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Author: Hannah Young

Support for burnout and overwhelm for teachers in Leeds

Why You Still Feel Burnt Out Even After Leaving Teaching

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Mindset and Patterns. No Comments on Why You Still Feel Burnt Out Even After Leaving Teaching

Even after leaving teaching, I still felt it’s impact in my nervous system

Walking out of the school building at 4pm on the first day in your new pastoral role, having left teaching, is a pretty odd feeling.

That nagging sense that you’ve forgotten something. Your brain starting to plan the work you’re doing this evening. Mentally preparing for the next day.

…and then remembering: Nope, there are no books to take home. Nope, there’s no planning to do tonight. And tomorrow? Well, why worry about that now?

You’d think the feeling would be liberating.

But actually, it’s closer to guilt.

Like you’ve somehow cheated the system.

The Subtle Signs of Burnout and Overwhelm That Don’t Just Disappear

It started with the 4pm nag.

That feeling on the drive home — trying to convince my brain that it really was okay to switch off. That there was nothing I should be doing. That I actually had the evening ahead of me.

Then came Saturday mornings.

It’s no exaggeration to say it took me about six months to stop waking up with that familiar dread: “When am I going to do my work this weekend?”

The internal battle between procrastination and pressure. The sense that it would be more responsible to just get everything done now.

Eventually, I began to convince my nervous system that we really could just rest. That there was nothing to catch up on and nothing waiting for me.

Why Your Nervous System Stays in “Work Mode”

I noticed something else too.

I’d get ready for work and drive to school with this intense sense of urgency.

During my teaching days, if I arrived later than 7:05am, I’d panic:

  • the photocopiers would be taken
  • I wouldn’t have time to set up
  • I’d miss something important

Even after leaving teaching, my body didn’t catch up.

Even though my new role started at 8am, if I arrived later than 7:30am, I’d convince myself the whole day would go badly.

This is what burnout and overwhelm can look like. Not just exhaustion, but a body that has learnt to stay constantly “on”.

What It Took to Actually Feel Calm Again

There was no quick fix.

My nervous system had learned:

  • to anticipate pressure
  • to stay alert
  • to believe I should always be doing something

So it took time.

It took self-talk — actually saying out loud: “It’s okay. We don’t have any work to do this weekend. You can relax.”

It took intentional slowing down. Small resets. Letting my body experience something different.

Why the Feeling of Overwhelm Can Linger

Even now, sometimes, it still shows up.

A full weekend of plans can bring a flash of panic.

I’m transported back to a time when a busy weekend meant weeks of preparation.

The hangover from teaching lingers.

If You’re Still Feeling Burnt Out or Overwhelmed…

This isn’t just about teaching.

I speak to so many women who feel:

  • constantly “on”
  • unable to switch off
  • like they should be doing something all the time
  • disconnected from themselves

Even when their circumstances have changed. Burnout and overwhelm don’t just disappear when your situation changes. Your nervous system needs time — and support — to catch up.

Support for Burnout and Overwhelm in Leeds

If this feels familiar, this is exactly the kind of work I do.

I offer in-person wellbeing coaching in Leeds for women who feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and stretched too thin, even if they’re no longer in the situation that caused it.

These sessions are a chance to:

  • slow down properly
  • understand what’s going on beneath the surface
  • start feeling like yourself again

You can book a Reset Session or a virtual coffee to see if it feels like the right fit.

Woman enjoying sunshine and rest after overcoming overwhelm

Burnout in Teachers: Why You Can’t Relax (and How to Recover)

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Overwhelm and Burnout. No Comments on Burnout in Teachers: Why You Can’t Relax (and How to Recover)

If you’ve experienced burnout as a teacher, you might recognise this feeling…

The other evening, I was sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine…reading, sipping a cold drink, catching a squirrel in the act of trying to steal the bird feed…

And I remembered a time when I hated the sun coming out. Not because I don’t like the heat (though I do love embracing the cosiness of winter), but because a sunny day made me feel like I ‘should’ be doing more.

At that time, I was so overwhelmed and burnt-out that I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than sit in front of the TV. Even getting changed after returning home from work felt like a huge effort. And the weekends would pass by without me leaving the house – just getting up, getting settled on the sofa…and staying there. So if the sun came out? I would fight this inner battle with myself: I should be going out for a walk; I should be getting some Vitamin D; I should be out meeting friends for coffee in the sunshine; I should be doing some gardening…the list went on.

But I just couldn’t summon the energy. I would long for winter and the dark nights – where my desire to be indoors could be excused.

This went on for years. And I put it down to just being pretty ‘normal’ for a woman working in education; even though I knew other people managed to live some sort of life outside of school, there was just enough chat about burnout in teachers, about being exhausted and surviving till the school holidays that I could brush off the nagging doubt that this was certainly NOT how I should be living.

