What if rest isn't the only thing high-achieving women need permission to experience?
Throughout the Intentional Queen Journey®, we've talked about moving from burnout to joy, finding our identity beyond what we accomplish, and most recently, breaking the belief that rest must be earned.
But what comes after we finally give ourselves permission to pause?
We give ourselves permission to live.
In Episode 123 of the Intentional Queen Podcast, Jineen introduces Permission to Play™ and explores why joy, pleasure, curiosity, and fun deserve a place in our lives before everything on the to-do list is finished.
After experiencing burnout, taking a sabbatical, and intentionally rebuilding her own relationship with achievement, Jineen shares an important realization: rest shouldn't simply help us recover enough to become productive again. We can build meaningful lives, pursue ambitious goals, and still enjoy ourselves along the way.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- The difference between Permission to Pause™ and Permission to Play™
- Why high-achievers can unintentionally turn even wellness into another performance
- How waiting until "after" the next accomplishment can keep joy perpetually out of reach
- Why play doesn't diminish your ambition or purpose
- How choosing yourself can include pleasure, fun, beauty, and experiences with no productive outcome
- A simple Permission-to-Play practice you can begin this week
Permission to Pause™ says:
I don't have to wait until I break down before I stop.
Permission to Play™ says:
I don't have to wait until everything is finished before I experience joy.
You don't have to choose between building the life you want and enjoying the life you already have.
Sometimes choosing yourself means setting the boundary. Sometimes it means resting. Sometimes it means executing.
And sometimes choosing yourself means simply letting yourself have a good time.
Continue Your Intentional Queen Journey®
- Subscribe to the Intentional Queen Podcast and join the email community for new episodes, intentional reflections, and resources to help you choose yourself and create greater harmony at intentionalqueenjourney.com
- Read I Choose Me: The Intentional Guide to Never Losing Yourself Again
If this episode reminded you that choosing yourself is about more than setting boundaries or recovering from burnout, continue the journey with Jineen's book, I Choose Me. Explore what it means to stop abandoning yourself, reconnect with who you are, and intentionally create a life that has room for you in it. Available on Amazon or buyichoosemebook.com - Listen Next: Episode 122 | Permission to Pause: Break the Belief That Rest Must Be Earned
Before Permission to Play™ comes Permission to Pause™. Continue the conversation about releasing the belief that rest must be earned and learning to pause before your body or life forces you to. - From the Archives: Episode 113 | From Burnout to Joy: How to Come from a Place of Rest and Find Your True Identity
Go deeper into the relationship between rest, identity, burnout, and joy in this listener-favorite conversation.
Intentional Queen Reflection
Where is the joy in the life you're working so hard to build?
About Jineen
Jineen R. Huff is an award-winning nurse leader, resilience strategist, transformational speaker, author, and founder of the Intentional Queen Journey®.
Through her work, she helps nurse leaders, healthcare professionals, and high-achieving women recognize the hidden patterns of burnout and self-neglect so they can lead, work, and live with greater harmony.
Pause when you need to. Play because you're allowed to.
