When You're Sick, Exhausted or Overwhelmed, This Therapy Tool Will Help

Summary

Podcast Summary: Take Out Therapy – "When You're Sick, Exhausted or Overwhelmed, This Therapy Tool Will Help"

Release Date: July 14, 2025
Host: Rebecca Hunter, MSW

---

Introduction

In the episode titled "When You're Sick, Exhausted or Overwhelmed, This Therapy Tool Will Help," Rebecca Hunter, MSW, delves into the challenges faced by empathic high achievers when dealing with illness and overwhelm. Through a candid and relatable conversation, Rebecca shares personal experiences and therapeutic insights aimed at helping listeners navigate periods of physical and emotional exhaustion with compassion and practical tools.

Personal Struggles with Illness and Overwhelm

Rebecca opens the session by addressing the universal experience of falling ill and the additional emotional burden it brings, especially for those who are constantly pushing themselves.

Rebecca Hunter (00:00): "I have been sick forever. And in case you're someone who gets sick and maybe struggles when you can't do anything... this episode is for you."

She candidly shares her own recent battle with a severe illness, highlighting how it has provided her with valuable insights that can benefit her listeners.

Societal Stigmas Surrounding Illness

Rebecca discusses the societal pressures and stigmas that exacerbate the experience of being sick or overwhelmed. She points out how illness is often seen as a personal failing rather than a natural part of life.

Rebecca Hunter (03:15): "We have some new and old stigma around illnesses, around sickness, as though it's totally preventable."

She emphasizes the growing fear of getting sick and how this societal mindset adds an unnecessary emotional layer to physical ailments, making recovery more challenging.

The Importance of Self-Relationship and Positive Self-Talk

At the core of mental health, Rebecca asserts that the relationship we have with ourselves profoundly affects how we handle adversity. She likens self-relationship to a sustainable partnership, where negativity can undermine resilience.

Rebecca Hunter (06:45): "Your relationship with yourself will work best and be a positive force in your life if you don't bail out when things get hard."

Rebecca underscores the detrimental effects of harsh self-criticism during times of sickness and overwhelm, advocating for a kinder, more nurturing internal dialogue.

Practical Therapy Tool: Letting Your Body Lead

Rebecca introduces a simple yet effective strategy to improve self-care during times of exhaustion or illness: allowing one's body to take the lead in dictating rest and self-nurturing behaviors.

Key Steps:

1. Personify Your Body:
   Treat your body as a parent that knows what you need.

   Rebecca Hunter (15:30): "Pretend that your body is in charge of everything and that it's kind of your parent, right? When it feels tired, you rest."

2. Respond to Physical Cues:
   Listen to signs of exhaustion or illness without judgment or self-blame.

   Rebecca Hunter (18:20): "These are signs and symptoms that my body needs to rest. These are signs and symptoms that my body doesn't like what I've been putting in it lately."

3. Cultivate Self-Compassion:
   Replace self-criticism with gratitude towards your body's signals.

   Rebecca Hunter (22:10): "You don’t shame it or criticize it. You thank the body immensely all day long."

Rebecca advises integrating this approach into daily life to foster a more harmonious relationship with oneself, ultimately reducing self-imposed stress and promoting recovery.

Overcoming Challenges in Adopting the Tool

Acknowledging that change is difficult, Rebecca encourages persistence and self-forgiveness when setbacks occur.

Rebecca Hunter (27:45): "If you expect a lot of failure and when you notice that you're not listening to your body, that's okay. Just correct yourself a million times."

She reassures listeners that it's normal to struggle with this shift and emphasizes the importance of continuously practicing self-compassion.

Conclusion and Final Tips

Rebecca wraps up the mini-session by reiterating the significance of listening to one's body and making space for rest and self-care. She hints at further exploration of these themes in the upcoming full-length episode.

Rebecca Hunter (34:20): "If the key to a more peaceful relationship lies in just listening to your body, it's too easy, friend. All you have to do is just learn to tune in."

Final Takeaway:
Integrate the practice of allowing your body to lead in times of exhaustion or illness. Treat your body's needs with the same care and respect you would offer a loved one, fostering a healthier and more compassionate self-relationship.

Additional Resources

For more tools and support, listeners are encouraged to visit takeouttherapy.com.

---

Stay Tuned:
Rebecca promises a more in-depth discussion in the full episode airing on Friday, where she will expand on the strategies introduced in this mini-session.

---

This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from Rebecca Hunter's mini-session on "Take Out Therapy," providing listeners with actionable advice to manage times of illness and overwhelm with greater self-compassion and resilience.