When I left teaching and moved into a pastoral role, things eased slightly. I left work behind at 4pm (no longer bringing piles of work home to do well into the evenings), so I could recuperate enough to find some enjoyment outside of the house again (or at least, not just parked permanently in front of the telly). But there was still something taking charge of my body – something that still made me panic if my half-term holiday calendar started to fill up with plans or ‘stuff’ I needed to get done.

I realised my nervous system hadn’t caught up – it was still braced for survival; for just getting through a day at a time. Having to deal with anything else (like the thought of going for a healthy walk in the sunshine) was still too much.

And this is what I see in so many of the women I work with – stuck in survival mode. Scraping through to the weekend or the school holidays – but crashing when they get there. And of course the irony is that these things I avoided (like going for a walk in my sunnies) would have been just what my body needed. So, the work starts with creating just enough safety in the body (and a healthy dose of gentle accountability) to introduce these healthy, healing habits. This, along with reconnection with the self – our needs, our boundaries, etc., is the beginning of a path out of burnout and overwhelm. And, along the way we find clarity and direction.

So if you’re a woman in education who’s struggling with burnout, overwhelm – and you just want to feel like yourself again – you’re in the right place. I offer face-to-face burnout reset coaching sessions in Leeds and online – arrive as you are, and leave with a sense of calm and just a little more headspace.

If you’re interested, or want to know more about my full overwhelm to clarity coaching programme, you can book a virtual coffee with me here.

Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Overwhelm and Burnout. No Comments on Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Why is it that there are so many women who seem to always be on the very edge of burnout?

I’ve been there…

And I always thought that just ‘pushing through’ to complete my to-do list would fix things…

‘If I can just get through this list, then I’ll have time to relax and finally feel at peace.’

But the truth is, your to-do list is infinite. It’ll never be done. And even if you somehow managed to complete it, I can tell you now that the void…that numbness you feel at the end of the day…it’ll still be there.

I speak to so many burnt-out, overwhelmed women who describe life as being sort of ‘flat’, even though on paper they have it all.

And they’re feeling guilty for feeling ungrateful…they’re wondering what’s wrong with them and if they’ll ever feel ‘normal’. Add to that the weight of all the things they ‘should‘ be doing, and they’ve got the perfect recipe for just scraping through each day in survival mode.

What these women come to realise through our work together is that the external accomplishments and productivity they’ve grown up thinking are the key to happiness…just, aren’t. In fact, the to-do list has simply been yet another tool of distraction:

Distraction from their authentic selves

Distraction from their natural feminine cycle and rhythm

Distraction from their calling and innate wisdom

So the answer isn’t in yet another productivity or time-management tool. The answer is in stillness. In turning inwards. In reconnecting with your own self.

If you’re a woman feeling like you’re always ‘on’, I can help. I offer face-to-face burnout reset sessions in Leeds: Come as you are, and leave with a weight lifted and practical tools to support you.

Support for women who are overwhelmed and burnout

The Freeze Response Behind Burnout

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The ‘freeze response’ is the sneaky nervous system behaviour that might be sitting behind the fact you feel on the edge of burnout.

We all know from secondary-school science that, when faced with a threat, our bodies can go into ‘fight or flight’. But what I never remember being taught about in school is the freeze response. It was only really when I got to A-Level and Degree Psychology that I learnt more about the lesser-known siblings of fight/flight – that is ‘freeze’ and ‘fawn’.

To ‘freeze’ is a pretty good survival instinct for your nervous system to have developed. Faced with a sabre-tooth tiger, your cavewoman ancestors may have survived by ‘freezing’ – making themselves hidden, smaller (think ‘playing dead’).

But when our modern-day threats are no longer the sabre-tooth tiger, but instead often a cumulative build-up of pressures – at work and in our personal and social lives – that lead to feelings of emotional overwhelm, the freeze response doesn’t feel too helpful. In fact, it can lead to us feeling numb, dissociated, anxious or unable to participate in life.

Feeling overwhelmed and burnout is something I experiencing myself during my teaching career.

And it literally felt like I was going about my days in a trance. I was still functioning (we now know about functional freeze), but I wasn’t participating in life.

And something that I completely abandoned (and I see many women I work with doing the same) was a connection with my self. As well as being numb to the world, the volume on my own needs turned down too. Nutrition, exercise, time in nature, engaging in conversation about how I was feeling – I didn’t do any of it. Until one day I literally could not open my front door to leave for work.

