📥 Get Your Free Guide: Download my 35 Micro Self-Care Practices for Busy Women Guide at SelfCareAlchemist.com/selfcareguide. It’s simple, sustainable practices you can use today.

Summary

In this deeply personal episode, I sat down with Shuang-Min Chang, an intuitive mentor and coach who helps high-achieving entrepreneurs and executives redefine success through self-trust. Shuang-Min’s story resonated with me so much because her burnout didn’t look like what we typically imagine—no mobility, no energy. Instead, she was hyper-energetic, eating for three to four people every meal, sleeping 12 to 16 hours a day during recovery.

What struck me most was her realization: My career is here to serve me—I don’t serve my career. This conversation explores the transition periods we all face, the cultural pressures to overwork, how to recognize burnout when it’s disguised as hyperactivity, and how to create success rooted in love, freedom, joy, and peace.

Key Highlights & Takeaways

Burnout Doesn’t Always Look Like We Think: Shuang-Min taught me that burnout can show up as hyper-energy, not just exhaustion. She was out of breath after walking five minutes on a small hill, couldn’t surf or climb anymore, and ate massive amounts without gaining weight because her body was so depleted. The key is recognizing when something feels wrong, even if you’re still “functioning”.​

The Body Is Conscious: Our bodies have their own consciousness and send us messages. Shuang-Min experienced mysterious, violent illnesses for years that doctors couldn’t diagnose, always conveniently timed after big events so they didn’t disrupt her work. Her body was desperately trying to tell her something, but she didn’t listen until it all crumbled down.

The Transition Void Is Precious: Nobody told us about life transitions, and that’s such an important point. If Shuang-Min had known that the void in transition is the most precious thing we can have, she wouldn’t have been so eager to fill it. We need space to let a new identity and definition of success emerge that’s actually aligned with our essence.

Career Progress Comes with Boundaries: This resonated deeply—Shuang-Min’s career progressed fastest when she insisted on getting off work on time. People would ask her, “Why do you leave earlier the higher your title gets?” She decided she wanted a life, not just a career, and that her career was there to serve her.

Know Your Value Beyond Hours: If your value doesn’t come from how many hours you spend in the office, what is your value? Shuang-Min had to really connect to the value she brought to the company beyond just being physically present the longest. When she hit her goals in nine hours instead of 16, what was the point of those extra seven hours?

Interview Your Future Boss: We forget that we’re in a powerful position during job interviews. Shuang-Min interviewed her future colleagues and bosses to make sure they appreciated her and would let her do her thing as long as she hit targets. Everyone told her that kind of boss didn’t exist, but her last two bosses were exactly that, and that’s when her career flew.

Acknowledge Dissatisfaction Without Guilt: So many successful women feel guilty admitting they’re not satisfied with the definition of success society handed them. They try to suppress it and get busier, which creates even more dissatisfaction. It’s okay—actually, it’s important—to acknowledge when something feels amiss.

Success Is an Ecosystem: Success isn’t just career or parenting—it’s all the relationships we create, how much we enjoy them, and how much money we actually want, not what society says we should want. Some people need a million dollars a year, but some don’t actually want the responsibility that comes with it.​

Create Success from Inside Out: When we connect with our innate worthiness and love ourselves enough, success becomes a natural description of our life, like happiness, not something external we have to chase. We create because we want to, not because we need validation.

Episode Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

2:00 From Fashion Exec to Intuitive Mentor

3:00 Recognizing Burnout While Hyper-Energetic

7:00 When Your Body Crumbles: Recovery Story

10:00 The Body Sends Messages We Ignore

14:00 The Precious Void of Transition

18:00 Menopause, Identity & Reinvention

21:00 Working 4 Hours a Day, 4 Days a Week

23:00 Cultural Expectations & Sacrifice

25:00 Career Boundaries That Accelerate Success

26:00 My Career Serves Me

29:00 Knowing Your Limit & Creating Life

32:00 Finding Bosses Who Appreciate You

34:00 Interview Your Future Boss

37:00 Redefining Success as Ecosystem

42:00 Success: Description vs. Definition

45:00 Acknowledging Dissatisfaction

48:00 Connect with Shuang-Min & Resources

Explore Deeper

Ready to redefine success on your own terms?

🌟 Connect with Shuang-Min: Visit ShuangMinChang.com or find her on LinkedIn and Instagram @ShuangMin. Book a discovery call to explore whether she’s the right coach to support your journey.

💎 Join me at the Self Care Oasis: If this conversation about burnout, boundaries, and redefining success resonated with you, subscribe to my newsletter at MySelfCareOasis.com and the Self Care Oasis podcast.

🎁 Download Your Free Gift: This month I’m offering my 35 Micro Self-Care Practices for Busy Women Guide—simple, sustainable practices you can use today, from quick stretches and breathing exercises to energy resets and mindful moments. No guilt, no overwhelm, just real self-care that works. Download it free at SelfCareAlchemist.com/self-care-guide.

🛍️ Shop the Bliss Boutique: Check out my curated self-care programs including the Sleep Alchemy System, Toxic Relationship Recovery Self-Care System, and the Burnout to Bliss Blueprint on Substack.

💻 Overwhelmed by Tech?: If tech chaos is draining your energy, visit BlissTechSolutions.com. I created my tech therapist practice for wellness coaches, consultants, and female founders who are done with tech overwhelm.

💬 Share the love: Forward this episode to a woman who needs to hear that it’s okay to not be satisfied with society’s definition of success.

Remember: Your career is here to serve you—you don’t serve your career. Pick one micro self-care practice today and try it. That’s how transformation begins.

I’m Samantha Gregory, your Self Care Alchemist, helping women transform burnout into better boundaries, balance, and shameless bliss. Until then, choose your bliss.

Get full access to Self Care Oasis at blyss.substack.com/subscribe