Opt Into Doing Your Best

In this reflective solo episode, host Kelley explores what it means to “do your best” when your best no longer looks the same. Drawing from her experience with grief, aging, and shifting capacity, Kelley redefines productivity and success through softness and self-compassion. She invites listeners to release perfectionism, honor their limits, and embrace a gentler approach to achievement.

This episode is a tender reminder that your best self is not about doing more—it’s about doing what’s sustainable and aligned with who you are today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Doing your best changes with your season of life—honor your current capacity.
• Softness and rest are not weakness; they are essential to long-term fulfillment.
• Cultural and familial conditioning can disguise perfectionism as ambition.
• Redefining excellence can help you reclaim balance, visibility, and joy.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

00:00 – Redefining “Your Best”

Kelley opens up about end-of-year pressures and how “soft lock-in” challenges the old habit of grinding.

04:00 – Listening to the Body’s Signals

She reflects on grief, aging, and the body’s cues for rest and slowing down.

07:00 – Unlearning the Need to Overperform

Kelley unpacks how cultural narratives about excellence and representation shaped her identity.

18:00 – Choosing Ease and Visibility

She closes by discussing how striving for perfection leads to burnout and invisibility—and how choosing ease brings peace.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

Are you experimenting with new ways to rest? Whether it’s saying no to one more obligation, shutting your laptop at 5 p.m., or taking a slow walk with no agenda, capture that moment of ease. Share it with us:

@blackgirlburnout

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