My Laptop Didn’t Come To Lunch, And Neither Did The Guilt

Unleash Her: The Next Chapter Begins

What happens when the habit everyone applauds slowly empties you out? We open up about growing up with a self-sacrifice script, chasing a career while raising kids, and the silent resentment that builds when rest is always last on the list. The story moves from the 9-to-5-to-2 a.m. grind to a gentle, grounded reset: morning rituals that actually stick, boundaries that protect both family and focus, and one surprisingly luxurious act of self-care that cost nothing but time.

You’ll hear the honest timeline of burnout—how “doing it all” became doing too much—and why sustainable ambition asks for seasons, support, and clear limits. We talk about redefining progress beyond hours worked, trading performative productivity for presence, and learning to trust your value without midnight emails. There’s also a behind-the-scenes look at Unleash Her, the anthology featuring powerful stories from women who chose a different path, and how those voices helped build Still Roses and its mission to elevate women’s experiences.

If you’ve ever felt guilty for resting or felt praised for running on empty, this conversation offers a practical path back to yourself. Expect real-life tools: a simple morning routine, permission to drop or delegate, and language for setting expectations at work and at home. Plus, a listener giveaway for the first five who message us for a copy of the book. If this resonates, share it with a friend who needs the reminder, tap follow to stay close to the journey, and leave a review to help more women find their way back to time that truly feeds the soul.

Chapters

• 0:00 Breaking The Self-Sacrifice Script
• 0:28 Welcome To Still Roses
• 0:54 Introducing The Unleash Her Anthology
• 2:09 Reading On Burnout And Resentment
• 3:21 The 9-To-5-To-2AM Grind
• 4:26 Shifting To Sustainable Ambition
• 5:10 Morning Routines As Self-Preservation
• 6:21 Choosing Quiet Over Chores
• 7:39 Time As The Ultimate Luxury
• 8:42 Book Link And Listener Giveaway

