The Kristen Boss Podcast
Episode 237: From Hustle to Healing: Parenting, Pressure, and the Cost of Always Being 'On'
Host: Kristen Boss
Guest: Sarah Boyd (Author of Turn Down the Noise; Founder of Resilient Little Hearts)
Release Date: November 3, 2025
Episode Overview
In this insightful conversation, Kristen Boss is joined by her friend and parenting expert Sarah Boyd to explore the profound impact of chronic hustle, overstimulation, and nervous system dysregulation—especially as they intersect with entrepreneurship and parenting. Drawing from Sarah’s new book, Turn Down the Noise, they discuss why so many high performers struggle to "turn off," the invisible epidemic of overstimulation in today’s world, how hustle culture shapes both business practices and home life, and practical ways to break the cycle of always being "on."
Throughout the episode, Kristen and Sarah speak candidly about their own journeys with burnout, declining mental health, and parenting challenges. Together, they provide a raw, hope-filled look at what it takes to heal—from self-awareness and self-compassion, to learning new strategies for nervous system regulation and intergenerational change.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Introducing Sarah Boyd & the Importance of Nervous System Work
[01:12–05:37]
- Kristen gushes over Sarah’s deep empathy, humility, and wisdom, highlighting her social channel Resilient Little Hearts and new book, Turn Down the Noise.
- Kristen opens up about discovering her own overstimulation through parenting and how this prompted her to seek therapy.
- The topic of nervous system regulation is introduced—often relegated to therapy spaces, but critically relevant to entrepreneurship, relationships, and everyday functioning.
Notable Quote
"High performers tend to kind of not see, like, okay, well, but how does my nervous system actually impact my everyday life?... I’m wanting to bring it in because it really does touch every part of our life, like, who we are in business, how we interact with our spouse, how we show up in high stress moments."
— Kristen Boss [04:54]
2. Overstimulation as an Invisible Epidemic & the Modern Stress Cycle
[05:37–10:40]
- Sarah uses her background in child and adolescent development to explain how "overstimulation" has become normalized, and why today’s always-on world creates chronic stress.
- She describes how the 80s and 90s naturally offered more boundaries (fewer screens, built-in downtime), which supported healthier cycles of stress and rest.
- She explains the basics of nervous system functioning as a “dance” between stress and recovery—the problem is when stress becomes constant, without true rest.
Notable Quote
“Our nervous system… is designed to work in a dance between stress and challenge and then recovery and rest… Without any rest and recovery, you burn out and experience a lot of mental health symptoms and a lot of different stuff going on in your life.”
— Sarah Boyd [07:36]
3. Redefining Stress, Burnout, and the Entrepreneurial Survival Mindset
[10:40–14:30]
- Kristen reflects on how she misunderstood stress, only identifying “crisis moments” as stressful, while normalizing constant overload, which kept her in a perpetual stress response.
- She unpacks her own inability to rest, sharing how stillness felt unsafe due to old survival programming, despite outward success.
Notable Quotes
“I am a fight flight response. So I have a nervous system that propels me into activity... Stillness—which is so interesting because we need rest and recovery to get us out of that, you know, that overstimulated stress response—but… I didn’t realize that’s why I was never slowing down, because I felt deeply unsafe with quiet and stillness and not, not quote, ‘being productive.’”
— Kristen Boss [10:40]
“One of the things we don’t often realize is in order to get that level of success, you have to get good at denying your emotions… That is a healthy skill in situations. But if you stay in that space, that’s when you’re going to get into trouble… The dysfunction of the nervous system is when we stop the dance.”
— Sarah Boyd [11:20]
4. Learning to Rest: Practical Approaches to Regulation
[14:30–14:58]; [13:13; 13:50]
- Sarah introduces “tech Sabbaths” (days without technology) and analog activities to facilitate nervous system reset.
- She emphasizes that often, we need offline activities—not just stillness—to allow our system to process and reset (examples: exercise, gardening, crafts).
- Kristen shares how paint-by-number kits became an unlikely tool in her healing journey.
5. Burnout, Hyper-vigilance, and Chronic Dysregulation
[14:30–18:05]
- Kristen challenges narrow definitions of burnout, explaining how she burned out even on a reduced schedule because her survival mindset never switched off.
- She discusses “entrepreneurial hypervigilance”—solving imaginary problems at all hours—and the prevalence of chronic dysregulation in high achievers.
- Thought-provoking discussion about the overlap between chronic nervous system dysregulation and self-diagnosed ADHD.
Notable Quote
“My old survival brain was like, ‘Yeah, but, okay, what if there’s a drought tomorrow?’... So I never, ever, ever felt safe not hunting... I was solving problems that didn’t even exist because my brain’s like, like, literally, I’m like, doesn’t everybody, like, have imaginary problems they’re solving in their business in the middle of the night?... I thought, this is just business.”
— Kristen Boss [16:30]
6. The ADHD Question & Having the Right Tools
[18:05–21:39]
- Sarah responds to Kristen’s “Are we calling chronic dysregulation ADHD?” suggestion, noting environmental factors can mimic ADHD, but context is important.
- Many entrepreneurs regulate anxiety through activity—but if that’s their only tool, they’re in trouble.
- Sarah shares a story about using one multi-tool for every problem, illustrating the need for a variety of coping skills in life and business.
Notable Quote
“If that’s the only thing you have, that’s your only emotional regulation tool, you’re going to struggle because you’re always going to default to that thing... in our emotional life. It doesn’t work… There are certain things that work when you’re in the context of go time with business, but that doesn’t work when you’re parenting your child or... trying to connect with your spouse. It’s a whole different set of circumstances.”
