PODCAST · health
The Overwhelm Cure
by Kimberly Knull
Transforming Stress into Peace and BalanceIn the past five years, my clients starting short-term disability for stress and burnout have risen from nearly zero to 80%.This is not okay.Over my 20 years as a practicing psychologist, I've seen an alarming rise in stress and burnout, and it's accelerated since 2020. I've come through the other side of burnout. In 2019, I resigned from my job after discovering that traditional solutions to feeling overworked weren't enough. Based on my experience and several years of research in my private practice, I developed The Overwhelm Cure.You'll discover client success stories and research-backed methods to combat this mounting crisis. There's a reason why our current lives aren't making us happy, and each week, you'll discover proven strategies to help you create significant change. Dream big, make great decisions, and manage your emotions. Join me to start building your roadmap to lasting calmness and harmony.
Episodes
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72: Care Less, Live More: How to Stop Hustling for Your Worthiness
A little while ago, someone gave me a piece of advice. "Stop caring so much." My first reaction? Out of context, I wanted to argue. Don't we have a caring crisis? Shouldn't more people care more, not less? But when I zoomed in on what's actually fueling my own overwhelm, the advice landed...
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71: The "Have To" Trap: Why You're Exhausted, Resentful, and How to Get Out
Do you ever feel like your life is being run by an invisible rulebook you never agreed to? I should post weekly. I have to work late. I'm supposed to do it this way. In this episode, I'm getting personal — sharing the exact moment I realized that the word "have to" had quietly taken over my work,...
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70: You've Stopped Having Fun — And It's Affecting Everyone Around You
Be honest — when was the last time someone described you as fun to be around? If that question makes you a little defensive, you're not alone. When we're overwhelmed, exhausted, and running on empty, fun is usually the first thing to go. And when we stop having fun, we stop being fun — for our...
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69: What Confidence Really Looks Like (And Why Yours Might Be Armor)
Most of us want more confidence — but we're not always sure what that actually means. Some of the behaviours we associate with confidence, like arrogance, defensiveness, or endlessly proving ourselves, are actually armor. And armor, no matter how convincing it looks, is not the same as genuine,...
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68: What Do You Really Want?
If I ask you what you want, you can probably rattle off a list: more time, less stress, a cleaner house, a vacation. But if I push past that and ask what you really want — the kind of life that actually lights you up — most women go quiet. That pause? It tells me everything. In this episode, I'm...
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67: The Skills That Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Real Change Actually Happens
How do other people do it? It seems like there is a secret to creating lasting change that other people know, but is kept from us. Unlock the secret of what it really takes to learn something new and create lasting change. Our New Year's–style "all at once" efforts so often fail, and the skills...
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66: Stop Mindless Numbing: How to Choose Intentional Rest & Joy
Are You Chronically Numbing? We've all been there: exhausted, stressed out, and reaching for a quick hit of dopamine — whether it's scrolling, eating, or binge-watching Netflix. These are numbing behaviours, and they feel good because they take the edge off our uncomfortable feelings when life…
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65: Body Image: The #1 Shame Trigger for Women
Quiet the Negative Chatter: Stopping the Body Shame and Building Healthy Habits When the weather turns warm and the winter layers come off, the shame around body image can feel overwhelming. I was shocked to read a 2011 Glamour Magazine study that found 97% of women have at least one "I hate my...
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64: "Un-Nesting": When Your College Kid Comes Back Home
Navigating the Return of Your College-Age Kid (Without Losing Your Mind) I was so focused on the heartbreaking transition of my daughter leaving for university that I completely failed to prepare for the shock of her coming back home. My house had gotten quieter, with less chaos and less mess…
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63: The 3-Step Formula for a Perfect Apology
How to Offer a Meaningful Apology and Repair Trust I recently received some feedback that got me thinking: what happens when we unintentionally hurt someone else's feelings? Our brains often trick us into believing that when someone hurts us, they did it deliberately. But in my experience as a...
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62: Stealth Expectations: The Hidden Cause of Stress, Resentment, and Conflict
Stop Stressing: How to Identify and Manage Your Unconscious Expectations I was thinking about how much of our daily stress is really caused by "stealth expectations"—those unconscious expectations we don't communicate, which often lead to disappointment and conflict. I love to call them "stealth...