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

The concept of prioritizing myself was incredibly hard for me to wrap my head around. I was raised in a household that celebrated self-sacrifice and martyrdom. Sacrifice for your children, sacrifice for your husband, sacrifice to keep the peace, and sacrifice to keep everyone happy. But at what point does this pattern begin to build resentment? And at what point will your needs ever be met? A terrible cycle permeated my life, allowing task after task to pile on me, an inevitable screaming meltdown would take place. Good evening, everyone. This is Still Roses Podcast. This podcast was created for women by women to elevate women's voices. I am very excited to record the episodes for the week. As promised, in our my last recording, I'm actually going to be reading to you some uh parts, some little chapters and snippets from the anthology series that was published earlier this year that I'm actually featured in. So this is book two, Unleash Her. The next chapter begins. My section um is about the about me basically and how Steel Roses came to be. Um so I'm just gonna read a couple of paragraphs this week and then I'll probably look through the rest too, because to be perfectly honest with you, beyond the fact that I'm in this book, the people, the people, the other women that have contributed to this book are really truly amazing women and they're sharing really phenomenal stories. So I do encourage you to really take a look at it. I'll include a link to the book on Amazon in the episode description for the week so that way everyone can take a look. So here we go. The concept of prioritizing myself was incredibly hard for me to wrap my head around. I was raised in a household that celebrated self-sacrifice and martyrdom, sacrifice for your children, sacrifice for your husband, sacrifice to keep the peace, and sacrifice to keep everyone happy. But at what point does this pattern begin to build resentment? And at what point will your needs ever be met? A terrible cycle permeated my life, allowing task after task to pile on me until I would blow. An inevitable screaming meltdown would take place, then wash, rinse, and repeat. Now, that particular paragraph is actually referring to Jenny 2021, who was incredibly burnt out from at that point about six years of very, very difficult work-life balance situations that I put myself in. I've talked about that before, how I would really just burn them in midnight oil. There was a really driving, a very fierce drive within me to make sure my career was continuing to grow while my children were growing up. For me in that time, taking a step back, this is gonna sound crazy to say out loud, but taking a step back for my career to care for my children more than I did, or letting my career go and and you know, pulling my kids up more than I did, um would have felt like defeat. So instead of letting one go, which you obviously couldn't let your children go, so to let my career go instead, I just smashed it into the evening. So I would do my nine to five, my usual. I would make sure from 5 to 9 p.m. I focused on my kids. And then from 9 a.m. to, I don't know, 2 or 3 a.m., I was logged in. I was working, I was talking to people on the phone. I was making sure things got done. I was making sure my clients felt supported. And that fierce drive really pushed me for about five or six years before I started to crack and before I started to see the problems, and before I started to really feel that impact on my mental health. Present-day Jenny does not feel this need to ferociously attack my career. Now, granted, I am further along now, um, a little over 18 years in my industry. And yes, that does put me in a different position at this point. I don't feel anymore the need to prove myself. But that's not just because of my tenure. It's also because of the people that I work with. They see the value in me without me even having to jump through hoops, which I would jump through hoops for any of them because they're such wonderful people, but I digress. The point being, I did not prioritize myself and it took a toll on me. So what I've worked really hard to do over the past couple of years was to make make sure that I was taking time to just prioritize myself and make sure I was prioritizing my needs. Now, it's not going to be every day. There's no way that that's gonna happen. In some instances, it is somewhat there. So you all know that every morning I do get up early to make sure that I'm fitting in time for myself. Now, I'm not the only mom out of working mom out here that does that. I know a few in the area that actually get up at five o'clock in the morning as well to exercise and get that time in for themselves. Every single woman I talk to down here where I live says the same thing, resounding. I get up early so I can have time for myself. This seems to be the ticket. This is like the golden ticket for all of us. Now, and you know, I'm the same way. That's my time. If I want to have time to myself, if I want to make sure I have time for meditation, journaling, everything else that I do, my savers, you know, the miracle morning, I do that in the mornings. And then I'm able to at 7 a.m. start rolling with breakfast and 8 p 8 a.m. get the kids on the buses and this and that. It's it's an ongoing cycle, but it's something that's super important. Now, this past week, I did something very indulgent for myself, which I never have done ever. And I can say that with 100% accuracy. Never done this before. But I had off from work on Friday, and normal me would have looked at this day as an opportunity to get ahead on chores and tasks within the house. I'm very grateful that I'm able to have some hired support to help with tasks and chores. So it lightens the load quite a bit. The other parts that I still do, the groceries and that kind of stuff, that'll need to get done too on Friday. So I still had some tasks and mom things, mom tours, wife tours that needed to get done. And, you know, after, you know, participating in my kids' Halloween events in the morning at school, it took a minute and really thought to myself, you know, okay, maybe you should run to, you know, this, you know, big box club thing and get groceries and this and that and save money and go here and there. And then I paused and I looked at the time, and instead of doing all that, I opted to not do any of that. So I picked up some food for myself and I was able to sit quietly in a beautiful setting and have just a very quiet lunch alone. Now that might be very hard for some people. And I will say, I did bring with me a book and my little journal because, you know, I I thought if the desire hit me, I'd be able to grab my book and read. If the desire hit me, I could grab my book and write. I just wanted to have my my little tools there. I did not bring my laptop, which guys, you don't know this about me, but me not carrying a laptop with me is actually pretty significant. But I didn't. I did not do any of it, I didn't do that. So I sat and tasted my food and I sipped on some tea. And I very I just nibbled. I really didn't. It's not like I was eating, I really don't eat loads of food in one setting anyway. But I just, I just took time to be quiet and appreciate the moment and be in the moment. And it was really interesting because it felt so freaking luxurious. And then it really hit me how much I need to be doing more of that and how much I really need to make sure I'm taking time to treat myself. And I'm not talking shoes and things and bags and not that I don't love all that stuff. I love fashion and clothes and all that, but I'm not talking about acquiring physical things that clutter. I'm talking about acquiring time for yourself that feeds your soul. And being able to do that for myself really set the most beautiful tone for me. And it's still carrying with me to today. And it'll probably carry with me into the week, which I hope so, because everybody, the kids are off from school this week. I am working this week, and I am frightened. So on that note, thank you all for hanging out with me. I greatly appreciate all of you. One thing before I let you guys go, the book, I am including links in the episode description. So all this week you'll be able to access, you know, purchasing the book on Amazon. However, for the first five of you that message me directly requesting a copy of the book, if you provide me with your mailing address, I will ship a book out to you. I do actually have extra copies here. So I'm very excited to be able to gift that to five people. So the first five people that message me, I will be able to help you out. You can find me on Instagram and I believe LinkedIn will be the best ways to grab me. So if you're interested in a copy of the book, I'm happy to gift it to you. Otherwise, there's also a link in the episode description. So thank you again for hanging out with me this week. I greatly appreciate all of you, and I will catch you on the next one. Take care.