(BEST OF) The Boundary Fix for Burnout with Nedra Glover Tawwab
6/2/20261 hr 11 min
In a moment when everything feels urgent, this conversation with boundary expert Nedra Glover Tawwab is your reminder: you can care deeply about the world without abandoning yourself. Because burnout isn’t always a personal failure. Sometimes it’s just a boundary that hasn’t been spoken yet. Nedra helps us rethink boundaries—not as walls, but as instructions for how to love and be loved without disappearing. We talk about resentment, overfunctioning, people pleasing, and why all humans are gloriously, beautifully needy. If you’re exhausted, stretched thin, or carrying too much: this one is for you.
- The five signs you might have a boundary problem
- Why we all need to stop pretending we’re “not needy”
- How to stop arguing like a lawyer and start communicating like a kindergartener: “That hurt. I don’t like that. I need this.”
- How to know when to end an argument, exit a friendship, and respond to passive aggressiveness About Nedra: Nedra Glover Tawwab is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Drama Free and Set Boundaries, Find Peace. A licensed therapist and sought-after relationship expert, she has practiced relationship therapy for more than fifteen years. Tawwab has appeared as an expert on Red Table Talk, The Breakfast Club, Good Morning America, and CBS Morning Show to name a few. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vice. Tawwab runs a popular Instagram account where she shares practices, tools, and reflections for mental health and relationships. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family. Follow We Can Do Hard Things on: Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/wecandohardthings
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsGlennon Doyle· Host0:00
Hello to the dearest pod squad, and welcome back to We Can Do Hard Things. As you may have noticed, we are living in a moment where so much is being asked of us. Morally, politically, emotionally, it feels like the world is on fire, and it is. And somehow, the expectation is that we keep showing up everywhere, for everyone, all at once, and that we do it seamlessly. Here's what I am remembering, and what this conversation will help you remember: if we are going to stay awake in the world, we also have to stay loyal to ourselves, because burnout, resentment, that quiet rage that simmers inside, it's not a personal failure. It's just often a boundary that hasn't been spoken yet. And guess what? Even now, even now, maybe especially now, we get to have boundaries. So today, we're bringing back this conversation with Nedra Glover Tawwab, because in a time when everything feels urgent, learning how to say no might actually be the most important way to be able to say yes to what matters most, to be responsible, which does not mean answering for everything. To be responsible means to be able to respond to what was meant for you. In this episode, we talk about how every single one of us is deeply, beautifully needy. And not only is that not a problem, it's the starting point for a life that is honest and sustainable. We talk about how to stop building a legal case for your needs and just say, like a kindergartner, "That hurt. I don't like that. I need this instead." And