Skip to content

Details

### Holiday Burnout Prevention: Boundaries, Stress Cycles & Surviving Family Dynamics

Date: Wednesday, November 26
Time: 12:00–1:00 pm (PT)
Location: Online – Burnout Clinic Live Workshop
Recording: The teaching portion will be recorded and added to our online community. The Q&A will not be recorded so you can ask questions freely.

#### Description

The holidays are supposed to feel warm and meaningful… but for many women, they’re a perfect storm of overwork, emotional labor, and old family patterns.
In this lunchtime workshop, we’ll look at holiday stress through the lens of burnout physiology and relationship dynamics—not “you just need better self-care.”
You’ll learn:

  • Primary drivers of burnout
  • Chronic stress load (work, caregiving, invisible labor)
  • Work–family conflict and role overload
  • Interpersonal conflict and lack of support (at work and at home) – both of which are well-established predictors of burnout in the research. BioMed Central+3PMC+3PMC+3
  • Why relationships matter so much for burnout
  • Studies show that work–family conflict and ongoing marital/family conflict significantly increase burnout risk, especially for women. ResearchGate+3PMC+3Frontiers+3
  • On the flip side, social support from family, coworkers, and friends can buffer stress and reduce emotional exhaustion. PMC+2BioMed Central+2
  • What happens in your body when family dynamics activate burnout
  • How old conflicts and criticism activate the fight/flight/freeze response
  • The role of cortisol, heart rate, and inflammatory signaling when you feel “on edge” or “walking on eggshells”
  • Why you feel exhausted, foggy, or shut down after family interactions—even if “nothing that bad” happened
  • Why we behave like a smaller version of ourselves around family
  • How the brain stores early relationship patterns as implicit “scripts”
  • Why certain tones, phrases, or roles (“the responsible one,” “the peacekeeper,” “the problem”) can instantly shrink us back into old behavior
  • The link between attachment patterns, people-pleasing, and burnout
  • Practical, realistic boundary tools for the holidays
  • How to know when a boundary is needed (red flags in your body and mood)
  • Simple boundary phrases you can actually remember under stress
  • “I’m not able to talk about that today.”
  • “That doesn’t work for me, but here’s what I can do.”
  • How to set “invisible” boundaries (time limits, exit plans, phone/room breaks) when direct confrontation isn’t safe or wise
  • How to recover more quickly after a draining interaction

#### What to Expect

  • ~30–35 minutes of educational teaching on burnout, relationships, and holiday stress
  • A short, guided nervous-system reset you can use on Thanksgiving Day
  • Optional Q&A and discussion at the end (this part will not be recorded)

This session is perfect for you if:

  • You feel drained, irritable, or dreading holiday gatherings
  • You leave family events feeling like you’ve run an emotional marathon
  • You want practical tools (not just “think positive”) to protect your energy and your health this season

Members are also interested in