Burnout isn’t just about feeling tired—it’s a full-body crisis that too many of us ignore until it’s too late. While stress and exhaustion are often dismissed as part of a busy life, the reality is that long-term burnout and adrenal fatigue can have serious consequences for our physical and mental health.

Functional medicine practitioner Filipa Bellette, co-founder of Chris and Filipa Functional Medicine, has worked with thousands of clients facing the same struggles. What makes her approach different? Instead of treating burnout as just an energy problem, she looks at the whole picture—our hormones, gut health, nervous system, and the deep-seated beliefs that keep us stuck in overdrive.

What is Body Burnout, Really?

Burnout goes beyond mental fatigue. It’s when the body’s systems—particularly the adrenals, gut, and nervous system—become so depleted that they struggle to function. Some of the most common signs include:

• Waking up exhausted, even after a full night’s sleep.
• Mid
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2024 was a paradoxical year, both deeply challenging and incredibly transformative.

It reminded me that there cannot be light without darkness.

As a business owner, I’ve come to realize that stewarding a business is deeply intertwined with how we steward ourselves. The vision we have for our own lives inevitably shapes the way we show up in our work.

Over the past year, I’ve learned some invaluable lessons about business, leadership, and success—lessons that have not only shifted how I run my business but also how I show up in life.

Here are 7 key lessons I’m taking forward:

1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better

I used to believe that growing my business meant expanding my team, taking on more projects, and constantly chasing “bigger.” But this year, I realized that success isn’t about size—it’s about alignment. With a small, highly skilled team, we achieved incredible results, worked with dream clients, and created more spaciousness in our lives. Growth doesn’t always mean more; s...

For a long time, I was ignoring the signs.

The exhaustion, the brain fog, the emotional overwhelm—I chalked it up to the demands of motherhood, business, and life. I pushed through, ignoring the signals my body was desperately sending.

Until I couldn’t anymore.

At the end of 2023, my health hit a wall. I was juggling an 18-month-old, two older children, a business, and the never-ending mental load that so many women carry. But something felt off. No matter how much I slept, I woke up exhausted. Bone achingly exhausted. My emotions felt raw, my mind clouded, and despite trying everything, nothing seemed to help.

Doctors ran tests. Everything came back “normal.”

But I knew this wasn’t normal.

The Reality of Burnout

It wasn’t until a friend introduced me to Chris & Filly and their Ending Body Burnout program that I finally got answers. My body wasn’t just tired—it was depleted. Tests revealed adrenal fatigue, SIBO, low serotonin, low dopamine and reduced liver function. My ne...