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61: Why Adult Friendships are a Lost Art
The Lost Art of Gathering I've been thinking a lot about connection lately—it was actually my New Year's resolution. As we get older and busier, our friendships can suffer, and many of us are starting to ask, "Where are my people?" This week's episode was inspired by my decision to throw my…
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60: Expect the Unexpected: Responding to Life's Curveballs
The 3 Steps to Overcoming Setbacks What do you do when things don't go as planned? This, unfortunately, seems to be our new normal lately. We invest so much time and energy into planning — from our careers to our families to when we'll retire. The things we can't really plan for? The inevitable...
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59: The Truth About Trust
The BRAVING Checklist: 7 Research-Backed Ways to Assess Trust Today, we're diving deep into the Dare to Lead skill set of trust. As I talk about in the episode, one of the worst things I could ever hear is, "I don't trust you". Ouch, that's a gut punch! It's interesting to consider how few people...
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58: Oversharing vs. True Vulnerability
Today, I'm continuing our conversation about what makes us great leaders by diving into the concept of vulnerability. We often think of vulnerability as a weakness, but it's actually a measure of courage and strength. As a leader, whether at work, with my family, or in my community, I'm required…
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57: Dare to Lead: Why Defining Your Values is a Game-Changer
In this episode, we're diving back into the Dare to Lead framework, focusing on the crucial step of defining our values. Before taking the Dare to Lead workshop myself, I honestly thought knowing my values was just interesting knowledge, like an Enneagram or a personality test. But I quickly...
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56: How to Know If You're a Great Leader
In this episode, we're diving into a topic many leaders struggle with … truly knowing if you're doing a good job. We all have blind spots, and what we think a great leader is — someone who has all the answers and never makes mistakes. These are common myths we tell ourselves. The truth is, poor...
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55: Why Every Human Needs the Dare to Lead Workshop
Life Skills Everyone Thinks They Should Know (But Were Never Taught) In this episode, I dive into the profound impact of the Dare to Lead Certificate Workshop. Honestly, the title is misleading. After facilitating this workshop for hundreds of people, I get piles of feedback sharing that it was…
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54: How Unrealistic Expectations Lead to Burnout
Have you ever felt frustrated because a change in your life is happening more slowly than you think it should? I've worked with countless women, and have gone through it myself, where we're making progress, but our minds tell us it's not enough or not fast enough. Then, we wind up frustrated and...
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53: The Anti-Overwhelm Formula: 3 Steps for an Easier Life
I know how overwhelming and difficult life can seem when we jump back into our routines and schedules after the holidays. We often think of vacations as the only true rest, but what if we could make our everyday lives feel easier? I believe we are often making our own lives harder than they need…
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52: How to Finally Keep Your New Year's Resolutions
I'm checking in with you on your New Year's resolutions. If you're like me, you might have let go of them within a day and a half! This time, my goal is more manageable: to create small, consistent habits. Did you know that almost half of what we do every day is out of habit? This is good news,...
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51: Resetting for 2026: Power, Freedom, and Your New Year's Plan
This is the last Overwhelm Cure podcast episode of 2025, and I certainly feel like we need a reset. 2025 was a year full of highs, but I also felt the stress and the weight of the world. If you did too, I invite you to close that chapter, take what we learned, and plan for 2026. The Chinese…
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50: Stop the Holiday Overwhelm: Your 6-Step Prep Plan
How to Prioritize Health, Declutter Your To-Do List, and Avoid Burnout this Season The busy holiday season is coming up fast. It might already be here for you when you listen to this. This year, I'm doing holidays differently, and I invite you to do the same. I'm challenging you to treat this…
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49: Are People REALLY Doing Their Best?
Finding Empathy and Peace at Holiday Gatherings With the holiday season filled with a stream of office parties, celebrations, and family gatherings, it's inevitable … We're going to run into "that person." You know who it is. The person you constantly find yourself judging or complaining about....
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48: Your 2025 Holiday Survival Guide
Strategies for an Overwhelm-Free Holiday Are you tired of feeling obligated to do all the domestic duties during the holidays, rushing around while everyone else is making memories? In this episode, I address the elephant sitting around the Christmas tree. It's this … the common thread of...
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47: The Courage to Be Disliked
Living BIG: How Boundaries, Integrity, and Generosity Free You from the Fear of Being Disliked Have you heard of the book, The Courage to Be Disliked, by Japanese authors Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga? Full disclosure: I haven't read it yet, but I know many people who have and highly recommend...
