If You've Been Feeling Drained... Listen To This (9 Steps To Recover And Avoid Burnout)

This is the iHeart podcast. Guaranteed. Human people are always quick to offer wellness advice, and honestly, some of it can be weird, trendy cleanses and fad diets. But here's some wellness advice you can depend on. Whole Foods Market Whole foods have a variety of protein options, along with ready to eat salad kits and ready to heat rice and bean blends from their 365 brand, making eating healthy easy and delicious. And their vitamins and supplements help you be the healthiest version of yourself. Shop all things wellness at Whole Foods Market when you have to wait in line at the pharmacy to pick up meds, that's 30 minutes of downtime wasted. Amazon Pharmacy delivers meds right to you fast so you can get that time back. Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy, healthcare just got less painful. The start of a new year isn't about pressure. It's about purpose. It's a moment to reflect, to ask what truly matters. Shopify helps turn that clarity into action. Whether you're starting with a simple idea or a growing brand, Shopify gives you the tools to build at your own pace. Templates, AI tools, social integrations. Everything designed to support your vision so your goals don't stay in your head, they begin to take shape in the world. Shopify grows with you every step of the way. If you're ready to build with intention in 2026, go to shopify.com j and.

Begin I'm Drained is a signal from your body to the mind, from your mind to your heart. Your body and mind are trying to tell you something. Pain makes you pay attention, but that attention needs to be followed by action. The Number one health and Wellness podcast Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The one, the only Jay Shetty. Hey everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow. I want to take a moment to thank you all. Whether you joined the On Purpose community.

Yesterday or or whether you joined us.

Five years ago when we first started, I want to say a big thank you to you for your support. I love the fact that you're making Instagram reels.

I love seeing the TikToks you all share.

