Everything feels heavy right now. The world, your life, maybe both. And here's what nobody's saying: you're close to breaking. Not dramatically, quietly. One more thing might crack your foundation.

This conversation is 43 minutes which is longer than my usual episodes. That's intentional. When everything feels too heavy, you don't need another quick pep talk or surface-level fix. You need Foundational Practices that actually hold you. This isn't something I can rush without shortchanging you. This is the depth you need right now.

Three Foundational Practices for when the literal winter is coming AND when you're in a season of life that feels impossibly hard.

Recently ranked #36 on Goodpods’ Top Mental Health Podcasts! Thank you for listening and sharing. 💛

What You'll Discover:

• Why feeling heavy is a healthy response to chaos, not evidence you're broken
• The critical difference between breaking and being broken (and why you're not broken)
• How to practice Awareness Without Judgment using the Body Check-In and the magic phrase "and that makes sense"
• Why epic transformations often fail long term and how small, sustainable shifts build Mental Fitness and momentum
• The Friend Filter: speaking to yourself like someone you love
• How practicing self-compassion daily strengthens your self-love and resilience
• Why "that crack is where the light comes in" changes everything

Powerful Quotes:

"There's a huge difference between breaking and being broken. None of us are broken."

"You cannot positive-think or positive talk your way out of heaviness. You cannot hack your way through a season that demands you slow down and build differently."

"The smallest shift breaks the paralysis. It creates a crack in the wall you've been hitting your head against. That crack is where the light comes in."

"The compassion you're practicing becomes the love you're living."

"You don't undo the work because you forgot to be compassionate with yourself. You don't start from zero every time you struggle."

The 3 Foundational Practices:

1. Awareness Without Judgment – See what's real without making it mean you're failing
2. One Small Shift – Not epic transformation. One small action that proves you still have agency and breaks the paralysis.
3. Do the Work With Self-Compassion – Speak to yourself like you'd speak to someone you love.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Everything feels heavy right now
08:26 – Where are you really at? Check-in
10:46 – Practice 1: Awareness Without Judgment
17:39 – Practice 2: One Small Shift
26:07 – Practice 3: Self-Compassion
35:27 – How these practices work together
36:45 – When you suck at this (and why that's okay)

Join the Conversation: Share this with someone who came to mind when you read "everything feels heavy." Which practice will you start with today? Follow on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave a quick rating, so someone who feels too heavy to carry on can find this conversation.

This is an inside job. Share this episode with those you love. 💛

Subscribe on YouTube for more content.

Let's Connect:
https://www.luluessey.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@luluessey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/

Free Guide: Break Free from the Success Trap – https://www.luluessey.com/freetool

Thank you for being here. You are enough. ✨

If your to-do list is running your life instead of serving it, this is your purposeful rebellion. Lulu shows how productivity culture becomes identity, why the “productivity guilt spiral” isn’t laziness but being human, and how to shift from productive to purposeful. You’ll get Permission to Pause, the 60-Second Mental Fitness Check, and the Good Enough Revolution (80% > “perfect”) so you can untie your worth from your output and finally work with your energy instead of against it.

What you’ll discover

• Why productivity as identity backfires and how it disconnects you from inner wisdom
• The Productivity Guilt Spiral is not laziness; it’s just being human in a world equating worth with output
• Permission to Pause: rest is a basic human need that makes you more effective
• Productive vs. Purposeful — the question that changes your day: “What matters to YOU today and aligns with your values?”
• The 60-Second Mental Fitness Check: pause, breathe, and ask, “What would love do right now?”
• The Good Enough Revolution: choosing 80% to escape perfectionism

Powerful quotes

• "Your worth isn't measured by your to-do list. You are valuable because you exist, not because of what you accomplish."
• "Rest is not earned through productivity… It's a basic, vital, life-giving human need."
• "Being busy is not the same as being productive. And being productive isn't the same as being purposeful."
• "Good enough can be revolutionary."
• "You have Permission to Pause…"

