70: Nikki Foord on Life After… Three Burnouts: Endometriosis, medical dismissal, and redesigning your business

<p>What happens when the identity you built your whole career around no longer has anywhere to live?</p><p><br></p><p>Nikki Foord is a mentor, speaker, and podcast host who spent two decades pushing herself to 110%; first in elite sport and clinical work, then in business; before three separate burnouts forced her to rebuild from the ground up.</p><p><br></p><p>Along the way she battled years of dismissed and misdiagnosed endometriosis, was told she&#39;d never have children, and eventually walked away from the very business she&#39;d built her identity around, before retraining as a psychotherapist to help others avoid the same collapse.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, we chat about:</p><ul><li>Nikki&#39;s early career working with professional athletes at Geelong Football Club and why she said yes to everything in her 20s</li><li>Her first burnout at 23, being flown home from Bali, and the doctor who told her &quot;if you don&#39;t change your lifestyle, you&#39;ll never work again&quot;</li><li>Living with undiagnosed, dismissed endometriosis for over a decade; including a doctor who told her it was &quot;all in her head&quot;</li><li>Being told years later that &quot;women like her&quot; who wanted a career and a family were the problem, and that she was already past her fertility window</li><li>Having a hysterectomy, the infertility diagnosis, and going through it in the middle of COVID</li><li>Her third and biggest burnout; losing her business and income overnight and hitting a genuinely dark place</li><li>Naming the &quot;identity lag effect&quot;; why we keep operating from outdated versions of ourselves</li><li>What it actually looks like to build a business and a life that protects your health instead of costing you it</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Nikki&#39;s story is a reminder that burnout isn&#39;t a lack of resilience; it&#39;s often the body&#39;s last resort when everything else has been ignored.</p><p><br></p><p>This episode is for anyone who has ever been told &quot;it&#39;s all in your head,&quot; anyone quietly running on empty and calling it ambition, and anyone waiting for permission to build their life differently.</p><p><br></p><p>You don&#39;t have to burn everything to the ground before you&#39;re allowed to change it.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Connect with Nikki:</strong></p><ul><li>Website: <a href="https://www.nikkifoord.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.nikkifoord.com.au/</a></li><li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nikki__foord/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.instagram.com/nikki__foord/</a></li><li>Podcast: <a href="https://www.nikkifoord.com.au/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.nikkifoord.com.au/podcast</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Connect with Cat:</strong></p><ul><li>Join my mailing list: ⁠<a href="https://catlouisedunn.myflodesk.com/mailing-list">https://catlouisedunn.myflodesk.com/mailing-list⁠</a></li><li>Instagram: ⁠<a href="https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterileftpodcast/">https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterileftpodcast/⁠</a></li><li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/catlouisedunn/">https://www.instagram.com/catlouisedunn/</a></li><li>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/catlouisedunn/">https://www.facebook.com/catlouisedunn</a></li><li>Linkedin: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/catlouisedunn/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/catlouisedunn</a></li><li>Website: <a href="https://catlouisedunn.com/">https://catlouisedunn.com</a></li><li>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-after-i-left/id1815891092">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-after-i-left/id1815891092</a></li><li>YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@catlouisedunn">https://www.youtube.com/@catlouisedunn</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Got a topic idea or would love to share your story on the podcast? Connect with me on Instagram <a href="https:/