When life feels overwhelming, disrupting the pattern of life in a small way can be a good place to start. I found such relief in stepping out into nature, booking a massage, or speaking to one of the amazing women healers I had around me at the time. It was connection I needed – and a space just for myself.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed and teetering close to the edge of burnout, start small. Why not make today the day you begin to reconnect with yourself. Step out into nature – feel the grass underfoot, observe the new buds of spring – heck, hug a tree! – and by doing so, you’ll feel yourself gently stepping back into your self.

And, if you’d like a space to escape to, my in-person Reset Session might be just what you need.

Woman enjoying sunshine and rest after overcoming overwhelm

Happiness in Ordinary Moments: Feel More Grounded

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Real Life and Reflections. No Comments on Happiness in Ordinary Moments: Feel More Grounded

Is it just me, or does everything feel a bit off right now?

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the air. And when life feels like that, it’s easy to look outward for something bigger, better, or more certain to hold onto. But more often than not, what steadies us is much simpler than that.

Happiness in ordinary moments is easy to overlook, especially when comparison is constantly pulling our attention elsewhere. We open our phones and within seconds we’re measuring our lives against someone else’s highlight reel. Even when we know it’s not real life, it still has an effect.

So before anything else, it’s worth gently stepping back from that. Not forever, just enough to create a bit of space. Enough to notice what’s already here.

Because when you do, you start to see that your life is not behind. It’s just quieter.

The conversation you spoke up in. The small step you finally took. The way you’re handling things now compared to a few years ago. That is progress, even if no one else sees it.

This is where happiness in ordinary moments really begins to land. Not in big milestones, but in the details you would usually rush past.

Instead of listing the same gratitudes each day, try noticing something more specific. The sound of birds before your alarm. A message from a friend you hadn’t heard from in a while. Even the satisfaction of getting something slightly more right than you did yesterday.

These moments are easy to dismiss, but they are often the ones that stay.

The same goes for the things we think we need to upgrade. We’re used to chasing the next version of everything, but the feeling rarely lasts. What does last is a quieter kind of contentment. The kind that comes from realising what you already have is enough, for now.

And maybe most importantly, the relationships that don’t look perfect on the surface are often the ones that matter most. The ones that pick up where they left off. The ones that don’t need constant attention to still feel solid.

So if things feel unsettled at the moment, come back to what is steady.

Happiness in ordinary moments is not about lowering your expectations of life. It’s about noticing that your life is already happening, in ways that are easy to miss if you’re always looking for more.

And when you start to see that, things don’t feel quite so off after all.

Hand reaching into light beam - Hannah Young Life Coaching there must be more to life passion and purpose

‘There must be more to life’

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Real Life and Reflections. 1 Comment on ‘There must be more to life’

‘There must be more to life’

This is something I used to say to myself pretty much every day. I’d wake up, pull myself up to sit on the edge of the bed, feeling exhausted and lacking motivation.

And even though, on paper, I had nothing to complain about, something just felt ‘off’.

The tick list of life, but we want more

Sometimes we fall into the trap of treating life like a tick list. The house. Tick. The car. Tick. The marriage. Tick. The job. Tick. We have it all, but life somehow feels draining, not uplifting.

This is where passion and purpose come in.

Passion and purpose

I’ve heard it said that if you have a passion and turn it into something that impacts others, that’s your purpose. But for many of us, this seems like a pipe-dream. Right now, you might not even have the time to spend on your passion, let alone turn it into purpose.

But this is where life coaching can help.

In life coaching sessions, we uncover exactly what it is about your passion that you love, and work on ways to bring an essence of this into your life as it is right now. Say, your passion is creating art but you have no time for it right now. We’d ask what it is exactly you love about creating art. You might say that you love getting lost in the paint, the colours, the form – for you it’s a form of meditation. So, we take that idea of getting lost, of flow, and find a way to bring it into your daily life. Let’s say, with 5 minutes of meditation each day. Over time, this 5 minutes might become 10 minutes with a sketch pad, and so on.  Then, if you start selling your sketches or giving them away for others to enjoy – there’s your purpose.

So if life feels ‘off’ right now, life coaching could be a great place to start. Book a free no-pressure chat to find out how life coaching could change everything for you.

Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Emotional Wellbeing Coaching: Reduce Stress and Overwhelm

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Mindset and Patterns. 1 Comment on Emotional Wellbeing Coaching: Reduce Stress and Overwhelm

Many women I work with tell me they feel overwhelmed, stuck, or constantly stressed. Life can feel heavy, and managing emotional wellbeing often becomes a daily challenge. Emotional wellbeing coaching provides tools and support to help you manage stress, reduce overwhelm, and feel more grounded in your life.

