Busting Open How We Think About Burnout

Bestselling author and Kinsey-trained sex educator Emily Nagoski’s deeply sympathetic, sex-positive book, Come as You Are, became an instant classic when it normalized differences in sexuality and desire for millions of readers. A TED Talk garnering over a million views followed, and dramatically moved the conversation about sexual consent and abuse forward by dismantling the myth that physical reactions to sexual stimuli are always tied to desire and enjoyment.

But when her twin sister experienced stress-induced burnout so extreme it landed her in the ER, Nagoski turned her public focus from sexuality to our modern epidemic of emotional exhaustion. Learning the experience is so common that even the trained therapists and psychologists in her milieu—some burnout experts themselves—were in similar straits, she discovered we’ve been lied to our whole lives about what wellness, which can prevent burnout, looks like. Now, after some of the most stressful years for therapists on record, she shows those of us who are exhausted but still worried we’re not doing enough, how to truly care for ourselves and our clients.

Their new book, Burnout, now also a New York Times bestseller, confronts a national self-care movement that’s missed how staying well is a state of action, rather than a state of mind: one that involves consciously leaning into the innate cycles of being human. In this recording, she'll share how to practice care as we go from effort to rest and back, from connection to autonomy and back, from adventure to homecoming and back. And we’ll learn how to respond when gender, race, dis/ability and socioeconomic status are barriers to that care succeeding. In a profession that expects its practitioners to constantly invest in others, this recording is devoted to exploring how we can invest in ourselves.