What High Performance Can Do To Your Mental Health

You’re managing the meetings, making the decisions, and keeping the team (and likely your household) running. From the outside, you’re the picture of success, while on the inside, something feels off. Your mind won’t slow down, your body feels wired and exhausted at the same time, and your mental health is taking a hit—rest never really feels… restful.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Burnout often hides in plain sight, especially among high-performing women. Research shows that women in executive roles are 60% more likely to experience symptoms of burnout compared to their male counterparts, and yet, many still don’t view what they’re feeling as a mental health concern. They just call it “pushing through.”

Here’s the reality: burnout is a mental health issue. Mental health care isn’t reserved for the time when you’re in crisis, it’s for staying whole, grounded, and connected to yourself in the middle of the chaos.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s make space for the conversation so many women need but rarely have:

How do you prioritize your mental health when your calendar is stacked and your plate is full?

Here are three ways to start:

1. Normalize Burnout as a Signal—Not a Personal Failing

It’s easy to internalize exhaustion as weakness, especially when you’re used to delivering at a high level. Burnout isn’t about your capabilities, it’s about your capacity. When your brain and body are constantly in performance mode, something has to give.

💡 What to try: Treat burnout as a signal to pause, not push harder. Give yourself permission to name what’s happening. Say it out loud: “I’m burned out.” That small act of acknowledgment is powerful and necessary for recovery to begin.

2. Build Micro-Recovery Into Your Workday

You don’t need an hour of yoga or a weekend retreat to protect your mental health. Tiny moments of regulation throughout the day can be just as impactful, if not more.

💡 What to try: Insert 5-minute “mental resets” between meetings. Step outside. Breathe deeply. Walk a few laps. Name one thing you’re grateful for. These mini-interruptions help your nervous system reset and prevent stress from snowballing.

3. Strengthen Your Support Ecosystem

Mental health isn’t just about managing your internal world—it’s also about who’s in your corner. Trying to do it all alone is often a fast track to emotional depletion.

💡 What to try: Identify your go-to people. That might be a therapist, coach, mentor, or a trusted friend who won’t tell you to “just take a bubble bath.” If that network is missing? Make building it a priority.

You don’t have to wait until you hit a wall to take care of your mental health. The goal isn’t to never feel stress, it’s to build a life where stress doesn’t own you.

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