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Conversations with Dr Nat is a short weekly reflection for high-functioning women who are tired of just ‘surviving’ and ready to come home to themselves.

Have you ever finally had time to rest.... only to find yourself cleaning the house, answering emails or searching for something productive to do?

What if the problem isn't that you're bad at relaxing?

What if your nervous system simply doesn't feel safe slowing down?

In this second episode of Conversations with Dr Nat, host Dr Nat Green explores why so many high-functioning women struggle to rest—even when they're completely exhausted.

Through a deeply personal story from a long-awaited family holiday through Europe, Dr Nat reflects on the surprising moment she realised that being needed felt more familiar than simply receiving and allowing rest. It became a powerful reminder that many of us don't have a productivity problem at all—we have a permission problem.

This isn't a conversation about time management.

It's a conversation about identity, nervous system safety, and the beliefs we've quietly carried for years about worth, productivity and rest.

If you've ever felt guilty for slowing down...
If you've ever believed you needed to earn your rest...
If you've ever wondered why doing feels easier than simply being...

this conversation is for you.

In this episode we explore:

• Why rest can feel uncomfortable even when you're exhausted

• The hidden beliefs that make us feel we have to earn our worth

• How your nervous system learns what feels safe and familiar

• Why high-achieving women often struggle to slow down

• The difference between productivity and permission

• A personal story that changed the way I think about rest forever

• Three gentle reflections to help you notice your own patterns this week

A question to sit with

Who taught you that rest had to be earned?

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love you to share it with someone who is always looking after everyone else.

Sometimes the strongest people are the ones who most need to hear that they're allowed to stop.

Connect with Dr Nat

🌿 Discover your Archetype - Take the FREE Archetypes of Transformation Quiz here

🎙️ Subscribe to Growing Tall Poppies

💌 Subscribe to Conversations with Dr Nat - our Weekly connection here

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Send us a Message to connect

Have you become the person everyone relies on?

The capable one.

The dependable one.

The one who remembers everything, carries everyone, and somehow keeps all the plates spinning.

From the outside, your life probably looks like you've got it together.

But underneath the surface...

you're quietly exhausted.

Not just physically.

Emotionally.

Mentally.

Nervous-system exhausted.

In this very first Conversations with Dr Nat, I'm sharing something I've been noticing in so many of the incredible women I speak with every week.... and, if I'm honest, something I've recognised in myself too.

This isn't a teaching episode.

It's simply a conversation.

A conversation about the hidden cost of always being the strong one, why slowing down can feel so uncomfortable, and how survival patterns can quietly become the way we live.

I also share a deeply personal story from a time when I realised that what I had always called resilience and been so proud of at the time was, in many ways, a nervous system doing everything it could to survive.

If you've ever caught yourself saying...

• "I'll rest once this settles down."

• "I've got it."

• "I'm fine."

• "I just need to get through this week."

...then I think this conversation might be exactly what you need today.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why so many high-functioning women feel exhausted, even when they appear to be coping
• The hidden mental load of always being the one everyone relies on
• Why people-pleasing, over-functioning and overthinking are often survival patterns rather than personality traits
• Why slowing down and accepting help can actually feel unsafe
• How your nervous system can link your worth to being useful, productive or needed
• Three gentle reflections to help you reconnect with yourself this week

This isn't about becoming stronger.

It's about understanding yourself with greater compassion.

Because perhaps the next chapter isn't about carrying more.

Perhaps it's finally feeling safe enough to put something down.

Key Takeaways

• Being the strong one often comes with an invisible emotional cost.
• Your nervous system isn't trying to exhaust you - it's trying to keep you safe.
• Rest can feel uncomfortable when you've learned that your worth comes from what you do rather than who you are.
• Reclaiming yourself isn't about becoming someone new. It's about remembering who you were before survival became your identity.

Connect with Dr Nat

If this conversation resonated with you, I'd genuinely love to hear from you.

Instagram: @drnatgreen

https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/

Facebook: Dr Natalie Green

Website: www.drnataliegreen.com.au

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be so grateful if you followed the podcast, left a review, or shared it with someone who's spent far too long carrying everything on their own.

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Send us a Message to connect

Burnout doesn't happen because you're weak.

More often, it happens because you've spent years being strong for everyone else.

In this deeply moving episode of Growing Tall Poppies, Dr Nat Green sits down with US Marine and Vietnam Veteran, author and speaker Keith A. Cole to explore the hidden cost of carrying trauma alone, the long road to burnout, and the powerful role that faith, connection and daily practices played in his recovery.

As a member of the US Marine Corps and Wounded three times during the Vietnam War, Keith returned home determined to simply keep going. He built a successful career as a CPA, became the guardian of his younger siblings after losing both parents, and worked tirelessly to provide for those around him. But beneath the surface, unresolved trauma, relentless responsibility and decades of pushing through eventually caught up with him.

Keith shares the moment everything changed, why asking for help became the strongest thing he ever did, and the practical recovery framework he now teaches to help others rebuild their lives after burnout.

Whether your trauma comes from combat, caregiving, childhood adversity, chronic stress or simply years of carrying too much, this conversation is a powerful reminder that healing isn't something you have to do alone.

In this episode we discuss:

• Keith's journey from Vietnam combat veteran to burnout survivor
• How unresolved trauma silently shapes our lives for decades
• Why high achievers often ignore the warning signs of burnout
• PTSD, hypervigilance and the long-term impact of chronic stress
• The hidden danger of believing you always have to be strong
• Why burnout is often the result of an overwhelmed nervous system
• The importance of connection and asking for support
• Keith's daily recovery framework built around action, gratitude, prayer, rest, exercise and intentional reflection
• Practical habits that support long-term recovery after trauma and burnout
• Why healing begins when we stop trying to carry everything on our own

Memorable quote

Connect with Keith A. Cole

Website: recoverybyfaith.com https://recoverybyfaith.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kacolecpa/

Book: (available online via Amazon and bookstores or via Keith's website)
Burnout: God's Recovery Plan – A Marine's Story of Trauma, Surrender, and Healing Through Faith

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who may need the reminder that they don't have to carry their struggles alone.

If this episode resonates with you then I'd love for you to hit SUBSCRIBE so you can keep updated with each new episode as soon as it's released and we'd be most grateful if you would give us a RATING as well. You can also find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drnatgreen/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DrNatalieGreen

Intro and Outro music: Inspired Ambient by Playsound.

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be deemed or treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.