Let me say something that might sound strange coming from a self-care brand. I love being busy. I do. I like having a lot going on, I like building, I like doing my big one. And if you’re here, I’m guessing you’re the same.
So here’s what I’ve noticed, and it’s important. We look at a woman with a full life, a business, a family, a calendar packed end to end, and we assume she must be miserable and falling apart. And a lot of the time, no. She loves her life. She wouldn’t trade the full schedule for a quiet one. She’d be bored out of her mind.
So being busy was never actually the problem.
But the numbers around burnout are real, and they’re worth looking at straight. In 2024, Fortune reported that about 44% of working women said they feel burned out at their jobs, compared to 36% of men. And back in 2021, a LeanIn and McKinsey study found 42% of women were burned out often or always, versus 35% of men. Women carry more, and it shows.
Now here’s where people get the fix wrong. They look at those numbers and the advice is always the same. Do less. Slow your whole life down. Step back. And for a woman who loves what she’s building, that advice is useless, because she’s not going to do it. You’re not going to do it. I’m not either.
So let me tell you what I actually think the problem is.
It’s not the full schedule. It’s the no pause. None. We go from a dead sleep straight to popping out of bed with our mind already running a mile a minute, and we never give ourselves the transition. From peaceful to chaos with nothing in between. We do that every single day, at the cost of ourselves. At the cost of ourselves.
You don’t need a lighter life. You’d hate a lighter life, let’s be honest. You need one steady pause built into the heavy one you already have, so the rest of it doesn’t run you ragged.
And the easiest place to put that pause is the coffee you’re already making. I’m not asking you to add a thing to your morning. I’m asking you to take the thing you already do and let it be your one moment before the day starts pulling.
That’s it. That’s the whole fix. It’s small, it’s daily, and it actually fits the life you live instead of the life some article thinks you should live.
So keep building. Keep doing your big one. Just stop skipping the pause that lets you keep doing it. We all got things going on. But if not now, then when.
Pause. Sip. Savor.
Founder, Me Time Coffee
Sources:
• Fortune (2024), working women report more burnout than men: https://fortune.com/2024/07/08/exclusive-working-women-experience-more-burnout-than-men/
• LeanIn & McKinsey, Women in the Workplace (2021), 42% of women burned out often or always vs 35% of men. Summarized with links at: https://wellhub.com/en-us/blog/wellness-and-benefits-programs/burnout-in-women/
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