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46: Why High-Achievers Wait Too Long to Rest
Burnout: Recognizing the Warning Signs and Red Flags I'm seeing more clients go on leave from work due to stress than ever before. Just five years ago, it was rare for me to see this in my practice. It's made me realize we need to talk about this. We especially need to learn how to recognize when...
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45: Coping with Rejection: Taking Responsibility and Finding Compassion
How to navigate the overwhelming feelings of rejection without self-blame. In this episode, I'm sharing a personal and vulnerable topic: feeling rejected. Rejection is a normal, yet often unconscious, human experience, but when it happens, it can feel horrible. I recently went through an…
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44: The Overwhelm Paradox: Embracing Discomfort for Lasting Calm
Overwhelm Is Your Body's Warning System Did you know that feeling overwhelmed is natural? It's just that we have a certain threshold for experiencing it. And some overwhelm is actually a good thing. In this episode of The Overwhelm Cure, we explore the ins and outs of overwhelm, including its…
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43: Understanding and Overcoming Revenge Bedtime Procrastination
Why sacrificing sleep for "me time" is hurting you more than you think. I just learned this term — revenge bedtime procrastination. Have you heard of this? Revenge bedtime procrastination is when we sacrifice sleep for "me time" because our days are so busy and stressful. It feels good in the...
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42: What's Yours to Fix? Navigating Empathy and Boundaries
Just Because I Can Doesn't Mean I Should Over the past week, I've been connecting with lots of different people — friends, family, clients, leaders. It's truly lovely to share our lives, our successes, our joys, and even our struggles. Something I noticed, though … when someone I care about is...
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41: Rest, Recover, Reset: Overcoming Post-Holiday Overwhelm
Today, I'm sharing my personal journey and strategies you can use right now to help you rest, reset, and recover, especially after a busy time like Canadian Thanksgiving, where we quickly shift focus to the Christmas season. Many of us, myself included, come out of a long weekend feeling…
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40: The Regret Rabbit Hole: Learning from the Past with Self-Compassion
Grow a Little Each Day Today, I'd like to share a recent experience that led me down a bit of a rabbit hole. I was in a mobility class at the gym, and as I rolled a tiny yoga therapy ball under my foot, I had this overwhelming thought: "I wish I had known about this sooner!" This really hit home...
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39: Overcoming the "Do I Deserve This?" Question
The Gender Gap in Self-Worth: A Psychologist's Perspective "Do I deserve this?" "I don't know if I deserve this?" These brought me to the question: "Do men wonder if they deserve their success?" Women, it's not your fault. After speaking with hundreds of women over the past week, I found that…
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38: Breaking Free from Over-Responsibility
The Case for Taking Breaks I'm heading out on a week-long journey, training leaders across the province in resilience and Dare to Lead skills. While I love my work, this trip also means I'll be missing my daughter's first national competition of the season, and a wave of mom-guilt is washing over...
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37: Reciprocity & The Art of Receiving
How well do you accept help? This used to be an Achilles heel for me: Accepting and receiving help without guilt. While I've come a long way in making holiday gatherings special without wearing myself out, I used to approach them with overworking and then eventually resenting the work and being...
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36: Setting Boundaries: The "Let Them" and "Let Me" Approach
Listen, there's no good girl star. So, how about we prioritize our happiness and only let kind people into our lives? This is the topic I'm covering today, as the mantra "let them" became my go-to the other week. You might already be familiar with Mel Robbins' "Let Them" philosophy, which can...
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35: The Importance of Checking In
Today I'm talking about something incredibly simple yet profoundly impactful: checking in. Recently, my oldest daughter moved out for university, and it was a surprisingly difficult experience for me. What truly helped actually surprised me. A friend picked up the phone (like with an actual call)...
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34: Give Your Routines A Fall Refresh
Just because you've always done something doesn't make it a good reason to keep doing it. I'm bringing this idea with me into the changing seasons, as we sadly say goodbye to summer fun and travel, and transition into fall. Whether the kids are going back to school or, in my case, one is heading...
