my burnout story

Burnout doesn’t always arrive with flashing lights and a dramatic collapse. Sometimes it builds quietly, when you push through too much year after year, until one day your body and mind simply refuse to keep going. Looking back, that’s exactly what happened to me — though at the time, I didn’t have the language for it. I just knew I was tired. Deeply tired.

My career started in my twenties on the State Farm catastrophe team, handling homeowners’ claims. It was intense work — long days, constant travel, and a crash course in home construction so I could write accurate damage estimates. Oddly enough, that part came naturally. Something about understanding how homes were built just clicked. But the day to day was exhausting.

When I wasn’t traveling, I poured myself into designing the adorable house I had bought. For fun, I’d scroll through furniture stores and mentally catalog what each one carried. I didn’t know it then, but I was building the foundation for a future career.

Eventually, I sold the house and enrolled in design school in Chicago. I worked for high‑end designers and remodelers, collecting some wild stories and valuable experience — but also realizing that world wasn’t a good fit for me. I never identified with massive budgets or the idea that beautiful design was only for a select few. I kept thinking back to my catastrophe‑team days, seeing how many people just needed a little bit of help. HGTV was booming, the internet was still new, and I saw a gap: everyday people wanted design guidance, but they didn’t need (or want) a full‑service designer.

So I created a simple, affordable model: You send me photos and measurements. I design the room using retail sources. You put it together.

It worked — sort of. I only charged $350 for a full room, which wasn’t nearly enough. At one point I was juggling three part‑time jobs just to stay afloat. I was exhausted, creatively drained, and eventually broke. I thought that was my first real taste of burnout. But the truth is, burnout had been building long before that.

I went into design school thinking it would be a relief from climbing roofs 12 hours a day, six days a week, living in hotels for 10 months out of the year — which I’d done for four straight years. But it wasn’t a relief – it was just a different kind of hard.

So by the time I returned to property claims, I was already down right depleted. Then came early‑pandemic COVID, when no one knew anything about it. Factor in being 42 years old at the time — prime for perimenopause — and my body simply hit a wall. It felt like everything broke at once. Three years later, I was fighting panic attacks daily, barely able to eat or sleep.

Only later did I learn how profoundly stress depletes minerals, disrupts hormones, and affects every system in the body. And that all stressors play a part, even the good ones. So all that exercise that I was cramming into my schedule because I thought it was helping my mental health? Not helping. Especially not when I wasn’t eating enough to properly fuel the workouts in the first place.

I was literally running on empty. 

Unfortunately, historically for me, life has had to really slap me in the face to get my attention. This time I decided to use the opportunity to slow down and really look at all the stresses I was inflicting on my body. And it wasn’t pretty. I quickly realized that I needed to make a big change to the biggest stressor: my job. The rest of my career needed to look differently.

I really wanted to help everyday people love their space. But I needed to not wake up to an alarm anymore (3 years later and it still sends me into panic). And I needed a flexible schedule – including an afternoon most weeks to take a hammock break. Mostly, I needed to redefine what success looked like: I’m not looking to build the biggest business, just a sustainable one. And I know from experience that creativity is hard to come by when you’re constantly in survival mode. So if I’m going to find any kind of success as a designer, it’s going to have to work this way.

Could it actually be that taking a break is literally good for business?!

I know not everyone can pivot and just decide to scale back their life. But everyone can – and should – have at a space that supports them. Feels like a hug. Even if you need to start with one corner of one room. Much like the importance of minerals when it comes to stress, our physical environment has a profound effect on how we feel day to day. Let it be your friend, not your enemy.

How does our physical environment impact how we feel and function?

There’s plenty of science about how color affects mood, but one of the most important things I learned in design school was much simpler: Form follows function. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a chair is if it’s uncomfortable or oversized and you bump into it every time you walk by. It doesn’t matter how pretty your office desk is if it’s too small to work efficiently. It doesn’t matter how many storage bins you buy if none of them actually solve the problem.

When your home doesn’t function well, stress accumulates in tiny, constant ways:

• Papers pile up because you don’t have the right storage.
• The guest room becomes overflow storage, so you stop inviting people over.
• You avoid certain rooms because they feel chaotic or unfinished.

Little frustrations compound until home becomes a drag instead of a lift. But the good news? The reverse is also true. When your home supports your life, everything feels a little easier.

How can your space support you better?

Start with function. Always. Make the space work for you first — then make it pretty. Take a home office, for example (I’m reworking mine right now, so this is top of mind):

• Your desk should probably be bigger than you think.
• Invest in a comfortable chair. Your back will thank you.
• Use closed storage for paperwork and anything visual that stresses you out.
• Use bookshelves for actual books or for neatly organized containers — not endless décor. Too many objects create visual noise.
• Choose colors, artwork, and styles that YOU love, not what’s trending on social media. Trends don’t live in your house — you do.

What’s one simple shift anyone can make?

Paint. It’s the most affordable, high‑impact change you can make with the least effort. The hardest part is choosing the right color. A few insider tips:

• If you’re choosing a “color,” go grayer than you think.
• Always look at samples against a white background (printer paper works great), not your current wall color.
• Compare samples next to trim so you can see undertones clearly.
• Get a large paper sample or paint swatches directly on the wall.

How do my design services help without the overwhelm?

No more guessing whether something will fit, match, or work together. No more endless scrolling trying to find the right pieces within your budget. I’ve already done the research — let me help.

Most of our furnishing packages are done virtually, so first you’ll send me photos and measurements of the space. Or if you’re in Madison or within 25 miles, I can come take those photos and measurements for you. We’ll talk about your style and how the room needs to function for your daily life. Then I’ll create a design using retail stores and give you a clickable catalog to piece it together in your own timeline.

Similarly, we offer Kitchen + Bathroom Designs for folks looking at remodeling. Having both personal and professional experience getting remodel bids, I know that process can be challenging to get actual apples-to-apples bids. But if you go into that process with a design in hand? Much easier to see how they compare.

Burnout taught me many things, but one lesson stands out: Your home should support you, not drain you.

You deserve a space that helps you breathe, reset, and feel like yourself again — even on the busiest days. And if you need help creating that space, I’m here.

• Pre‑designed accessory and décor packages in The Collection
• Virtual consultations in 30‑minute increments
• Gift cards in $25 increments (great for baby showers — nursery designs make amazing gifts)