Timestamps
00:00 – Check-in & breathe
01:46 – Confession: teaching what I need to learn
04:14 – When productivity becomes identity
05:28 – The Sunday-night freak-out
06:44 – Worth tied to output
08:55 – Jung on boredom & serenity
10:21 – The Good Enough Revolution (80% > “perfect”)
12:55 – The cost of filling every moment
13:44 – Permission to Pause
15:13 – Productive vs. Purposeful
16:58 – 60-Second Mental Fitness Check
19:14 – Gentle experiment: try 80%
19:59 – Self-worth reset
20:38 – Share this as a rebellion
21:44 – Next week’s preview

Join the conversation:
Share this with 3 people who need the reminder that worth isn’t tied to productivity. Where could you choose purposeful over productive today?

Follow & review on Apple/Spotify to help others find us.

Remember:
You teach best what you most need to learn. Today, choose purpose over productivity.

This is an inside job. Share this episode with those you love. 💛

Subscribe on YouTube for more content.

Let's Connect:
https://www.luluessey.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@luluessey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/

Free Guide: Break Free from the Success Trap – https://www.luluessey.com/freetool

Thank you for being here. You are enough. ✨

When your Mental Fitness hits empty and the usual routines stop helping, this episode reframes it as information, not a personal failure, and gives you simple ways to feel steadier without forcing yourself. This is not about doing more, which adds to your overwhelm but about doing different.
This episode was born from my own experience of hitting the red zone, and I’d like to offer what works when overwhelm takes over so you can find your way back to yourself and your calm, clarity, confidence and compassion.

What You'll Discover:

• Why your mental fitness going red doesn't mean you're broken—you're human in 2025
• The game-changing "hard vs difficult" distinction (recovery is hard but not difficult)
• 3 "Emergency Gentle" tools that work when you're running on fumes
• The 60-Second Reset: why the magic is in choosing, not what you choose
• How to become your own best friend through compassionate self-talk
• Seasonal wisdom: what trees teach us about letting go and renewal
• How neuroplasticity supports real Mental Fitness recovery with gentle conditions
  

Powerful Quotes:
"Your mental fitness going into the red isn't a crisis—it's information."

"It's the difference between needing a specific key versus needing the willingness to turn the handle."

"The magic isn't in what you choose. It is in the choosing itself."

The 3 Emergency Gentle Tools:

1. 60-Second Reset: set a 60-second timer and do one kind thing for yourself
2. Reality Check Conversation: Ask: "Would I say this to someone I love?" then answer with care and love
3. Seasonal Mindset Shift — Ask: "What can I let fall away like leaves do so that new growth can come?"

Timestamps:
00:00 When everything that helps... doesn't work
01:17 Welcome: honest conversations about mental fitness
04:36 Hard vs difficult, the game-changing distinction
11:38 Tool 1: 60-Second Reset
13:49 Tool 2: Reality Check Conversation
17:15 Tool 3: Seasonal Mindset Shift

This Episode is For You If:

• Your usual self-care feels ineffective or you’re running on fumes and stretched thin
• You're dealing with anxiety, overwhelm, or emotional exhaustion
• You want gentle approaches when nothing else works

Join the Conversation
Which tool will you try first: Reset, Reality Check, or Seasonal Shift? Share this with someone who needs a softer way back to themselves. Follow the show on Apple or Spotify and leave a rating so more people can find these Mental Fitness tools.

Remember: You're not broken. You have everything you need within you, it may just be buried under exhaustion and overwhelm right now. Today, choose one Tiny act of kindness towards yourself.

#MentalFitness #EmotionalResilience #SelfLeadership #StressRecovery #TheLuluEsseyPodcast #SelfLove #TinyTools

This is an inside job. Share this episode with those you love. 💛

Subscribe on YouTube for more content.

Let's Connect:
https://www.luluessey.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@luluessey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lulu.essey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulu.essey/

Free Guide: Break Free from the Success Trap – https://www.luluessey.com/freetool

Thank you for being here. You are enough. ✨