What if the answer to feeling better isn't doing more...but learning to pause? In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered, Lindsie sits down with Kathy Hadizadeh, former Fortune 500 executive turned intentional pause and self-compassion advocate, for part 2 of the conversation to explore the profound connection between chronic stress, burnout, identity, and healing. After spending 15 years leading global projects for companies like DirecTV, AT&T, and Omnicom, Kathy experienced a life-changing health crisis that forced her to step away from the career that had defined her. What followed was a journey of rebuilding her identity, not around productivity or achievement, but around presence, self-compassion, and learning to listen to her body. Together, Lindsie and Kathy discuss why so many women tie their worth to what they accomplish, how chronic illness can reshape our sense of self, and why nervous system regulation is one of the most overlooked pieces of the healing puzzle. Cathy explains the science behind breath awareness, emotional regulation, and intentional pauses, while offering practical, compassionate tools for navigating stress, hormonal challenges, and life's unexpected setbacks. Whether you're living with PCOS (PMOS), burnout, chronic stress, or simply feeling overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life, this conversation is a powerful reminder that healing doesn't begin by pushing harder, it begins by understanding your body with curiosity, kindness, and compassion.
✔ Your worth is not defined by your productivity.
✔ Healing often begins when we stop fighting our bodies and start listening to them.
✔ Breath awareness is one of the simplest, most evidence-based ways to regulate your nervous system.
✔ Self-compassion isn't giving up—it's creating the safety your body needs to heal.
✔ Lasting change comes from practicing small moments of awareness every day.
If this conversation encouraged you to slow down, breathe a little deeper, and reconnect with your body, please subscribe to PCOS Unfiltered, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could use the reminder that they don't have to keep pushing through.
Remember:
Healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better.
⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.
(0:00) We don't ever think about it. So bringing our attention and awareness to this breath (0:09) and really being with it, really becoming curious. Where is it going? What's happening? (0:18) What do I feel when it enters my body? When it leaves my body? How do I feel different (0:24) when I'm paying attention to it? (0:51) Welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, where we ditch the one-size-fits-all advice.(0:56) I'm Lindsie, nurse turned health coach, author of Healing Beyond the Diagnosis (1:00) and Body Wisdom Guide. Here, I help you understand the messages behind your symptoms. (1:06) Before we get into today's guest, I wanted to share some very exciting news.(1:11) The Healthy Ever After app is now live. It is your one-stop shop for our community, (1:16) podcast resources, recipes, exclusive content. And when you join, you'll instantly receive my (1:22) free summer sanity guide.Check out the link in the show notes to join. (1:26) So today my guest is Cathy Hadizadeh, someone who knows the realities of high pressure work
(1:33) firsthand. After 15 years of leading global projects for Fortune 100 and 500 companies like (1:41) DirecTV, AT&T, and Omnicom, Cathy experienced the impact chronic stress can have on both your mind (1:47) and your body.Today, she helps others find healthier, more sustainable ways to navigate (1:52) life's demands. As always, this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only, (1:59) and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider before (2:03) making changes to your diet, exercise, or treatment plan.Now go ahead, settle in, (2:08) grab your favorite beverage, and let's dive in. Here is my conversation with Kathy Hadizadeh. (2:21) A lot of people tie their identity to, you know, their productivity to all the do-do-do that, (2:30) you know, stuff.So how can someone kind of rebuild that sense of self when a chronic condition, (2:39) you know, changes what they do and changes their life? Like you said, it was, you know, (2:43) like full stop in that moment. Well, I'm the poster child of that. I mean, I had a high level (2:49) executive position and this thing happened and I was in technology and I couldn't even look at (2:55) the screen for two seconds.I mean, the irony of it is just laughable. It's just laughable. I mean, (3:03) what else can you say? But the sense of self at those moments sometimes disappears even.(3:17) Who am I without my title? Who am I without affiliation with the corporate world? Who (3:23) am I without affiliation with, I don't know, whatever it is that is giving meaning to a
(3:27) person's life? So there is a couple of things in there. First of all, regardless of a chronic (3:34) condition, I always work with people to build an identity regardless of the outside world. (3:45) Because nobody knows when the doctor sits across from them and tells them something that they (3:52) don't want to hear.Nobody knows that. And it's a millisecond that changes a person's life (4:04) in many unpredictable ways. So I would say, maybe some of your audience are not dealing (4:18) with something, spend energy, time, invest on building that for yourself, whatever that is, (4:26) outside of your work, your title, who the world thinks you are.But for the people who are in that (4:38) in the arena, it is some work to build that. Some work. And I'm not gonna say it is easy, (4:54) but it is doable.The emphasis on the word doable, which is very different from the sense of (5:04) something is not curable. Right? So it is doable. So allow yourself to first feel the sense of (5:14) possibility.And from that space, it is shifting the perspective from how the world has conditioned (5:25) us. The world conditions us that success is about having and having and having. (5:35) And it is time to focus on what fulfills you.And fulfillment comes from being. And being (5:45) has nothing to do with doing. I know my words might sound lofty.People might stop here and (5:53) just write this thing down so that they can go and sit with it because it's not something that (5:58) will sink in this moment for them. But please, write them down. Maybe your show will have the
