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In this episode of Healthy Teacher Happy Teacher, Jess breaks down one of the most damaging myths in education: the belief that teachers earn their worth by absorbing endless stress. She opens up about what this year has taught her — that exhaustion isn’t a character flaw, burnout isn’t “negativity,” and struggling doesn’t make you weak.

Jess explores how school culture conditions teachers to push beyond their limits, hide their feelings, and carry responsibilities that no single human should be expected to manage. She reframes the truth: your capacity is not your identity. Your worth doesn’t rise and fall with your workload, your productivity, or your ability to remain cheerful in impossible circumstances.

Listeners will learn simple, compassionate ways to reclaim their emotional space, challenge the martyr myth, and remind themselves that they are more than what they can carry. This episode is a soft landing for any teacher who’s tired, overwhelmed, or quietly questioning whether they’re “enough.”

You don’t have to be strong to be worthy. You don’t have to handle everything to be valuable. You are enough — on your best days, your messy days, and every day in between.