I love seeing your stories. Thank you for making this such a highly recommended podcast to your friends, your family. It means the world to me and I can't wait to keep bringing you incredible conversations and content. Now this episode feels like a really, really important one because I can't believe that we're already this far into the year and it's natural that a lot of people are starting to feel drained. Maybe you have some time off, maybe you haven't had the chance to have some time off, but maybe you've been working really hard this year. Maybe you've been pursuing your goals, health and wellness related and also professional. How many of you honestly are. Are feeling drained? How many of you are feeling exhausted? And how many of you are feeling like you need some practical tips and practical methods to actually find a way through this busy time? Nearly half 48% of 18 to 29 year olds said they feel drained, compared with 40% of their peers age 30 and up, while women, 46%, reported higher levels of burnout than men at 37%. So this is a problem that a lot of us are dealing with. We're not alone, and we're highly challenged by it. And look, the podcast is full of great advice from experts on how much water intake you need sleep and exercise. You can find that here. But what I wanted to share with you in this episode is, is what do you do when you can't do all of those things right now, when you feel like you've tried, but you're failing and now you're starting to do nothing? What are these small incremental shifts? What are the little steps that you can take right now to transform how you feel, to stop feeling drained? So if you've been feeling drained lately, this episode is for you. If you've been feeling exhausted, this episode is for you. And if you're on the verge of burnout, please, please, please listen to this. And if you have someone in your life that you know is headed down that road, send them this so they can actually keep it together, keep the energy enough to get to their next break and their next pit stop. I want to start off with a really important principle. I've shared this statistic before. Studies Show we have 60 to 80,000 thoughts per day, and 80% of those are negative. And 80% of those are repetitive. Let me give you an example. How many of you have ever started your day with the words, I'm feeling really drained. Now think about how many times you've said that in one day, in every conversation, every meeting, talking to a friend or a family member. Now think about how many times you've said that over a week now, how many times have you said that over a month? And how many times have you said that over a year? We keep repeating the same thought, the same feeling, over and over and over again. And it's so Important that we learn to break repetitive thoughts, that we learn to disrupt that pattern, that we learn to intervene. We have to have our own intervention in our mind. I'm going to give you the triple A formula. Write this down. AAA Accept and action. Usually we don't accept how we feel. We're told to be toxically positive. Instead of saying, I'm tired, we say, I'm energized, I'm feeling good. Affirmations like that don't work. That isn't even an affirmation. That's just telling yourself a lie and hoping you'll believe it. Now, biology will reject that. You won't believe it. You won't just believe it because you keep saying it to yourself if you're not feeling any different. So accept and action. The acceptance has to be followed up by an action. So, for example, I'm really drained. And so I'll go to sleep early tonight. I'm really drained, and so I will cancel my plans this weekend. The and so changes that thought. See, that thought is a signal. I'm drained is a signal from your body to the mind, from your mind to your heart. Your body and mind are trying to tell you something. Pain makes you pay attention, but that attention needs to be followed by action. And that's often what we don't find. We see the signal. It's almost like you're driving your car. You see one of the lights pop up and you keep ignoring or avoiding it. You go, I don't really know what it is. I'll figure it out. I'll take a look, right? How many times have you done that mentally? How many times have you ever done that physically? You're feeling a real niggling pain in your knee or in your back. You keep ignoring it. Stop ignoring your repetitive thoughts. Stop ignoring your repetitive feelings. Stop ignoring your repetitive emotions. They're repeating for a reason. They want you to pay attention. Pain makes you focus and pay attention so that then you can take action, break your repetitive thought cycle, break that spiral so that you can actually shift into taking action. Principle number two. One of the things I find that has really helped me, and I practice this often, is, is recognizing that I don't always have to be at 100% energy. How many times have you ever gone to an event, you've gone to work, you're with your family, and you constantly think that you have to be at 100% all the time. I'll give an example. I was at a dinner recently and I had to give a speech. The Next day, I just got off a flight. So I just got off a flight. I'd been traveling for around 20 hours. I had gone to the opening night dinner, and the next morning I had to wake up and give a keynote presentation. I wouldn't say I was drained, but I was exhausted. The interesting thing to me was at dinner, everyone was chatting. It was opening night. Everyone was, you know, being their best self. And I very quickly realized that if I wanted to give a great presentation the next day, which is why I'd been brought in, that I wouldn't be able to be 100% energy the whole night. So I was probably at about 50% energy. And I could tell that people could sense that even if they didn't know me. And I shared with them, I said, hey, I'm really tired. I got off a plane today after 20 hours of travel. I have a presentation tomorrow. I really wanted to show up and meet everyone, but I'm going to be a bit more reserved tonight. Now, being able to vocalize that, being able to communicate, that helped me feel better about it. I want to be at 100%. I want to be able to give my best. But often my travel schedule, the demands don't allow me to be that way. And I'm guessing it's the same for you as well. And I realized that being able to say to myself and communicate to others why I'm at a 75%, why I'm at a 50%, people are going to be able to sense it. Often we want to act our way through these things. We want to hope that no one realizes. People recognize, people feel it. But actually, when we can communicate our limits, when we can communicate our challenges, when we can communicate why we're feeling the way we are, why we're acting the way we are, what is happening behind the scenes, right. No one there had a badge that said the travel time it took them to get in. Some people had come from 30 minutes away, and, like me, some from 20 hours away. And so the idea that we should just assume that everyone should be 100% all the time doesn't actually make sense. And I'm hoping that this actually gives you the capacity to also be compassionate to others. I think often we're so quick to judge others. Wow. Like, oh, they didn't show up with their best energy. Oh, they seemed off tonight. And we don't recognize what people are carrying, what people are dealing with. So I want you to take that on board. When can you be at 50% energy? And what does that look like in communicating that now there are times when I have to be at 100% energy and I know I've got to show up as my best self. I don't have the excuse to say, okay, I'll show up as 50%. I don't feel comfortable to communicate that. I find that might be difficult. So one of the things I've realized in this is, is to cap the time in order to preserve my energy at 100%. The time I can be 100% is different. I may show up to a dinner for 30 minutes. I may make the meeting 10 minutes. I may make the presentation 15 minutes. What can I do to do what I want to do, to do what I need to do? But how do I time box it in a way that I can give my best self? Often what we try and do is, is say, okay, if the meeting's an hour, I'm going to be there and show up for an hour. Actually, can I solve that in 30 minutes with my best energy? Is that actually more plausible and possible? Step number three. This one is important. If you are on the verge of exhaustion, we have to learn to say no. It's okay to cancel social events. And ideally what a lot of us do is, is we try and cancel it last minute. It's actually so much better if you cancel it in advance, if you give someone notice, if you let someone know, hey, I'm feeling really rough this week. I'm kind of under the weather. I'm worried that I'm going to get sick and I don't want to come ruin the party. I don't want to come ruin the event. What we often do is we wait till the last minute, we're going to force ourselves to go, and then we realize we really can't go, or we force ourselves to go, and then we're bitter about it or we're upset about it. It's so important to just get that RSVP out the way. Let the person know, let the event know it's okay, things will go on. Yes, you'll experience fomo. Yes, you might miss out on something cool. But guess what? Burnout is not worth it. Exhaustion is not worth it. Feeling drained is not worth it. Let me say that again. Feeling drained is not worth anything. Feeling exhausted is not worth anything. And experiencing burnout is not worth it. Now, again, there have been times when I have to turn up, I have to be there. And what I found is that usually in social settings, it's overwhelming thinking you've got to talk to 20, 30, 40, 50 people. I did this again the other night and I love it when you find someone who's trying to do the same thing. So I ended up talking to someone who is also feeling the same way as me. They were tired, they were feeling slightly drained, and they said, I just want to find one person to connect to meaningfully. So instead of trying to feel like you've got to work the room, you've got to introduce yourself to everyone, you're going to miss out, literally, find the other person, have a beautiful meaning, interaction or exchange and just feel connected and experience what it feels like to actually just allow yourself to be. I think that a lot of this draining feeling actually comes from stress. And the stress is where we're demanding too much of our body and mind. That's how I look at stress. Stress is when I'm demanding too much of my body and mind. My body and mind is trying to tell me its limit and I'm pushing it further. Sometimes that can be brilliant. Kelly McGonigal, in her book called the Upside of Stress, talks about how we can deal with more stress when we experience purpose. We can deal with more stress when we have a clear intention. So that's one thing to think about when you are experiencing stress. Ask yourself if you need to push through, what's my intention? What am I really trying to achieve? Let me focus on why it's so important for me to experience this. And actually we become better at dealing with it. We deal with it more gracefully. It doesn't have that negative impact that stress often does on our lives. So find a way to think about that. Take a moment to say, what is my intention here? Why is it necessary for me to tackle this stress and take it on? Right now, going back to the social event point, I have a friend who's amazing at this. She'll always message me and she'll say to me, jay, are you going to this? And I'll say yes. And she'll be like, can I just let you know that I'm really tired today and I'd love for it if we could just hang out and talk. But I don't think I can do big groups. I go, I'm all in. Right? That kind of strategy and approach, when you know someone coming, it's a safe space, they trust you, you trust them, you can give them a heads up, they can do the same. And now you're supporting each other in that environment.

