Send us your thoughts! This Thanksgiving, it's time to stop being grateful for your compassion fatigue and burnout. In this powerful episode, Dr. Juls breaks down why toxic gratitude is keeping you stuck, what the research says about forced positivity in helping professions, and what to say instead when you're genuinely burned out. You'll learn: How toxic gratitude creates throat and heart chakra blockages The neuroscience behind why forced gratitude doesn't work when you're deple...

Send us your thoughts! In this quick 10-minute “Friday Funday” episode, Dr. Juls breaks down the truth about gratitude for midlife women in the helping professions. Especially around Thanksgiving. You’ll learn: The psychology behind “performative gratitude”What women healers over 50 are actually thankful forWhy invisible labor and over-functioning don’t qualifyHow the Root and Solar Plexus chakras shape holiday burnoutA 30-second radiance reset to ground your nervous systemPerfect for therapi...

Send us your thoughts! Have you ever had that moment where you think, "If one more person asks me for just one more thing, I'm going to fake my own death and move to New Mexico"? You're not broken. You're not losing it. You're a woman healer over 50 whose soul is DONE being overused. In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on what burnout REALLY looks like for high-achieving women in medicine, mental health, and caregiving professions—and why your 30-year-old coworker with the Stanley c...

Send us your thoughts! Ever felt guilty for setting a boundary with someone who's "just trying to help"? In this week's Friday Funday, Dr. Julie shares the hilarious (and slightly mortifying) story of the day she fired her therapist – and what happened in her nervous system when she tried to people-please her way through it. You'll learn: The neuroscience behind why setting boundaries feels so dangerous for helping professionalsHow your polyvagal system keeps you stuck in fawning modeA 5-minu...

Send us your thoughts! Feeling lost after 50? You're not broken—you're transitioning. In this episode, Dr. Julie Merriman explores the identity crisis many women over 50 experience, especially healthcare professionals and helpers who've spent decades caring for others. Learn the neuroscience behind why this happens, why your nervous system is recalibrating, and practical steps to reconnect with joy and desire without another self-improvement project. Perfect for: Women over 50, healthcare pro...

Send us your thoughts! Ever find yourself replaying conversations from 1997 at 2 AM? Welcome to the overthinking club—we meet in our heads, constantly, at all hours. In this Soul Joy Friday Fun Day episode, we're diving into the spiritual and scientific reasons behind your mental hamster wheel. Perfect for healthcare professionals who've spent decades problem-solving for everyone else and now can't turn off their own racing thoughts. What You'll Learn: Which three chakras are behind your over...

Send us your thoughts! Why do the smartest women ignore their own bodies until it’s too late? In this powerful episode, Dr. Julie Merriman—counselor educator, burnout researcher, and breast cancer survivor—unpacks The Self-Neglect Paradox. Learn why high-achieving women delay care, how stress rewires the brain to miss warning signs, and what it really takes to stop over-functioning and start healing. Blending personal story, research, and actionable tools, this episode offers both science and...

Send us your thoughts! Here’s the truth no one tells women over 50 about burnout: it’s not just exhaustion—it’s disconnection. Disconnection from laughter, friendship, and the real human moments that make life rich and funny and alive. In this short, joy-packed episode, Dr. Julie shares the Connection Cure—a simple, free, and wildly effective way to start feeling human again. You’ll laugh, nod, and maybe even text a friend before the episode is over. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: 💬 Why b...

Send us your thoughts! You can save lives all day, be surrounded by colleagues and patients who need you, have a full calendar and an impressive title—and still go home feeling like no one truly sees you. In this powerful episode, Dr. Julie addresses one of the most quietly devastating realities for women in healthcare over 50: the paradox of professional connection and personal isolation. If you've ever caught yourself thinking, "I'm so tired of being everything to everyone and nothing to my...

Send us your thoughts! "Your Solar Plexus Called—It Wants Its Power Back" Description: When's the last time you felt truly POWERFUL at work? If you're a healthcare professional over 50 and you can't remember, this episode is your wake-up call. Dr. Julie Merriman dives into why your solar plexus chakra (your power center) is probably more blocked than the hospital parking lot at shift change—and what you're going to do about it this weekend. In This Episode: The shocking research on "purpose e...

