If You Don’t Listen to Yourself, Your Body Will MAKE You Listen (Burnout, Boundaries & Self-Trust)

If you don’t listen to yourself, your body will MAKE you listen.

You probably don’t even realize how much you ignore yourself.

I didn’t.

Not until life decided to life all over me—loudly, aggressively, and in ways I couldn’t push through, explain away or ignore.

That little voice inside? It had been there for years. But I brushed it aside, convinced I could handle it.

Until my body started to rebel.

The Consequences of Ignoring Yourself

On the outside, I was saying all the right things—telling people to rest, to take care of themselves, to set boundaries.

Meanwhile, I was downing two energy drinks a day, stuck in a 9-5 that drained me, overloading my business with every project that came my way, barely moving my body, barely breathing.

I wasn’t just ignoring myself—I was actively gaslighting myself.

Can you relate?

How many times have you listened, but not actually believed yourself?

Because the truth is, listening simply isn’t enough.
The secret? Believing yourself.

Otherwise? You’ll stay stuck.
Or worse, you’ll end up sick.

And unfortunately, I learned that the hard way.

The Breaking Point

For years, I had all the signs that something wasn’t right (that I full-heartedly ignored):

• I was exhausted, but I kept pushing because I was raised to believe “a mother’s job is to sacrifice.” So even though my hair was falling out and I was walking into rooms forgetting why, I convinced myself this was just part of being a good mom.
• I took a job I knew I would hate, but I gritted my teeth and stayed. I watched inefficiencies pile up, tried to speak up, and got the pat on the head response—smile, nod, sit back down, because that’s where the paycheck came from.
• I was burned out, but I told myself I could handle it—because everyone else around me was also drowning. I thought this was just how life is.

And then, in April 2024?

I got one last email that put me over the edge. Another, “Hey Mel, tossing this one over to you.” email that likely felt like a simple baton pass, but for me? It was the straw, and broke this camel’s damn back.

I started shaking.
My limbs went cold.
My heart started racing.
Tears poured out, uncontrollably.

My body screamed NO.

One call to my EAP (Employee Assistance Program) and a brief conversation with someone outside of my life—a crisis counsellor who didn’t even know me—and the words my body was screaming, the ones I couldn’t say out loud, came from her instead:

“Enough.”

And it felt like a light hit me square in the face:

“You need a break now. You can’t take care of anyone if you’re not here.”

I knew she was right.
..and STILL still… I hesitated—because how could I stop when everyone I knew was just as busy, just as stressed, just as overworked?

For three days after going on stress leave, I felt guilty.

My counsellor told me I had one job now. My only job was to breathe.

That’s how bad it had gotten.

My entire system had been stuck in Do. Do. Do. Fix. Fix. Fix. Go. Go. Go. mode for so long, I couldn’t even process what it meant to stop. (Still on that struggle bus, but I have the tools now to actually… breathe)

Yet, my body wasn’t done with me. The damage was done.

When Your Body Forces You to Listen

A few days later, I went for a follow-up at a specialist.

While pregnant, I learned I have a rare genetic condition that’s supposed to stay dormant for decades. This was just a routine every 2 year follow-up. I didn’t think much of it.

Dormant gene condition? It wasn’t even on my radar.

Well. Not anymore.

It had been triggered.

I was fine, but also, not fine.
On the list of concerns I had at that moment? This was far down it.
Because I still wasn’t prioritizing myself.

I had double vision but told myself, “Well, I can still see well.” 20/20 vision, but two of them while driving. Half cup full, right?

I was functioning but inside, I was breaking.

And still—I pushed.

Until life lifed some more.

Loss.
Grief.
Relationships falling apart.

I was so deep in dysfunction, I didn’t know how to get out.

The Moment It Finally Clicked

One night a couple months later into therapy and you know just trying to figure my shit out, while making dinner, my daughter was playing in her mini kitchen after wrestling with my husband.

Then—suddenly—she was crying. Silent tears, red face, sad toddler scrunched-up-face.

I immediately scooped her up and asked what was wrong.

Through tears, she let out a ragged sob: “Sometimes, Dada plays too rough.”

Now, let me be clear: My husband is not abusive. He’s the softest, kindest human. Wrestling is her favourite thing in the world, and most of the time, he’s the one getting thrown around with me concernedly hovering in the corner.

