⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode contains real, raw conversations about mental health, depression, and suicidal thoughts. If you are in crisis or need support, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone.

Episode 5: Emotionally Unstable But Make It Cute: Rejection, Burnout & My Spiral Era

This is a life update. I didn’t just lose a job. I lost the version of myself I built to survive.

When I got laid off, it wasn’t just my income that disappeared. It was my confidence. My identity. My mental health. My sense of control. Every job title, every career win, every “you’re killing it” LinkedIn comment I had built my worth around suddenly felt meaningless. And what was left? The quiet collapse nobody talks about. The mental health spiral you hide behind curated Instagram posts. The job search burnout that leaves you staring at rejection emails and ghosted interviews, while every well-meaning “you got this” starts to feel like pressure you can’t hold.

This isn’t my glow-up story. This is the messy, unfiltered middle. The part where you refresh your inbox 20 times a day, wondering if your résumé is cursed. The part where you stop reaching out because you don’t want to feel like a burden. The shame loop that eats at your self-worth while you keep applying to jobs that never reply.

In this episode of Clocked In, Checked Out, I get honest about post-layoff identity loss, job search anxiety, professional ghosting, LinkedIn comparison spirals, burnout, and the mental health cost of pretending you’re fine. And maybe — just maybe — why it’s okay to crack. Because if you never break open, how can anything new grow?

If you’ve been laid off, burned out from job hunting, stuck in career limbo, or whispered “what am I doing with my life” while doomscrolling at 2 AM… this episode is for you.

🍸 Cocktail of the Week: Simply Scotch
Because sometimes you don’t need extra ingredients — just something strong enough to sit with the weight.

Ingredients:
2 oz Scotch
Large ice cube (or whatever you’ve got)

Directions:
Pour. Sip slowly. Let the heaviness breathe.

Whether you’re barely holding it together or just need some emotional validation, I’m right there with you.

Follow for more chaos, layoff recovery stories, mental health honesty, career rejection therapy, and cocktail-fueled breakdowns:

Instagram: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod
TikTok: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod
Have your own layoff spiral, job search meltdown, or “I swear I’m fine” moment?
Slide into my DMs or email: ClockedInCheckedOutPod@gmail.com.
We just might read it on air (fake names, obviously).

She didn’t just refresh her résumé, she rebuilt her whole damn mindset.

When Stephanie was unexpectedly let go, she didn’t just face a career setback, she faced a full-on identity crisis. The kind where you question everything from your skills to your social circle to whether your dog is judging you for crying into your matcha. But instead of staying stuck, she took a deep breath (and a lot of walks with Kingsston) and started picking up the pieces, one boundary, one rejection, and one painfully optimistic LinkedIn post at a time.

In this episode of Clocked In, Checked Out, we dive into the raw, hilarious, and all-too-relatable reality of getting laid off and learning how to trust again: your gut, your coworkers, and your worth. Stephanie gets real about the silent heartbreak of ghosting (both job and dating), the stress of feeling like the common denominator, and the surprising clarity that comes from simply sitting in the discomfort. We talk about toxic team dynamics, trusting the wrong people, and how starting over in Customer Success gave her the chance to actually feel seen.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever stared at a rejection email like it personally attacked their spirit. If you’ve ever felt like everyone else is thriving while you’re surviving on vibes, venting, and emotional support beverages, you’re in good company.

🍸 Mocktail of the Week: The Cranberry Closure
Our first-ever mocktail and she’s tart, sparkly, and emotionally available.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz cranberry juice

• 1.5 oz orange juice

• 1 Tbsp honey

• 1 oz coconut water

• 0.5 oz lime juice

• Splash of raspberry lime sparkling water

Directions:Shake everything but the sparkling water with ice. Strain into a champagne flute, top it off, garnish with a lime wheel or frozen cranberries, and sip like you're reclaiming your peace.

Whether you're grieving a job, rebuilding your self-worth, or just wondering how many ghosted applications it takes to become a full-time barista, this one's for you.

Follow for more chaos, career pivots, and cocktail therapy:
Instagram: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod
TikTok: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod

Have your own layoff meltdown, LinkedIn spiral, or “I thought we were friends” work story?
Slide into our DMs or email us at ClockedInCheckedOutPod@gmail.com.
We just might read it on air (with fake names, obviously).

She didn’t just bounce back, she powered up and now she’s lifting more than just spirits.

When Pam was laid off from her tech sales job, she didn’t crumble. She picked up a barbell and started building a new life from the ground up. What started as burnout became strength training. What began with spreadsheets ended with squats. And what could’ve been a breakdown? Became the biggest glow-up yet.

In this episode of Clocked In, Checked Out, we dive into what it really looks like to shift from chasing metrics to chasing meaning. Pam’s story is raw, hilarious, vulnerable, and wildly inspiring. From layoffs to lunges, from rejection to reinvention, this is about rewriting your story one rep at a time.

Pam is smart, driven, and magnetic, the kind of go-getter who makes you believe that starting over doesn’t mean you’re behind. It means you’re just getting started.

We talk about what it really feels like to be laid off after 10 years in tech, and how disorienting it is to lose not just a job but the identity that came with it. Pam opens up about the mental toll of chasing quotas, promotions, validation and how fitness became her emotional anchor when everything else felt unstable. She shares what it was like to walk away from toxic hustle culture in favor of real, human impact, and how the gym didn’t just help her heal, it became her therapy and her stage.

We explore the surprising lessons she brought from sales into her fitness career, and why job hunting and deadlifting might be emotional cousins. Pam reflects on how women in fitness are redefining success on their own terms, the difference between tweaking your résumé and reclaiming your self-worth, and why rest, recovery, and reroutes aren’t setbacks, they’re critical to growth.

🍸 Cocktail of the Week: The Level-Up-tini
Frizzy, citrusy and strong enough to carry you through a career pivot and a deadlift PR.

• 1.5 oz vodka

• 0.5 oz Cointreau

• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice

• 0.5–1 oz fresh orange juice (adjust to taste)

• 2 dashes orange bitters

• Top with blood orange seltzer
  

Serve in a coupe or rocks glass. Garnish with an orange slice and sip while mentally rewriting your career goals.

Whether you're navigating job loss, career change, or just figuring out your next chapter — this episode is your reminder that you don’t have to go back to who you were to become who you’re meant to be.

Follow for more chaos, career pivots, and cocktails:

Instagram: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod
TikTok: @ClockedInCheckedOutPod

Got a wild layoff story, gym therapy moment, or quarter-life crisis you need to unload?

Email ClockedInCheckedOutPod@gmail.com or slide into the DMs — and maybe we’ll spiral together on air.