Send us your thoughts! When Your Gift of Caring Becomes Your Greatest Burden You're exhausted, yet you can't stop helping. You feel others' pain viscerally, and saying no feels impossible. In this episode, we explore the Empathy Paradox—when your beautiful gift of caring becomes the very thing that depletes you—and discover how to honor your empathetic nature without destroying yourself. In This Episode, You'll Discover: What the Empathy Paradox is and why brilliant, caring women are most sus...

Send us your thoughts! It's Friday, and you've made it through another week. Your chakras are exhausted, and you know what they need? Snacks. In this 5-minute episode of Soul Joy Fridays, we explore the completely made-up (but surprisingly helpful) Chakra Snack Alignment System™ and remember that being brilliant doesn't mean being serious all the time. In This Episode, You'll Discover: The Chakra Snack Alignment System™ - A ridiculous but oddly useful guide to aligning your energy centers wit...

Send us your thoughts! Empowering brilliant women in healthcare over 50 transform burnout into renewed purpose - reigniting their spark to create a life that energizes them every single day. Episode Description If you've ever felt rage when someone tells you to "just practice more self-care," this episode will set you free. Bubble baths won't fix what decades of sacrifice broke. We're exposing why the wellness industry's advice is insulting to brilliant, exhausted women over 50—and sharing wh...

Send us your thoughts! Episode Description Walked into a room and forgot why you're there? Blanked on a colleague's name? Stared at your vitamin bottle wondering if you already took them? You're not losing it—your brain is just maxed out. In this episode, Dr. Julie Merriman explains the science behind why your memory feels like it's failing (spoiler: it's not), and gives you permission to stop blaming yourself. What You'll Learn Why you're forgetting things (and why it's not early dementia)Th...

Send us your thoughts! Episode Overview Discover three powerful energy healing practices specifically designed for burned-out helpers, therapists, coaches, and caregivers. Learn how to set energetic boundaries, recalibrate your giving patterns, and reclaim your voice. Key Timestamps 00:00 Introduction: Why traditional self-care isn't enough02:15 Strategy #1: Energetic Boundary Setting08:30 Strategy #2: Heart Chakra Recalibration14:45 Strategy #3: Throat Chakra Liberation21:00 How energy work ...

Send us your thoughts! 🎙️ Episode Title: Soul Joy Happy Hour: The Science of the Snort-Laugh (No Drinks Required) Theme: Humor as a burnout intervention — with kazoo fanfare, duck quacks, and zero apologies for joy. 💡 Episode Summary Why do helpers apologize when they snort-laugh? "HAHA—PFFFFT—sorry!” No more. Today we reclaim nasal turbulence as evidence-based nervous system regulation. (Yes, your snort is neurobiology… not embarrassment.) In this premiere Happy Hour Friday micro...

Send us your thoughts! In this special episode, host Dr. Julie Merriman, PhD shares the story behind Soul Joy and why she’s on a mission to help advanced-degree women in healthcare and helping professions reclaim their energy, purpose, and joy. With over three decades of experience as a counselor educator, professor, author, and burnout researcher, Julie has witnessed a growing crisis: brilliant women with master’s and doctoral degrees quietly burning out despite outward success. She opens u...

Send us your thoughts! Helpers—counselors, teachers, nurses, caregivers, pastors—we are often the ones people turn to in their most vulnerable moments. We hold space for them. But here’s the problem: if we aren’t intentional, we end up carrying the weight of their pain, draining ourselves dry in the process. In this week’s episode of Soul Joy: Ditch Burnout and Fall in Love with Life, Dr. Julie Merriman shares a 5-step framework to help you hold space without losing yourself. You’ll lea...

Send us your thoughts! Wellness for helping professionals Meditation has moved from ancient wisdom traditions to the forefront of modern neuroscience, becoming a necessary component of holistic self-care for professional helpers. Scientific research confirms that regular meditation practice rewires the brain for greater resilience, sharper focus, and enhanced compassion—all critical elements for sustaining professional effectiveness and preventing burnout. Meditation increases gra...

Send us your thoughts! Dr. Julie Merriman explores the concept of decluttering your energy as a vital component of sustainable, holistic self-care for helping professionals. She examines how professional helpers constantly absorb, process, and navigate various forms of energy that can become cluttered and lead to burnout. • Energy clutter manifests as mental noise, emotional residue, unclear boundaries, environmental chaos, and physical tension • Symptoms include feeling drained despite rest...