(6:05) transcript, Lindsie, hopefully.So you can just get the copy and paste it and sit with this thing (6:12) because this is key. Your being exists. You are existing as a human, as a being, (6:23) regardless of any doings or any other successes that have been established in your mind.(6:31) You're a daughter of somebody. You're the wife of somebody. You're the mother.In this case, (6:38) maybe not mother, but maybe a stepmother. I mean, there's all kinds of possibility. (6:43) You're an auntie to somebody.I mean, you are an entity with heart, soul, a lot to give, (6:51) regardless of the success, the way the society defines it. So it's time to tap into that (7:00) and really, really construct your being from that point. (7:06) Yeah.I had a mentor a couple of years ago that introduced me to that concept, (7:12) be you have, because a lot of us think that we, especially clients that I work with, (7:19) and even when I was a gym owner, and a lot of people would say, well, I have to improve my
(7:25) fitness to do this, or I have to have this before I can do this. And when you flip that around and (7:34) just be the person that does the thing to have whatever it is, I think that just changes the (7:42) whole perspective. Yeah.So I talk a lot about on podcasts I've been on in this show about stress (7:54) and nervous system regulation. How can an intentional pause support the nervous system, (8:02) support emotional regulation, reduce stress, especially for those navigating ongoing health (8:10) challenges? Well, the literature and the medical evidence on this is numerous. So first I want to (8:19) preface by saying that there is science, there is literature on the science, numerous publications (8:28) that support the fact that our breath and connecting with our breath is key for regulating (8:39) our nervous system.Now, there is another piece in there that I want to draw everybody's attention (8:46) because that's less mainstream, which is the subject of attention. So because we are breathing,
(8:55) all of us, 40,000 times a day, but it is just happening. We don't even think about it, (9:04) unless somebody has a respirator issue.We don't ever think about it. So bringing our attention (9:16) and awareness to this breath and really being with it, really becoming curious, (9:26) where is it going? What's happening? What do I feel when it enters my body, when it leaves my body? (9:37) How do I feel different when I'm paying attention to it? These are a lot of things (9:43) that can happen and you will see as you're trying to be with your attention to your breath, (9:54) you will see that your attention leaves you. You think about the lunch, you think about, (10:02) oh yeah, shall I eat that or shall I eat this? And then there is something beautiful that you (10:12) notice that your attention has shifted.And then you bring the attention back to, oh yeah, (10:19) yeah, I was paying attention to the breath and then I went to the lunch. Okay, okay, (10:25) let's bring the attention back to this breath. And then when you do this, you're building a loop, (10:33) a loop that strengthens your attention, that allows you to be with your breath.(10:38) And that is a regulating mechanism for your nervous system and your emotions.
(10:48) And when we have strong emotions, when we are sad, sad is a strong emotion, sadness. I mean, (10:58) we are, I can't tell you, like it seems my symptoms have a correlation with whenever (11:08) something is good is happening.Like whenever we are invited to a party or my daughter is (11:14) coming from college, my symptoms decide to show up. My symptoms show up, my life becomes (11:22) headache, go sit in the dark room, rest. I cannot leave the bed.I cannot do that. I cannot be with (11:29) other humans. And that makes me extremely, extremely sad.So that's a really sad emotion to (11:36) be with. And staying with the breath and attention at that time is very challenging. (11:46) I don't know how many times in my life I have sat with that, but still it is challenging.(11:52) The challenge is not less. Maybe I'm a little bit more skillful in acknowledging the challenge, (12:00) but I'm not skillful enough to say that, oh yeah, I figured it out. No, I haven't figured it out.(12:07) And I have sat with this, I don't know, thousands of times at this point that we were speaking, (12:12) because it happened a lot to me. But even allowing yourself to say, this is a hard moment, (12:20) this is hard on me. I acknowledge I'm sad.This sadness is hard on me. Just even acknowledging
(12:28) that, it will regulate your nervous system. There is science on that.What I'm telling you guys, (12:38) folks, is all science-based. There is nothing that I'm just inventing, even if it feels like (12:45) very mumbo-jumbo-ish, it is not. It is science, proven science that this can help.(12:53) So practice it, practice it, and see how the word suffering that you might be experiencing (13:02) might be a little bit less heavy. I love that. (13:10) I mean, even just starting with just a minute or two a day, (13:14) you know, to start, because we are in such a go, go, go mode all the time.(13:21) You might have to start small, but you just have to start somewhere. (13:29) Another big thing, another big theme of the podcast and everything I do is about (13:34) listening to our bodies. That was even from my personal experience as well.(13:40) And PCOS can bring about a lot of just hormonal shifts, (13:46) you know, ups and downs, fatigue, emotional toll on them. So how can women use (13:56) intentional pause to better listen to their bodies and then respond with care instead of pressure?
