Always Putting Others First Burnout: "Should I Be a Nun?"

When helping others is so deeply woven into who you are that you can't imagine doing anything else — and yet you're exhausted, disillusioned, and wondering if the only logical next step is to give everything up entirely — something more complicated than simple burnout is happening. Les, an LCSW who reached out to Dr. Kat considering leaving her social work career to become a nun, opens up about a lifetime shaped by caregiving: an adoptive family that raised her to serve, a profession she pursued with genuine integrity, and a growing disenchantment after watching fraud and ethical shortcuts endanger the clients she fought to protect.Dr. Kat gently surfaces the pattern running through all of it — that each path Les has chosen, including the one she's considering now, places self-sacrifice at the center. Rather than directing her toward or away from any decision, the conversation explores what it means to mistake burnout for a calling, how to use pro-and-con lists as a living document rather than a one-time exercise, and why pen-to-paper processing works differently than thinking in your head. By the end, Les remembers a possibility she'd forgotten entirely. If you've ever felt so depleted that the only options you could see were extreme ones, this episode is worth your time.I want to hear from you!  To submit show ideas or be considered as a guest, visit https://chatwithdrkat.com/contact/Follow Chat with Dr. Kat:Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/chatwithdrkatInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatwithdrkatYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chatwithdrkatTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chatwithdrkatX:  https://x.com/ChatwithDrKatHealth & Wellness Programs:https://mindbodyseries.com/