— Sarah Boyd [20:36]
7. Breaking Old Patterns, Self-Compassion, and Repairing Relationships
[21:39–28:11]
- Kristen normalizes feeling shame over coping patterns that once served but now limit us—urges listeners to have compassion as they learn new “tools.”
- Sarah explains why entrepreneurs often struggle connecting with kids/spouses: business offers fast feedback and clear metrics, whereas relationships are slow and nuanced.
- The power of small shared activities (like crafts) for connection, and the need to accept that our children are not us—parenting requires slowing down, sacrifice, and learning to tolerate messiness.
Notable Quotes
“Business is a game with very clear metrics... Whereas relationships are not clear metrics. And particularly with children, they are often a very slow investment over time that you may not see the result of your investment until years and even decades later.”
— Sarah Boyd [24:23]
“One of the most powerful things I was told was, like, your children will remember your effort in making repair... For me, I’m just like, what I’m really good at is saying, ‘Mommy was wrong and I’m sorry.’ She’s heard that more in her life than I ever heard in my, like, in her eight years than I heard in my 40...”
— Kristen Boss [28:11]
8. The Stress Transfer: Coming Home from Work, Parenting with Compassion
[28:11–34:41]
- Kristen discusses the need for a mental “gear shift” when transitioning from work to parenting, and the double bind of suppressing emotions in business but needing to hold space for the chaos of family life.
- Sarah points out that before remote work, commutes provided organic transition time—now, we need to create that intentionally.
- Both discuss practical regulation strategies before re-entering family life: taking a walk, a shower, changing clothes, or even running wrists under cold water—anything to physically reset before stepping into “mom” or “dad” mode.
Notable Quotes
“We used to have a commute where it was like this time in the car... where you would actually be in between. And it almost gives you that moment of breathe. I think we all joke that we’ve all had moments where we just sit in the car in our driveway and not get out.”
— Sarah Boyd [31:39]
9. The Biology of Compassion and the Limits of Willpower
[33:09–34:41]
- Stress literally impairs our ability to access empathy and compassion (frontal lobe vs. amygdala function).
- Regulation is physiological as much as philosophical; you can’t just “think your way” out of a stress response.
Notable Quote
“When you’re under stress, your body shuts down all the non survival skills... Also empathy, because you’re not going to sit there and have empathy towards the attacker or the lion or the... stressor in front of you.”
— Sarah Boyd [33:28]
10. Healing as a Lifelong Process: The Shadow Side of Entrepreneurial Gifts
[35:58–44:17]
- Kristen discusses her “success sobriety”—the ongoing, never-finished nature of healing from hustle.
- Using the analogy of children who hoard food after scarcity, she unpacks why the mindset of “never enough” can linger, driving overwork and anxiety even after achieving abundance.
- The importance of addressing the “shadow side” of our greatest gifts—and that healing in ourselves is what makes us trustworthy guides for others.
- Both share hope for a new generation (Gen Alpha), whose emotional intelligence (EQ) may be meaningfully higher due to these conversations and intentional healing work by millennial parents.
Notable Quotes
“There was no milestone or revenue goal that was going to solve my hunger problem... This is an inside job. This is... the invitation to our work, even as parents, in our marriages. Like, this touches every area of our life.”
— Kristen Boss [38:45]
“Whatever we choose to do or whoever we are in the world, there is a shadow side of it, and it’s going to come for us if we don’t look it in the face and actually get honest about it.”
— Sarah Boyd [39:06]
“I’m so excited to see who Gen Alpha is going to be and the conversations I feel like the millennials are having and the work we are doing... Oh, are we gonna have children that have better EQ at a younger age than our generation did?”
— Kristen Boss [43:18]
Memorable Moments & Quotes
-
“What I didn’t realize was that Hustle was actually my... flavor of dysregulation—that is how Kristen Boss seeks to find safety and certainty and security and worth in the world.”
— Kristen Boss [40:01] -
“If you were someone who never struggled with it, how does it help anybody who does? Because you don’t understand what they’re going through, but because you’ve gone through it, you very, very closely know what it is that they’re walking through.”
— Sarah Boyd [42:01] -
“If you are apologizing and making that repair, never too late for the relationship—it can always grow and get better. But it really is also about extending compassion to ourselves. Most of the time, our reactions to our children that we shame ourselves for are because we’re not okay ourselves.”
— Sarah Boyd [31:45]
Practical Tips & Takeaways
- Build Awareness: Learn your “flavor” of stress response and burnout. Is it overactivity, perfectionism, withdrawal? Self-awareness is the first regulation tool.
- Diversify Your Regulation Tools: Don’t rely only on work or busy-ness; add analog, body-based activities (walks, crafts, music, water) and true leisure.
- Normalize Repair: Regular apologies and repairs strengthen family relationships and model humility and growth for your children.
- Compassion Comes First: Start with self-compassion; ask, “What would I say to my best friend right now?” when caught in guilt.
- Mind the Transition: Create deliberate breaks between work and home life—mini rituals of resetting state before you parent/partner.
- Healing Is Ongoing: Like “success sobriety,” recognize healing from hustle culture and chronic stress is a lifelong practice, not a box to check once and for all.
Resources Mentioned
- Book: Turn Down the Noise by Sarah Boyd
- Social: @resilientlittlehearts (Sarah Boyd’s Instagram)
- Podcast/Website: www.kristenboss.com
Closing Note
Kristen and Sarah wrap with warmth, gratitude, and a call to self-kindness—reminding listeners that sustainable success in business, parenting, and life comes through slow, compassionate healing and a willingness to do the “inside job.”
Summary prepared for listeners seeking the heart, science, and actionable wisdom behind truly sustainable entrepreneurship and parenting.