Episode 4

full
Published on:

25th Jun 2025

Honoring Your Natural Rhythm Over Perfect Rules

Think you failed at self-care because you didn't follow the "rules" perfectly? Michelle reveals why honoring your natural rhythm is actually more revolutionary than forcing yourself into someone else's box.

Episode Summary

Michelle shares her honest experience with attempting an "hour of being" and why breaking it into four 15-minute intervals throughout her busy day was actually genius, not failure. She dives deep into why our nervous system fights stillness harder than chaos, the chemical addiction to cortisol and dopamine that keeps us perpetually busy, and how flexibility in our self-care practices is freedom, not failure.

Key Takeaways

• Your nervous system is chemically addicted to chaos - cortisol and dopamine hits create physical withdrawal symptoms when we try to be still

 • Honor actual capacity over ideal capacity - working with your real limitations creates sustainable transformation 

• Start with 5-10 minute intervals - build stillness like strength training, adding 5 minutes at a time 

• "Thank you" is your new mantra - don't argue with mind chatter, just acknowledge it and redirect 

• Sometimes you need external tools first - using astrology, human design, or even AI to understand yourself isn't cheating

Resources Mentioned

• Journaling exercise: reviewing every job since college 

• The oxygen mask principle

 • Astrology and human design for self-discovery

Connect with Michelle:

Subscribe and share if this episode resonated with your transformation journey. Find Michelle on social media for daily authentic living inspiration and grab her book "Hot Mess Magic" for more tools on reclaiming your voice and rebuilding your life on your terms.

Keywords: transformation, Gen X women, authentic living, personal growth, voice reclamation, identity shift, life rebuild, nervous system healing, self-care boundaries

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About the Podcast

Hot Mess Magic
Raw, honest conversations for anyone done pretending. Drop the facade. Own your mess. Discover the magic in being human.
Hot Mess Magic is the podcast for anyone ready to stop pretending they have it all together.

Because here's the truth nobody's saying: We're all a mess. Every single one of us. The difference is most people are hiding it, performing it away, spiritually bypassing it, or pretending their way through life.

Hosted by bestselling author and keynote speaker Michelle Burke, this show gives you permission to drop the facade. To own where you actually are instead of where you think you "should" be. To stop hiding your humanity and start discovering the magic that's been there all along in the mess.

You'll hear raw, unfiltered conversations with people who've stopped performing: the business owner who walked away from success that looked perfect but felt hollow. The woman who finally admitted her marriage was over. The high achiever who burned out trying to prove their worth. The person who looked "fine" on the outside while falling apart on the inside.

This isn't therapy. It's not coaching. It's truth.

Truth about what it actually takes to transform. Truth about how exhausting the performance is. Truth about the fact that you're not broken, you're just finally ready to stop pretending.

The mess isn't something to fix. It's where you learn, grow, and expand.
This show is for the ones who are done with:

Spiritual bypassing and toxic positivity
Performing perfection while dying inside
Pretending they're fine when they're not
Waiting for permission to be human

If you've ever felt like you're the only one struggling while everyone else has it together, this show will remind you: We're all falling apart. We're all figuring it out. The only difference is who's willing to get real about it.

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe and discover that your mess was always your magic.
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Michelle Burke