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Every Christmas, I followed a playbook that I'd not experienced in my own childhood. I was determined to make Christmas magical for my kids.

I'd stay up past midnight wrapping presents, taking appropriate bites from Santa's cookies that I'd baked in the previous days, leaving strategic crumbs and then fall into bed.

It started out innocently enough.

You liked the company. She didn't complain. Being with her made you feel complete.

There were the promises of complete satisfaction; that you'd be a hero.

Solenn Giedel was 33 years old, a driven, tireless executive assistant, when one day she found herself barely able to wash her hands.

It was a full moon, which may explain what happened.

We were in Spain, which could also explain it.

Regardless of where it came from, there was no stopping it.

I was terrified.

I'd been clinging to the old, telling myself nothing had changed that much.

But the mirror told me differently.

My mother bowed out of mothering when I was 13.

"It's a two-way street," my mother told me as we warmed ourselves over the floor heater in my Northern California home. "I am not here to just listen to you."

Self-care is not always about yoga, says Attorney Rachel Schromen.

"Sometimes you need to hit something," she says. 

Self-care is not for the faint-of-heart.

I was speeding on the freeway. Late again. Muttering to myself about how slow people were driving.

Normally not a late person, I'd been late to this massage appointment consistently.

"If you want to make a significant impact," I recently read, "burnout is inevitable."

The writer went on to suggest that burnout is not only inevitable, it is a badge of honor.

This is a potentially fatal and false equivalence.

It was a warm May evening in Rome.

The breeze was blowing my hair back. I was laughing.

Only a couple of days earlier, I'd met the man whom I now held onto.

I caught him in the act. 

He was right in front of me, getting situated on a chair, when he did it.

I was jettisoned down the hospital corridor on a gurney.

As though on a magic carpet, masked surgeons flew along side me.

I was pregnant, just 10 days away from the due date.

Something was wrong.

What if you had more time to...

1. Pursue activities you love.

2. Engage in more fulfilling relationships.

3. Prioritize your self-care.

My client was preparing for a second interview.

It was for a leadership position for which he was well-qualified.

He had a beautiful presentation: pretty slides with lots of graphics to highlight his approach to leadership. 

But something was missing.

Do you have a drug dealer in your life?

You know the one.

She shows up dressed to kill.

She's so -- perfect.

I had no idea what was coming.

But I was running a race of my own making. If I kept going, I just might win.

I was a high-achiever. This was my identity through and through.

To say he was pestering me would be an understatement.

He barraged me. Pleaded with me.

It doesn't matter who it was. It doesn't even really matter what it was that he needed.

What matters is that I was hooked.

There's a new kid in town.

It's a superpower called Being Yourself.

This super-hero of business and interpersonal relationships is all the rage.

"Burnout is linked with physical health impediments such as muscle pain, headache, insomnia, respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal disorders," according to a 2018 study by the National Institutes of Health's.

Freedom is knowing that no matter what decision you make, you will still be loved.

This is the birthplace of courage.