But in that moment?

I didn’t say: “Oh, but you always laugh when you play.”
I didn’t say: “You never told me that before.”
I didn’t blame her: “Why didn’t you say something in the moment?”
I didn’t deflect, justify, or minimize what she was feeling.

I looked her in the eyes and said:

“I hear you.” Because I did. I saw her pain.
And her little eyes stopped crying and just took in my face. I was with her 100%, no matter what she said next.

She said nothing, and it hit me:
“I believe you.” Because I did. 100% this was her experience.

Sometimes she had the experience her Dada played too rough. So I asked her if she needed me to speak with him, or if she felt comfortable bringing this to him.

And let me be clear, my girl is vocal, and she did.

And he listened. And he believed her.

And now they wrestle, the same as before but she knows she can say anything and we’ll be there for her.

Listen. And believe.

And in that moment, suddenly—I saw myself.

I saw all the times I had told someone how I felt, only to be dismissed.
I saw all the times my body had screamed at me, and I ignored it.
I saw all the ways I had gaslit myself into staying in situations that drained me.

And it hit me like a freight train:

I HAD been listening to myself for years. (Even if I didn’t know, my body KNEW what was wrong)
But I hadn’t been believing myself. (I didn’t let myself)

The Shift: When You Finally Believe Yourself

For so long, I told myself:
“If I were stronger, I could push through this.”
“I just have to survive this season, then it’ll get better.”
“The light is at the end of the tunnel, I just have to survive this.”

But here’s what I know now:

• If you keep ignoring yourself, life will eventually force you to stop.
• If you don’t believe your own needs, you’ll stay trapped in self-abandonment.
• If you keep making yourself small, you will break.

But the instant you start believing yourself?

Everything shifts.

You stop explaining why you deserve more.
You stop over-justifying your needs, your boundaries, your emotions.
You stop allowing people to convince you that your feelings don’t matter, that you’re asking for or being ‘too much’, or that you should settle for less than what you KNOW you deserve.

And that is where your real power begins.

^^ This wasn’t something I got instantly (obviously). But it’s something that has radically changed how I see and move through life.

It’s changed:

• How I show up for myself and others.
• How I find creativity and joy in my day-to-day.
• How I make decisions, with ease, confidence and a knowing I’ve never experienced.

It’s why I’ve completely shifted my goals, my business, my brand—into something that fulfills me fully. Something that allows me to speak my truth, even if it’s blunt, even if it shakes people awake.

Because life is too damn short to sugarcoat things, bite your tongue, and resent others and yourself for not saying what you actually mean, in the moment.

And if you’re honest with yourself?

It doesn’t work for your partner.
It doesn’t work for your kids.
It doesn’t work for your business.
It won’t work for your brand.
And most importantly—it doesn’t work for YOU.

So, if this hit home for you—if you’re seeing yourself in this—I invite you to come have this conversation with me.

Let’s talk about what this looks like in your life, in your business, and how you can start using this as fuel to create what you actually want (AKA YOUR BRAND).

Or—you can push through, keep telling yourself the light is at the end of the tunnel somewhere, out there, over there.

But if you’re tired of waiting for the light, if you’re ready to actually do something different before you hit the burnout, the breakdown, the wake-up call—say Fuck It, I’m In.

I’m here for you if you want to:
🔥 Radically shift your life, your business, your brand into something that actually fulfills you.
🔥 Find peace—in your body, your decisions, your daily life.
🔥 Create a plan, build real accountability, and show up for yourself and others—because growth doesn’t happen alone or in silence.

And if you’ve been waiting for a sign, for a place where people actually get it—this is it. *Big, shiny, blinking sign.*

Even better? Right now, join and pay what you can.

I’m running a fundraiser, and instead of charging, I’m inviting you to donate whatever amount feels right—$5, $50, $100—whatever.

Donate, and you’re in (*Until April 1, 2025). Simple and easy as that.

Come join us.

I like to think of opportunities like this—ones that call to us—as breadcrumbs our future selves are leaving for us. The creation of Fuck It, I’m In was absolutely one of those for me.

And beyond this? There is so much more to come. I’d love to have you on the journey.

Mel

Tell me: Where have you been ignoring yourself? Letting your needs come last, and for how long? What do you see is possible if you let go of that? Drop a comment – I want to hear your experience.