Burnout Recovery: Why You’re Not Lazy, You’re Using the Wrong Tool

Have you ever worked harder and harder at something… and still felt stuck?

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Most people assume the answer is more discipline, more pressure, or trying harder.

But what if the real problem isn’t you?

What if you’re just using the wrong tool?

In this episode, Renae shares a simple story about her dog Mookie, ten years of brushing battles, and how one small shift created a completely different result.

From there, we unpack what this has to do with burnout, stress, nervous system regulation, and why forcing change often backfires.

You’ll also hear 3 practical tools you can use this week to help reset your system, reduce overwhelm, and work with yourself instead of against yourself.

Plus: something new is coming to the Hustle Rebels Podcast — The Toolbox. Christopher Chamberlin joins as the first guest to share his Sovereign Identity Recode Method™ and talk about the Sovereign Man Experience retreat.

If you’ve ever called yourself lazy, broken, undisciplined, or wondered why change feels harder than it “should”... start here.

Listen to the latest Hustle Rebels: with Wade Simmons

Watch the convo with Wade Simmons on YouTube

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the audio version of the weekly recharge. I'm Renee, the founder of Wayward Wellness Coaching. And if you came over here from the Hustle Rebels podcast, welcome. I welcome you to subscribe to the weekly recharge newsletter, where you can also read this in your email, but you can listen to this as well. And if you've already subscribed to the weekly recharge, great. And you could also subscribe to the Hustle Rebels as well. With that said, let's get right into it. Sometimes you don't need more effort. You just need to have a different approach with a different tool. Some of the things we'll cover this week include Mookie, my dog, a brush, and ten years of doing it wrong, and what that has to do with your nervous system. Why the wrong tool problem is more common than the wrong person problem. Three regulation tools to try this week, including one that might make you look unhinged in the best way. And something new is coming to the Hustle Rebels podcast that you'll be hearing first. Today I was brushing Mookie, which by the way, she's a Shetland sheepdog, just like a little collie, which is notable, because for 10 years she has acted like brushing was a federal offense. Dodging, squirming, suspicious side eye, acting like I was personally ruining her life. So I assumed that she hated being rushed. I would bribe her, hold her still, try to get her to just get it done. I'd literally be holding on to her back leg for dear life, begging her to just let me get one more snarl out. You know, the classic human strategy of making everything worse while calling it helpful. The irony? She has a lot of fur. Brushing genuinely matters for her. And it honestly probably feels so much better when those rat nests are out, leaving her with fresh fluff. Today I use a different brush and some leave-in conditioner, different pressure, different rhythm. And she melted, relaxed, stayed still, and let me just keep going. It was the same task, same dog, same me. Totally different result. Ten years later. So what does this have to do with you? A lot of people come to me believing they are the problem, that they're lazy, undisciplined, or just can't handle what everyone else can handle. And maybe, but usually that's not typically the issue. Usually they're trying to regulate a stressed nervous system with shame, trying to heal burnout with productivity hacks. Or they're trying to build confidence with self-criticism. That's like grooming a sensitive dog with the energy of a SWAT raid. Wrong tool, predictable outcome. The better question isn't what's wrong with me. It's what if I'm using the wrong tool? Because when the tool changes, the experience changes. And when the experience changes, progress gets a lot easier. The right tool doesn't feel like forcing. It feels like relief. Which brings me to the part where I hand you a different brush. And maybe some leave-in conditioner. Here are three things worth trying this week. Each one is simple, each one is free, and none of them require you to be more disciplined than you already are. So I challenge you to try just one. You can try them all, but you can start with one. Your nervous system doesn't need fixing. It needs the right input. So here are the three that actually work. The first one, shake it off. Yes, literally. Animals do this instinctively after a stressful event. A dog that just got spooked will literally shake its whole body and then walk away like nothing happened. We have been trained out of it. But intentionally shaking for even 60 seconds helps discharge stored tension and signals to your nervous system that the threat has passed. You can start with your hands, let it move up into your arms, into your shoulders, your whole body, and you can just let it get weird, let it get silly. If it turns into dancing, even better. Throw in your favorite song and do what Taylor Swift says, shake it off. Or if you're a millennial like me, just shake it like a polar picture. Outcast knew some things. You can even check out the video that I posted in the email as well. Shake into some dirt off your shoulders by Jay-Z. That gives you a little two-minute break for you to just kind of shake it all off. And as a personal trainer, I'd add that movement is one of the most underused tools in nervous system regulation. Your body was built to move through stress, not sit still and think your way out of it. The second one, orienting. Your body's built-in I'm safe signal. Slowly look around the room. Actually move your eyes and your head. Notice what's near you, what's far, what's still. This isn't a mindfulness trick. It's a neurological one. Orienting is how your nervous system scans for threat and it clears the alarm. When there's nothing to find, it settles. And as a personal trainer, I'll add that this also trains your proprioception. This is your body's sense of where it is in space. That spatial awareness isn't just important for athletic performance, it's also foundational to how regulated and grounded you feel from day to day. And the third one is get outside. Even for 10 minutes. Sunlight on your skin isn't just a nice to have. It regulates cortisol, anchors your circadian rhythm, and it gives your body sensory information that it has been starving for all winter. Movement outside is even better. Your system remembers that life exists beyond screens and stress and survival mode. Sometimes that memory is enough to shift everything. Not all resistance means refusal. Not all struggle means failure. And not all discomfort means that you need to push harder. Sometimes it just means it's time for a different brush. The nicer weather is finally showing up. Finally. And if you're anything like the rest of us in the Northeast, your body has been waiting for this. Go stand in it. Open a window, take a walk, even if it's during a lunch break. Sometimes healing looks less like a breakthrough and more like standing in the sunlight long enough to feel human again. This week on the Hustle Rebels Podcast, something new is coming and you're hearing it first. Introducing the toolbox for the Hustle Rebels Podcast. You know I'm always talking about having the right tools. So it only made sense to actually build a place to have them. The toolbox for the Hustle Rebels Podcast is a curated space where guests of the show will share their own resources, methods, and tools directly with you. Not filler, actual things that actual people are using and teaching. And the first tool is dropping this week, which I'm very excited about. Christopher Chamberlain will be the inaugural guest, his episode goes live Thursday morning, and he's bringing something genuinely interesting. His own nervous system recalibration technique, the sovereign identity recode method, along with details on his upcoming retreat, the sovereign man experience. He'll be the first resource added to the toolbox, and as always, you're getting the first heads up before anyone else. And if you missed last week, I had an incredible guest, Wade Simmons, talk about how burnout and stress showed up in his own life by taking his voice through a physical disorder called spasmodic dysphonia. Wade was such a joy to chat with. You can't listen to the conversation and leave without feeling uplifted and filled with peace. Follow the link below to check out the whole episode or to watch it on YouTube. And if you're new here or feeling nostalgic and want to read some previous newsletters, you can check them out by clicking the link. I'm gonna have all these links as well in the show notes. As always, I appreciate you guys and I'm always here if you have any questions or even want to chat. Share the weekly recharge with a friend so they can be regulated just like you. See you guys next week.