There is a thought that many high-performing women have quietly entertained, and almost never say out loud. Sometimes I wish I could just get sick for a week. Not seriously. Just enough to stop. Just enough that the world would stop asking things of them without needing an explanation.

In this episode, Dr Kristy Goodwin unpacks why this fantasy is more widespread than we admit, what it is actually signalling, and why it is not a resilience problem. It is a design problem.

Drawing on research into anticipatory labour, cortisol recovery patterns, and the neuroscience of mirror neurons, Kristy reframes the illness fantasy as a loud biological signal: high-performing women are operating beyond their bandwidth in systems that only grant permission to rest when the body forces it.

You will leave this episode with a clearer understanding of why your body is sending these signals, and three practical ways to start reclaiming rest as a performance strategy, not a reward.

Resources:

• Nicola Jane Hobbs’ Book The Relaxed Woman
• Nap Ministry 
• Amplified Program