Transcript

[A]

Well, hello there, friend. In this short session, I'm going to give you a great hack you can use when you're exhausted and just need to take a break. But your critical self talk is getting in the way. Welcome to Takeout Therapy mini session. I'm Rebecca Hunter, a seasoned therapist and coach here to bring you a short therapy informed insight for your week with mindfulness, self compassion, and way less overthinking. These quick episodes are for busy empaths ready to feel more grounded and navigate life with less chaos. Find more tools [e-mail] okay, let's get started. So do you notice the difference in my voice? I have been sick forever. And in case you're someone who gets sick and maybe struggles when you can't do anything, not even watch TV or read your book, this episode is for you. Or maybe you're just someone who's always doing way too much and that will make you sick, won't it? While I'd been knocked down the last two weeks with a horrible sickness, I realized a couple of things about myself and friend. I think they might help you too. So here's the deal. I want to show you a really easy way that you can start to make a little more room for yourself and your need to just chill out and rest sometimes in this crazy, hectic, absolutely bananas world we live in. You know, here's the thing. We get sick. I get sick once a year, guaranteed. I go down hard when I get sick because I run hard when I'm well. But it's so hard because when we either getting sick or just feeling super overwhelmed and exhausted in our life, which is very physically taxing, we're also being incredibly hard on ourselves. Like, whose fault is it, Rebecca, that you picked up this nasty virus? We have some new and old stigma around illnesses, around sickness, as though it's totally preventable. And people that get sick, we're obviously not being careful and enough. Also, I notice people are way more scared to even get sick than they used to be. Like, if you get sick, it's a big deal. So I think this compounds the experience of not feeling well. Because now not only is it a physical situation, but now it's like this whole big emotional ball of yarn. And that's not really what you want to be doing when you're sick. Right? The thing is, at the foundation of everything in our lives, at the foundation of our mental health, lies our relationship with our self and how we treat ourselves and how we relate to ourselves. And here's a tip. Your Relationship with yourself will work best and be a positive force in your life if you don't bail out when things get hard, right? Like if you're in a relationship with somebody and they get sick and then you just berate them and ignore them, like that's not nice. That relationship might not be as sustainable as you hope it will be, right? So today I want to plant a tiny seed and I'll be back on Friday for a full length episode if I don't get knocked down again. I want to give you a good system for when you start to lose steam in this busy, busy life. The system is not to plow forward, friend. That is not the system. My goal for you today is that I want you to learn to listen to what you need in a different way than you have been so that you can be better friends with yourself and stop going to war with yourself when things get hard. You know, it's interesting getting ill and not being able to do stuff. We expect other people to take care of us when we get sick or when we're just unwell, or when we get exhausted and just totally burned out. But here's the thing, they often don't because in real life we are so busy over functioning and taking care of everybody else that they don't even like really know what to do besides just leave us alone, right? And so what tends to happen is we just lay around feeling really crappy and being kind of mean to ourselves in the background of feeling really crap. Like, you should feel better today. You know, like, oh, why am I still sick today? I've got things I've got to do, right? Maybe you're getting worse, maybe you're getting more exhausted, more burned out as the days click by and you're like, you should be able to rebound from this. You need to get it together. It's really hard when we're facing exhaustion and sickness and, and we become our worst enemy. And sickness is so hard for me because if I can't do things, the boredom and dismay really kick my butt. In addition to not feeling well, it's a really interesting thing that I don't think we talk about enough. Instead of pampering and nurturing ourselves and resetting our poor system whose jumping up, down, going, help, help. Right? When we get low on energy or we catch a bug, we act inconvenienced, irritated, frustrated, and really impatient. Especially in my case. I have been literally crawling out of my skin the past few days because I don't sit still. Well, I have this idea about myself that I need to keep going. And what I really needed the last 10 days was just to lay down, to close my eyes and open them again when I felt like it. I couldn't read, I couldn't watch tv. I didn't want to listen to things. It was that kind of a sickness. And that has to be a place of love and nurturing and respite for oneself. So I'll leave you with something quick to put in your pocket today for when you get run down and exhausted or maybe even catch a bug. Your opinion does not matter, but your body's does. So my tip for you is to just pretend that your body is in charge of everything and that it's kind of your parent, right? When it feels tired, you rest. If it's acting hurt, you nurture it. You don't shame it or criticize it. You thank the body immensely all day long. This is the idea of working with your body in every situation in your life, not against it. Bring it into your life a little bit this week and see how it impacts things. Because you might notice that you rest a little sooner or a little longer, that you nurture yourself a little bit more, a little more kindly and generally, maybe we will both stop being so rude to ourselves when we're not feeling well. So if you practice this little thing about letting your body be in charge, you can expect a lot of failure. And. And when you notice that you're not listening to your body, that's okay. Just correct yourself a million times. Just be willing to start over and try again. Oh, right. These are signs and symptoms that my body needs to rest. Oh, right. These are signs and symptoms that my body doesn't like what I've been putting in it lately. These are signs and symptoms that I've picked something up and I'm gonna really need to nurture my system while it deals with fighting some sort of whatever evilness. I tell you, no, we all get sick from time to time. You didn't do anything wrong. If it happens to you. And I'm gonna pat myself on the back because after a few days of crawling out of my skin, I learned to just relax. Even though it's really hard for me when I'm up against deadlines and I can't meet them, I start to freak out a little. But I practiced just correcting that a million times over the past couple weeks and being like, you know, it's okay. There isn't anything you can do about this right now except for just be here and rest. So you gotta listen to your body. And consider this. If the key to a more peaceful relationship lies in just listening to your body, it's too easy, friend. All you have to do is just learn to tune in. Which means you'll need to tune out a whole bunch of stuff. I guess we can get into that more later on. That's your mini session for today. Practice this small shift this week, and I'll see you for the full episode on Friday. And remember, you can always find more support at takeouttherapy. Com. Until next time, take really good care of yourself, friend. And I will, too.