Hey, friends, quick question. How do your nights feel? Hatch believes the way you wind down at night shapes how you show up the next day. Self care isn't about doing more. It starts with resting better. That's why Hatch created their Hatch Restore, a smart sleep clock that helps you reclaim your evenings, think calming sounds, gentle audio, and even a surprise wake up to start your day right. Check it out at Hatch Co. Because better nights lead to better days. When you have to go pick up meds, it can really dig into your downtime because you have to wait in traffic, wait to find parking, and then stand there waiting in the pharmacy line. Amazon Pharmacy delivers meds right to your door fast without ever having to get up and do anything. Your patience and your feet will thank you. Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy, Healthcare just got less painful when you think about your day. Whether you're running a business or managing a household, so much of what you do depends on staying connected. From work calls and emails to streaming, learning and staying in touch with the people who matter most. Connectivity isn't luxury anymore, it's the foundation. That's why fast, reliable Internet makes such a difference. When your connection works seamlessly, you're not distracted by interruptions. You're able to focus on what actually matters. And when support is there when you need it, it creates a sense of trust and stability that allows you to keep moving forward. Spectrum Business understands that no two businesses are the same. They offer Internet, advanced wi, fi, phone, TV and mobile services designed to support businesses of all sizes. With packages built to fit different needs and budgets. And with 100% US based customer support available 24. Seven, help is always within reach so businesses can stay up and running without missing a beat. Millions of business owners rely on Spectrum Business to stay connected and grow with confidence. Visit spectrum.combusiness to learn more. Restrictions apply Services not available in all.

