isn't enough on its own
Decide ahead of time how your first few minutes home go

Tell Kristen on Instagram: what's the hardest part of coming home after a high-pressure day?

Connect with Kristen:
🌐 Frontline Wellness Group
📋 Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment
🎙️ Work with Kristen
📱 Instagram

Chapters:
00:00 Running on Empty and Can't Switch Off
01:05 The Driveway After a Long Shift
02:09 The Recovery Paradox
03:13 More Rest, Less Capacity Left
04:56 When Rest Advice Stops Being Useful
05:53 Working Mothers Study and Scrolling
07:22 10 Minutes in the Car
09:00 Three Questions to Ask Yourself
09:45 Clinical Note, Assessment, Next Episode
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode unpacks psychological detachment, the ability to mentally leave work once the day is over, and why getting home doesn't always mean you're off duty. Kristen uses a hospice social worker's story to show how caring about someone can look the same as still feeling responsible for them. She keeps the research on work-related rumination separate from her own clinical read, then asks a question worth sitting with: are you still feeling something about what happened, or still trying to take care of it?

Some takeaways:
What work-related rumination is and why work can keep running in your mind after you've physically left it
Why psychological detachment, not just being physically home, is linked to better recovery after high-pressure work
How grief and lingering responsibility can feel the same even though they are different things
Why your mind doesn't just flip a switch when the workday ends
A reflection practice to try this week: ask yourself whether you are still feeling something about what happened or still trying to take care of something about it, and if something keeps coming back, ask what you are still trying to do here

Connect with Kristen:
🌐 Frontline Wellness Group
📋 Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment
🎙️ Work with Kristen
📱 Instagram

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:38 The Quiet Pressure
01:18 The Switch You Make
04:21 The Unspoken Rules at Work
04:58 Surface Acting vs. Deep Acting
07:26 Suppression and the Body’s Stress Response
09:36 Gendered Expectations at Work
12:55 A Weekly Reflection Practice
13:51 A Clinical Note and Next Steps
15:06 Outro and Free Leadership Assessment
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is about emotional labor and the gap between what you feel and what you actually show when a job requires composure. Kristen looks at why staying steady for others has a cost, even when you look calm on the outside. She separates the research on display rules, surface acting and expressive suppression from her own clinical view, then asks a simple question: did you calm down, or did you just look calm?

Some takeaways:
What display rules are and how they shape which emotions feel acceptable to show at work
The difference between surface acting and deep acting, and why surface acting is more consistently linked to exhaustion
Why hiding your feelings can increase physiological strain even when you appear calm
Why generic advice to just feel your feelings misses what composure actually costs
How gendered expectations add pressure, including research on how women's anger gets judged differently depending on whether a reason is given
A reflection practice to try this week: pick one moment you had to pull yourself together, then ask what you actually felt versus what you showed, and whether you calmed down or just looked calm

Connect with Kristen:
🌐 Frontline Wellness Group
📋 Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment
🎙️ Work with Kristen
📱 Instagram

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:38 The Quiet Pressure
01:18 The Switch You Make
04:21 The Unspoken Rules at Work
04:58 Surface Acting vs. Deep Acting
07:26 Suppression and the Body’s Stress Response
09:36 Gendered Expectations at Work
12:55 A Weekly Reflection Practice
13:51 A Clinical Note and Next Steps
15:06 Outro and Free Leadership Assessment
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Kristen talks with Chelsea Ryckis, a business owner, wife, and first-time mom of a one-year-old. She shares how she learned to stay accountable as a leader by deciding where her involvement is necessary.

Some takeaways:
How becoming the woman who handles everything lead to a physical and mental decline
The burnout moment that pushed her to a 360 life change that operationalized accountability in her team
Operating in survival mode and how motherhood impacts mindset
How to pursue ambition with more deliberate choices about your time and involvement.
A practical exercise that will help you pause and reflect

Connect with Kristen
🌐 Frontline Wellness Group
🌐 Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment
🎙️ Work with Kristen
📱 Instagram

Conect with Chelsea
📱Instagram
🌐EthoBenefits
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode unpacks why even in the moments when you choose to delegate, you still can't stop yourself from taking the work back. Kristen shares the story of Danielle, an emergency management director who is over-functioning and why this pattern is damaging.

Some takeaways:
The difference between being accountable for an outcome and personally carrying every action
How family systems of over-functioning and under-functioning create this pattern
Why the body feels relieved when you take over and trains the brain to repeat it
What inflated responsibility is
A reflection question to ask yourself before stepping in

Connect with Kristen:
🌐Frontline Wellness Group
📋Free High Pressure Leadership Assessment
🎙️Work with Kristen
📱Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.