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33: Parenting Stress Tests: Finding Growth in Back-to-School Season
"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" These are the sentiments from many parents as their kids head back to school. But for some, it's not quite the best time of the year. Here in Canada, the weather hasn't been cooperating. Though of course, as Canadians, we know we can get fresh air in…
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32: The Lies We Tell Ourselves: Overcoming Guilt and Overwork
"Is this as good as it gets?" "Is this really all there is? If you've ever asked yourself these questions, you're not alone. And you might also be focused on productivity and getting things done. We often turn to these unintentional strategies when we get overwhelmed in an effort to make our…
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31: Beat Decision Fatigue & Make Better Choices
Boost your decision-making skills by practicing them daily. Whether you're on vacation or at work, you've got decisions to make every day. And when we get stuck in a loop, unsure what action to take, we can end up feeling overwhelmed because we're worried about picking the "wrong" choice. But…
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30: The Psychology of Perceived Emergencies
How do you handle emergencies? I don't mean the 9-1-1 cases. This week, I've had several clients share their "emergency situations" that popped up in their lives. This prompted me to reflect on how we perceive and respond to these moments. I've certainly been in emergencies myself, and there are...
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29: Organize for Calm
Can you relate to this? The panicky sense of overwhelm that comes with deadlines looming or when you're preparing for a trip. As I get ready for an overseas trip and a workshop, I'm feeling the pressure to get everything done before my calendar closes and I unplug and relax for three weeks. This...
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28. 20 Years of Marriage: Lessons Learned for a Thriving Relationship
In this special episode of the Overwhelm Cure Podcast, I'm sharing my reflections after 20 years of marriage. I've gained many valuable lessons and insights over the years and am excited to share them with you. You'll hear about some important topics: choosing a compatible partner, open...
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27: Sleep Habits for Less Overwhelm
How did you sleep last night? In today's episode, I tackle a common struggle women experience — exhaustion and quality sleep. You'll hear some of my own experiences with chasing good sleep, too. When I realized I couldn't keep chasing busyness as a status symbol, I needed to focus on getting a...
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26: My 50th Birthday Reflections: Life, Lessons, and What's Next
🎉 It's my birthday, June 28th, and I'm officially 50! Can you believe it? I was born in 1975, and now I've reached the big 5-0. When I was a kid, I thought 50 was OLD — like Golden Girls old — you know, big glasses, short permed hair, and becoming a grandma. Honestly, though, I feel nowhere…
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25: Design Your Dream Summer of Fun, Joy, & Connection
We just experienced the longest day of the year. In Calgary, where I live, we recently had daylight from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. That's a lot of daylight! And overwhelm can creep in when we try to cram a year's worth of fun and joy into only two months. Summer goes by so fast. So, instead of...
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24: The Heart of Self-Care: Beyond the Bubble Bath
Today, we're diving deep into a topic that's important but one we sometimes misunderstand: self-care. We often think of self-care as bubble baths and massages, and while those things are lovely, they might not give us the lasting feeling we're truly looking for. In fact, I've come to realize that...
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23: Rewire Your Brain with Celebrations
I've been thinking a lot about celebrations. It started with my oldest daughter's high school graduation this week. We had a blast celebrating with dinners and ceremonies, but it got me thinking about why we only focus on the big stuff. Why not celebrate the little victories, too? We often get so...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Transforming Stress into Peace and BalanceIn the past five years, my clients starting short-term disability for stress and burnout have risen from nearly zero to 80%.This is not okay.Over my 20 years as a practicing psychologist, I've seen an alarming rise in stress and burnout, and it's accelerated since 2020. I've come through the other side of burnout. In 2019, I resigned from my job after discovering that traditional solutions to feeling overworked weren't enough. Based on my experience and several years of research in my private practice, I developed The Overwhelm Cure.You'll discover client success stories and research-backed methods to combat this mounting crisis. There's a reason why our current lives aren't making us happy, and each week, you'll discover proven strategies to help you create significant change. Dream big, make great decisions, and manage your emotions. Join me to start building your roadmap to lasting calmness and harmony.
HOSTED BY
Kimberly Knull
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Overwhelm Cure have?
The Overwhelm Cure currently has 151 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Overwhelm Cure about?
Transforming Stress into Peace and BalanceIn the past five years, my clients starting short-term disability for stress and burnout have risen from nearly zero to 80%.This is not okay.Over my 20 years as a practicing psychologist, I've seen an alarming rise in stress and burnout, and it's...
How often does The Overwhelm Cure release new episodes?
The Overwhelm Cure publishes regularly with 151 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Overwhelm Cure?
You can listen to The Overwhelm Cure on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Overwhelm Cure?
The Overwhelm Cure is created and hosted by Kimberly Knull.
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