Areas Sometimes I actually think that stress or feeling drained makes us more strategic. Yep, I said that right. Stress can actually make you more strategic. Feeling drained can make you more dynamic. Here's a really interesting thing to think about. Which one of your meetings could actually be emails? Think about that right now. Look through your schedule and ask yourself which of those could be solved with an email? Which of those could actually be solved in an email exchange? We don't need to do a call. The call will actually tell into an hour. It will be far more draining. I'll exert way more energy and actually I can solve it in far less time. I can actually get to where I need to get to. So sometimes what you find is stress releases your strategy and I want you to think about that, when else have you been stressed recently? And how could you have used that stress to become more strategic? How could that stress create a better idea, a better option, a better solution?

Because now you're actually thinking, well, how.

Do I do that with less energy and less time? And if we looked at life like that, we may be able to solve some of those things that create more stress, create more pressure in our lives. And I'd really consider where and when in your life being more strategic will save you from that added stress. Definitely something to look at, something to consider and something to think about. Now that also applies to phone calls over zooms. I find that when we're listening, sometimes I find that when I'm on a phone call, I'm actually more present than when I'm on a zoom meeting. On a zoom meeting, you're on your screen, which means most people have email up emails popping up. You're now looking at yourself and I think you have to turn yourself off. I mean, I'd actually argue that, that the amount of time and energy and presence that's drained in looking at your own appearance on a meeting is so high. And most of us have been doing it since the pandemic. Turn your screen off, just look at the other person, even pin the person that's speaking. Because when you're looking at nine boxes, when in a meeting room, would you be looking at nine people at the same time all at the same time? It would never happen. You look at the person who's talking, maybe you flip over to one or two, but generally you're not looking at nine people all at the same time. And sometimes you're on a Zoom call with 20 people and you're now looking at everyone. Someone's scratching their head, someone's looking at their phone, someone's taking notes, someone's talking. It can be overwhelming and it can be draining. Which zoom calls can turn into phone calls? Really important question to ask, important to think about. All the meetings you have, the events you have, the things that you're going to, the things you're traveling to, how can you streamline? How can you make it simpler? One of my favorite ones, which requires a bit more planning but has been a huge asset in my life, is called a reset day, a reset half day, or a reset hour. Based on how busy my schedule is, I'll make sure that during the weekend I get to have a reset hour, a reset half day, or a reset day. What this is is that it's almost a rehearsal of my most perfect Day. It's a day where I get to live how I wish I could live every day, how I want to live every day, how I aspire to live every day. But the realist in me that I've worked on being when I used to be a perfectionist is saying, let me at least have one hour. Let me have half a day of that. Let me have a day of that. Let me invest in that. And how incredible would that be? How powerful would that be in my life if I allowed myself to do that? I'll have the perfect amount of meditation, the perfect workout. I'll eat really well, even if it's for an hour. That reset hour or reset day is like what we do when our phone's starting to jam up and we just switch it off and we reset it. We can't do it with an on and off button with ourselves, but we can if we take some time out to reset. And I think, we often think, okay, no, tomorrow morning is my reset. It's going to be a perfect day. Tomorrow morning is my reset. And it's almost like we have to carve out time that's fully under our control in order to do that effectively. Think about that. One thing that we really need to start learning to ask ourselves when we are feeling drained is. Is how can I be kinder to myself? A lot of what's draining us is happening within our mind. You're not good enough. You're not fast enough. Did you see what they did? Look how behind you are. The way we talk to ourselves when we look in the mirror. You're looking overweight. You don't look great today. You look tired. You look drained. Can't you do better than that? The voice in our head constantly pushing us to be better, do better, but not in an encouraging way. Not as a cheerleader, but as a critic. And what's really interesting about that is if we're encouraging and empowering ourselves, we can achieve great things. But if we're stressing ourselves, we're draining ourselves from within. How can you be kinder to yourself when you know you need to push yourself more? You didn't get to do everything today on your to do list. That's okay. You got seven out of 10 things done. You didn't perform exceptionally well this week at work. It's okay. We start again on Monday. Maybe you didn't feel like you were the best around your kids this week or the best around your partner. It's okay. You can improve and take accountability and let them know what's going on. How can you be kinder to yourself? If you were kinder to yourself, what do you believe you would achieve? This next one slightly harder. When something's stressing us out, there's two things we can do. One is we can either talk about the stress the whole time, and if you talk about it with the right people, it actually gets lighter. When you talk about your stress with the right people, it becomes more light. People who help you carry it, people who help you make sense of it, people who help you think about it, people who just agree with you and let you vent are useful too. There's a need for you to let that stress out. Being able to talk about it to a friend, a therapist, a colleague, a person who understands you can be huge. Now, the opposite also works. Distance from the stressor. So you may not have distance from the stressor verbally, but you want to have distance from the stressor physically if you can. Don't be around them, don't be around people who are around them. Don't be around people who know them. It solves your issue. When you can distance yourself from having to deal with that stressor up close and personal, face to face. You don't have to put yourself in that position. So ask yourself, can you do that? And if you can't do that, then allow yourself to venture. Allow yourself to have space and time to let it out. Now, I'm bringing this up because I found in my life I was sleeping.

