What happens when you're so good at keeping everything together… that you forget to take care of yourself?

In this episode of The Total Health in Midlife Podcast, I’m joined by Master Certified Coach and people-pleasing expert Sara Fisk to explore a surprising culprit behind so many women’s exhaustion, resentment, and stalled health goals: high-functioning codependency.

We’re not talking about the kind of codependency tied to addiction. This is the polished, over-performing version that shows up in moms, partners, daughters, and leaders—the women who hold everything and everyone together… and quietly fall apart in the process.

Sara shares how people-pleasing, perfectionism, and control patterns drain your energy, chip away at your physical and emotional health, and keep you stuck in a cycle of doing for others while ignoring your own needs.

If you've ever found yourself running ragged fixing other people’s problems, this episode will help you come back to yourself—with honesty, compassion, and a few practical tools to help you start saying yes to you again.

Sara Bybee Fisk is a Master Certified Coach and Instructor who teaches women how to tame the rampant people-pleasing, perfectionism, and codependency that is causing them so much frustration and resentment.

She is an anxious optimist and born-again feminist who listens to more books than she sits down to read. She loves a good hike, good dark chocolate, and good conversations.

Her big dreams include learning to sail and to sing and dance like JLo and helping thousands of women create the big, juicy lives they want to be living. She is a wife and mom of 5 and she enjoys those roles most of the time.

• What high-functioning codependency looks like (and why most women don’t recognize it in themselves)

• How trying to “help” others can actually be a way to avoid our own discomfort

• Why over-controlling others can sabotage your health, relationships, and peace of mind—and how to shift the pattern

• Too Much by Terri Cole

• The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

• Sara Fisk’s Free Guide: How to Have a Difficult Conversation

• The Ex Good Girl Podcast with Sara Fisk

• Sara’s Stop People Pleasing Group Program

• Total Health in Midlife Podcast Episode 160: Ex-Good Girl with Sara Fisk

• Total Health in Midlife Podcast Episode 161: People Pleasing & Self-Care

• Total Health in Midlife Podcast Episode 127: Best Supporting Actress In Your Life

Get full show notes and more information here: https://elizabethsherman.com/243