You can understand your patterns perfectly and still keep repeating them.
In this episode, Farya Barlas, a Psychologist, is joined by Sally Davidson for a powerful conversation about why high-functioning, high-achieving women often burn out without ever “falling apart.” This isn’t about mindset or motivation. It’s about what happens when success is built on survival, the body never feels safe enough to slow down, and insight alone stops working.
If you’ve ever:
- Felt successful on the outside but disconnected on the inside
- Tried therapy, coaching, or personal development, but still felt stuck
- Lived in “push through” mode until your body forced you to stop
- Known you need a different way forward, but don’t know where to start
This episode will speak directly to where you are.
What We Uncover in This Episode:
- Why burnout in high achievers rarely looks like collapse and how it hides behind productivity
- How trauma-coded patterns can feel like “strength” until the body says no
- The difference between understanding your trauma and actually healing it
- Why nervous system safety matters more than motivation or mindset
- How breathwork and embodiment create change when talk alone doesn’t
- What happens when you stop living from survival and start listening to your body
- Why slowing down doesn’t mean losing ambition — it changes how you grow
About the Guest: Sally Davidson
Sally Davidson is a board-certified nurse coach and trauma-informed breathwork facilitator with over 30 years of experience in high-pressure healthcare and clinical leadership. After reaching burnout herself, she shifted her work toward nervous-system and body-based healing, helping high-functioning individuals move out of chronic stress and survival patterns. Today, Sally supports clients through coaching, breathwork, and retreats, guiding them to reconnect with their bodies and create change that feels sustainable and grounded.
Find her at https://sallydavidsoncoach.com/ and on Instagram @sallydavidsoncoach.
FREE RESOURCES:
- Follow Farya Barlas on Instagram, Substack to stay connected with the version of you who’s ready to expand. Follow for daily insights on identity work, nervous system capacity, and feminine leadership — so the part of you that’s growing has a place to land.
- If this episode helped you hear something true inside yourself, help us get this work into more hands. Join the From Trauma to CEO Launch Squad, support the series launch, and enter to win some beautiful prizes along the way.
- Want to know which identity is running your success? Take the Success Shift Quiz to uncover which nervous system patterns shape your business, leadership, and ambition.
- If you’re ready to stop building success from survival and start leading from regulation, ease, and capacity, join my email list to be the first to know about upcoming programs, retreats, and ways to work with me. Click here to join.
- Subscribe and leave a review to help more cycle-breakers discover From Trauma to CEO.