Right, I was drinking the right water.

I was eating right, and I still felt drained. And I realized a lot of it was because of a lack of vitamins and supplements. I wasn't getting enough vitamin D. I had others that were low. And as soon as I got checked out, it changed my life. I highly recommend that you go and get checked out because so often we're trying to solve something in our mind and when actually we need to solve it in our body, right? I always say to people like, if you're struggling with your mind, figure out what you could change about your body. And if you're struggling with your body, figure out what you could change in your mind. So many of us are only looking at one aspect when we need to focus on both. This also applies, as I said earlier, to the quality of your sleep. Obviously, feeling drained, a big part of his sleep, diet, exercise. Are you drinking over 3 liters of water a day? Are you eating healthy proteins, healthy fats in good proportions? Getting your carbohydrates right? We've got some brilliant episodes on that, make sure you check out our gut health episodes. And of course, are you getting good deep sleep? We've had sleep experts on the show before and studies show you need seven to nine hours of sleep, ideally starting before midnight. So if you're sleeping seven hours from midnight to 7am, it's different from sleeping from 10pm to to 5am Those hours before midnight are with the human growth hormone HGH is most activated. Our ability to have deeper, more quality sleep is better when we're doing it before midnight. Now I want to leave you with one last thing and I want to leave you with this idea of if you wake up in the morning and the dishes aren't done, how does it feel waking up to dirty dishes? That's what it feels like waking up when you didn't clean your mind before. Ask yourself at the end of every night when you're drained, what do I want to leave behind today? What am I going to consciously, intentionally leave behind today? What am I going to wash away today? What am I going to allow to just be today? Wash your mind the night before and leave the draining behind. Thank you so much for listening today. I truly hope this helps you. And remember, I'm always rooting for you and I'm forever in your corner.

If you love this episode, you will also love my interview with Charles Duhigg on how to hack your brain, change any habit effortlessly, and the secret to making better decisions.

Look, am I hesitating on this because I'm scared of making the choice because I'm scared of doing the work? Or am I sitting with this because it just doesn't feel right yet?

Hey, it's Joel and Matt from how to Money here. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right. Yeah.

Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom Podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name.

Part of the way through the valley of despair is realizing this has happened and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward.

Our two part conversation is available. Listen to the mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shows.

Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanka Walley.

And I'm Hari Kundabolu.

It's a new year and on the podcast Health Stuff, we're resetting the way we talk about our health, which means.

Being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that or am I just depressed? Health Stuff is about learning, laughing and feeling a little less alone.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.