Episode 15

bonus
Published on:

1st Nov 2025

Disaster Diaries, Day 1: Rest, Reflection, and Resetting the Pace

Welcome to Disaster Diaries, a daily audio journal series from The High-Functioning Disaster.

In this first entry, Sacha gets honest about burnout, lost audio files, and the emotional fatigue that comes with trying to hold it all together — while also learning when to simply rest.

She shares how she's balancing job loss, financial strain, and creative frustration with intentional routines like The Miracle Morning, No Spend November, and a new Pilates + Yoga rotation. With humor, humility, and heart, this episode is a raw peek behind the curtain into what it means to rebuild your energy and faith — one day at a time.

If you’ve ever needed permission to rest, this one’s for you.

💡 Mentioned in this episode:

  • The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
  • Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
  • Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
  • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
  • FitOn App for Pilates & Yoga
  • Sacha’s Scentsy favorites and Scentsy Club subscription perks

✨ Support the Show:

If you enjoy this series and want to help keep it going:

🧭 Key Takeaways:

  • Sometimes the best productivity tool is rest.
  • Creative frustration doesn’t mean failure — it’s feedback.
  • Balancing purpose with survival takes both structure and softness.
  • A daily “Miracle Morning” ritual can ground even the toughest days.
  • You can reset your finances, focus, and faith — even in the middle of the mess.

⚠️ Content Note:

This episode includes personal reflections on job loss, financial stress, and emotional burnout. If you’re navigating a tough season, please take care of your own energy while listening. This journal entry leans into honesty, self-compassion, and the small steps that help us reset.

Connect:

✨ Connect with The High-Functioning Disaster:

Keywords

Disaster Diaries, The High Functioning Disaster, Sacha Holder, daily audio journal, burnout recovery, self-reflection, job loss journey, financial stress, personal growth, emotional resilience, Miracle Morning, No Spend November, mindset shift, growth mindset, self-care, rest and reset, productivity with compassion, yoga and Pilates, FitOn app, Dave Ramsey, Hal Elrod, Carol Dweck, Scentsy consultant, podcast journal, authenticity in hard times

👉 Make sure you’re subscribed to The High-Functioning Disaster so you don’t miss this next entry.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for The High-Functioning Disaster

About the Podcast

The High-Functioning Disaster
High-functioning on the outside. Hot mess on the inside.
You’ve got the color-coded calendar, the competent job persona, the “I’m fine!” mask down to an art—and a mental load heavy enough to throw out your back. Meanwhile, life? That's a hot mess express—total chaos with zero chill and a full tank of emotional baggage. And what makes it even worse? Nearly no one’s talking about it.

Welcome to The High-Functioning Disaster, a podcast for people who are doing their best to hold it together while navigating burnout, grief, trauma, anxiety, caretaking duties, family drama, body image issues, and a to-do list that never quits.

Host Sacha Holder isn’t the disaster (neither are you!)—life is. And this show is about making space for that truth and giving ourselves permission to say it out loud. Every week, Sacha explores what it means to be deeply human in a world that keeps demanding more. Sometimes she’s flying solo, sometimes she brings along guests and friends—but the vibe is always real, raw, unfiltered, and grounded in radical self-acceptance and permission to be human.

We talk boundaries. Body image. Mental health. Emotional labor. The moments where everything feels like too much—and the ones where we catch our breath and keep going.

This isn’t a self-help podcast. It’s a self-permission podcast.
Permission to be exhausted.
To not have it together.
To be honest about what’s hard—without needing to package it as a “lesson.”

Because you don’t need fixing.
You need space to fall apart—and still be seen.
Because some of us are just trying to make it through the day.
And here? That’s more than enough.
New episodes every Monday. Come as you are. Seriously.
Support This Show

About your host

Profile picture for Sacha Holder

Sacha Holder

Sacha Holder is a project manager, podcast host, and bariatric patient who’s not here to pretend it’s all perfect. With over a decade of professional experience and a whole lot of lived experience, she creates podcasts that tell the truth about what it means to live, heal, and grow — through chaos, and curveballs, while keeping it together (mostly).

She’s the voice behind Life in the Bari Lane, a bite-sized bariatric podcast for real people navigating post-op life, and The High-Functioning Disaster, a show about showing up even when everything feels like too much. Through humor, honesty, and zero judgment, Sacha builds community through conversation — because no one should have to figure it out alone.