(14:05) Oh, there is the understanding of pressure. Like, when my daughter is coming home, (14:25) I want to be with her, but also there's a pressure in me that she's coming to see us, (14:33) right? There is a pressure.I cannot deny that. I mean, she's coming home to see her family. (14:40) So I have a choice to succumb to the fact that she wants to see me.I am suffering. (14:50) My head is hurting. I can force myself to go and sit with her or do whatever is the thing and get (14:58) worse.Or I have a choice to just tell everybody that I'm sorry, mommy's having the headache, (15:09) the famous headache. Mommy needs rest. It's not ideal by any means, Lindsie.It's not ideal by (15:19) any means. But building some tolerance in yourself against the pressure, building some (15:37) way of allowing yourself to be kinder to yourself is really key. Because I can't tell you (15:49) how many people they come to my self-compassion programs, and they are very, very amazing, (15:56) high-achieving people, and they are kind to other people, but they don't know how to be kind to (16:02) themselves.Because kindness to ourselves honestly comes at the bottom of the list. (16:11) We have the capacity to be kind to a lot more other people than ourselves. So I would say
(16:20) you need to build that in you, that how can you be kinder to yourself.And a lot of these things (16:30) they say you need to build them. It's not just reading a book. Reading a book doesn't give you (16:37) that.Reading a book gives you a context the same way that I'm giving you a context right now (16:42) by listening to this podcast. But it will not change your life. The change in your life happens (16:51) when you decide to go and put it into action.And if you're not able to put it into action yourself, (16:58) come talk to people like Lindsay, like me, like people who can help you build it, (17:04) integrate it in your life. Because everybody's nervous system and their reaction to, (17:09) you mean I don't do this? It's very different from each other. (17:16) Yeah.Yeah. So speaking of action, out of everything we've talked about, (17:25) you know, for those women listening that do feel exhausted, overwhelmed, disconnected, (17:32) um, what would you recommend to just be that one small first step to,
(17:39) you know, that they could do today to reconnect to their bodies? (17:45) Well, acknowledge. Acknowledge where you are today.Hold yourself. Give yourself a hug. (17:52) I mean, if you don't give yourself a hug, who else is going to give you a hug? I mean, come on.(17:56) Give yourself a hug. Acknowledge how you're feeling and see even if that lifts a little bit (18:03) pressure off of your heart so that you can start building the space towards that surrender that (18:09) we talked about. It just has to start very small, very, very, very small.And people are (18:19) very used to dramatic gestures because we live in a world that Instagram makes it feel like (18:28) you want to be kind to yourself tomorrow morning. You're going to be like all the smiles and giggles. (18:33) No, no, it's not like that.It's not that fast. It's not. Don't fall for those things.Be (18:43) slow, gentle with yourself. Acknowledge what's going on really, really gently. (18:57) I love that.That's a good way to kind of wrap it up. (19:02) Last question is how can anybody find you and connect with you? (19:09) LinkedIn.
(19:10) Okay.I'll put everything in the show notes too, but you know. (19:14) And my book is coming out, so I will share the link for that. (19:18) Oh, nice.(19:19) And we talk about the pause and what lack of pause does to our existence and what pausing (19:30) enables in our existence in more depth in the book. (19:33) Oh, wow. That's awesome.So exciting. Great. Well, thank you.Thank you so much for sharing (19:42) your story, sharing your knowledge. I think there's a lot of good stuff that our listeners (19:49) can take away from this conversation. So I really appreciate you being here.Thank you. (19:53) Thank you for having me. It was great conversation.Thank you, Lindsie.
(20:00) That was an amazing conversation with Kathy. I love hearing her perspective (20:04) and I'll be sure to link everything in the show notes for you if you'd like to connect with her.(20:09) Now, if you're enjoying the podcast, come join us inside the Healthy Ever After app. (20:14) It's where we continue the conversation with community recipes, resources, and exclusive (20:18) content. Plus you'll get my free summer sanity guide just for joining.The link is in the show (20:23) notes for you. And if you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it (20:29) with someone who needs to hear it because healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from (20:33) understanding better.I'm sending you so much love and I'll see you on the next episode of (20:38) PCOS Unfiltered. Nourish, Heal, Thrive.