Episode 36

full
Published on:

28th Jan 2026

Faith Doesn’t Work Anymore | Infertility and Burnout

This episode examines what happens when faith stops feeling grounding and starts feeling like pressure. Stephanie Dingbaum shares her seven-year fertility journey, including the moments when hope became harder to hold than letting go, and what it cost to keep believing while the answer stayed no.

The conversation explores spiritual bypassing, burnout, and what happens when surrender stops feeling like strength and starts feeling like loss.

What This Episode Covers:

  1. Why faith can feel fake when nothing changes year after year
  2. How spiritual bypassing shows up during infertility
  3. The emotional cost of staying grateful while still waiting
  4. How burnout and nervous system overload affect desire and capacity
  5. What changed when she stopped gripping the outcome

Guest:

Stefanie Dingbaum is a therapist and podcast host who spent seven years navigating infertility before becoming a mother. Her experience reshaped how she understands faith, surrender, and trust.

Connect:

Michelle @michelleaburke

Stefanie @stefanie.dingbaum


Keywords:

faith stops working, infertility and faith, spiritual bypassing infertility, seven year fertility journey, surrender feels like giving up, why faith feels fake, burnout and infertility, nervous system and fertility, identity crisis infertility, manifesting when nothing works, hot mess magic podcast

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About the Podcast

Hot Mess Magic
For people who know exactly what they need to do but keep finding reasons not to.
The podcast for people tired of being told to heal, optimize, and “do the work” when the real work is admitting what you already know but refuse to act on.

Hosted by Michelle Burke, keynote speaker and author who doesn’t inspire people to feel better. She exposes what high-performers hide behind: self-awareness replacing action, resilience enabling tolerance, and growth as another way to avoid deciding.

If you’ve ever thought, “I know exactly what I need to do, so why am I not doing it?” this is the conversation.

No performative breakthroughs. No encouragement.
Just the truth about why smart, capable people stay stuck and what finally forces a decision.

New episodes weekly.

Connect on IG @michelleaburke
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About your host

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Michelle Burke