When stress and overwhelm build up, it can affect not only your mood but also your energy, relationships, and ability to focus. Nervous system regulation is often an important part of this work. Through personalised techniques like guided meditations, breathing exercises, and grounding practices, coaching helps you reconnect with your body, calm your mind, and gain clarity even during challenging times.

Emotional wellbeing coaching is not just about coping in the moment. It is about creating sustainable strategies to support yourself every day. Together, we identify the patterns that keep you feeling stuck, explore practical tools that work for you, and develop personalised practices you can use both in sessions and at home. Over time, these small but consistent actions build resilience, reduce stress, and improve overall wellbeing.

The goal is to feel more in control of your emotional state and empowered to navigate life with ease. You learn to recognise when stress is building, respond to it effectively, and prevent overwhelm from taking over. By prioritising your emotional wellbeing, you can show up more fully in your work, relationships, and personal life.

If you are ready to manage stress, reduce overwhelm, and feel more grounded, emotional wellbeing coaching can provide the guidance and tools you need. Reach out today to explore how personalised meditations, grounding exercises, and practical strategies can help you restore balance and create lasting calm in your life.

Woman enjoying sunshine and rest after overcoming overwhelm

Self-Care for the Collective: Care for Yourself and Others

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Slowing Down and Self-Care. No Comments on Self-Care for the Collective: Care for Yourself and Others

Self-care for the collective is more than a personal indulgence. Today, many people think of self-care as routines, habits, or practices designed only for individual benefit. Bubble baths, journaling, and solo walks are often the first examples that come to mind. But true self-care is deeper and has a history rooted in empowerment and collective well-being.

During the Civil Rights Movement, self-care became a political act. Marginalised communities fought not only for their rights but also for the ability to care for their own health and wellness. Self-care became a tool for survival, resistance, and community strength. It was never only about the individual. The idea was simple: healthy individuals build healthy communities.

When we think about self-care for the collective in our own lives, it changes how we see taking time for ourselves. Often, self-care is dismissed as indulgent, selfish, or unnecessary. But if we care for ourselves intentionally, we are better able to show up for our families, friends, and communities. Our personal well-being creates a ripple effect that benefits everyone around us.

To practice self-care that counts, consider small daily actions that strengthen your mind, body, and emotional resilience. Simple habits like mindful breathing, walking outdoors, or journaling can boost your energy.

Self-care for the collective is essential. It is a commitment to yourself and the people around you. The next time you take time for yourself, remember that you are not being selfish. You are investing in a stronger, healthier, and more connected community. By embracing self-care for the collective, your personal wellness and your community’s well-being grow together.

Hannah Owner of Hannah Young Life Coaching

Life in fast-forward

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Slowing Down and Self-Care. 1 Comment on Life in fast-forward

Sometimes life feels like it’s in fast-forward…and that’s not good for intentional living

3 second reels; ‘This item is selling fast!’; ‘Bring on the Summer!’….

We are so often living life in fast-forward – it’s no wonder our connection with intentional living fell silent.

So today…slow down time. Sip your coffee with intention. Slow down your walking pace. Spend an extra 5 minutes on your skincare. Slow down, and connect.

Support for burnout and overwhelm for teachers in Leeds

Self-awareness is only the beginning

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Self-awareness is something that grows through life-coaching. Though it’s something that (alarmingly!) many people fail to achieve throughout their entire adulthood, self-awareness is only as good as the actions you take because of it.

On a journey of growth, you’ll have many penny-dropping moments. You start tracking your cycle, so now you know why you want to throw plates two days before your period. You trace your people-pleasing back to childhood, where you learned that being the “good girl” gave you value and love. You realise why it is that your boss triggers you whenever they make a reasonable request.

This kind of awareness often comes through mindset coaching – and while it can feel powerful, it’s only the beginning.

Now you’ve seen the light, what you do with that awareness is what really matters. That’s where real growth comes in.

You know your fuse is short two days before your period arrives… so what will you do with that information? Perhaps you’ll block out your calendar so there are no social demands at this time. Or you’ll set a non-negotiable walk in nature every day that week. If you now understand why you people-please, will you begin learning how to set boundaries? And if you’re triggered by your boss, what calming nervous system practice will you turn to the next time it happens?

This is the part of the journey where many women get stuck — not because they lack self-awareness, but because changing habits and behaviour is hard. It often brings tension with those around us, because suddenly we’re doing something different. We’re pushing back. We’re choosing ourselves.

This is where holistic life coaching can offer real support — helping you bridge the gap between insight and action. The work is about turning awareness into lived change.

The outcomes are always worth the discomfort the journey brings. This is where we step, truly, into ourselves. It’s where holistic coaching for and practical life coaching meet, and where real, lasting change begins. If you’re interested in growing your self-awareness through life-coaching (and turning that into action!), read more about how I can help.