Reflection Prompts

When My Reflection Prompts Made Burnout Worse

Let me be direct: I failed spectacularly with my "Reflection Prompts for Recovering Perfectionists" bundle.

I’d spent months crafting them. "What’s one thing you didn’t need to do today?" "Where did you feel tension in your body?" I’d tested them on my own exhausted self (post-twin bedtime chaos) and they felt… useful. I thought: This is the missing piece for my clients.

I launched it as a premium add-on.

The backlash was immediate. One client emailed: "I’m drowning. Your prompts feel like another thing I’m failing at." Another left a 1-star review: "Too much thinking when I just need to sleep."

Here’s what I didn’t see: Burnout isn’t a lack of reflection—it’s a lack of capacity. My prompts assumed people had the bandwidth to sit with discomfort. They didn’t. They were drowning in the aftermath of their own collapse. My "helpful" tool felt like a demand. A new layer of guilt.

The aftermath? I deleted the bundle. I sat with the shame. I’d been so focused on my solution (because I’d used these prompts to heal) that I’d forgotten: healing isn’t a checklist. It’s not about adding more to the plate. It’s about removing the weight.

I learned this the hard way so you don’t have to: Don’t offer reflection to someone who’s still learning to breathe. If they’re in the thick of burnout, they don’t need prompts—they need permission to stop. To not reflect. To just… exist.

My "solution" wasn’t a solution. It was a mirror showing them how far they’d fallen. And that’s not what they needed.

Now? I ask: "What’s one thing you can stop doing today?" Not "reflect." Just stop.

— Tracy Carlson, drawing the line

— Tracy Carlson, saying the thing since 2018