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Bex Spiller is the founder of The Anti-Burnout Club and creator of the Right to Recover campaign — joins Ela to talk burnout, workplace culture, and why recovery should be a right, not a luxury.

We covered Bex's Burnout Story

Bex built a marketing agency from her bedroom at 21, then hit a wall physically and mentally while studying for an MBA in addition to long working hours. A GP eventually named what she'd been feeling: burnout — a word she'd never heard before. That crisis, plus losing her father to stress-related heart disease, led her to start a small blog in 2020 that grew into The Anti-Burnout Club, now used by tens of thousands.

We discussed where "Push Yourself" Beliefs Come From

Bex traces her own drive back to childhood — poverty, losing her mum young, and feeling she had to prove herself. We discussed how hustle culture, school attendance awards, and even old Protestant beliefs about idleness being sinful have taught us that rest equals laziness — when most "laziness" is really overwhelm or unaddressed struggle.

We explained why Individual Wellness Fixes Aren't Enough

Yoga and meditation apps, whilst certainly great resources, put the burden of recovery on the individual and ignore root causes (e.g. understaffing and poor management in organisations, overcommitment and complex life circumstance in private lives). Bex now focuses on organisations — training managers to have honest conversations about stress, rather than offering wellness perks as a substitute for real change.

Bex explained the Right to Recover Campaign

Employees take 9–11 official sick days a year on average, but "presenteeism" (working while unwell) costs roughly 44 lost productive days per person annually! Bex argues that giving people genuine time to recover is both more humane and better for business — and discusses how mistrust and guilt make it harder for people to ask for rest.

We talked about the physical toll of burnout

Chronic stress has real physiological effects — weakened immunity, stress-related heart disease, allostatic load. Bex reflects on a funeral where a woman's career barely came up compared to how she lived and loved. The takeaway: systemic change is needed, but individuals can start by knowing their own capacity, having honest conversations, and treating recovery as normal, not a failure.

About Bex Spiller

Bex Spiller is an award-winning burnout speaker, author and changemaker. She’s the founder of The Anti-Burnout Club and heads up the Right to Recover campaign, which aims to reduce the number of people working when unwell.

Connect with Bex: The Anti Burnout Club (free app available)

https://bexspeaks.com/

Support the show

Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine. If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here.

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In this episode, we explore a simple but powerful idea: when we resist uncomfortable feelings, they tend to grow stronger, not weaker.

This pattern shows up everywhere: for example anxiety on a plane, dental fear, body image, ageing, and cravings.

Key threads we unpack:

• Resistance breeds shame. When we don't admit we're struggling — because we feel we shouldn't be — that gap between who we are and who we think we should be becomes a breeding ground for shame.
• Naming a fear diffuses it. How advocating for ourselves and how being seen rather than being dismissed or "fixed" can make all the difference.
• Eating disorder recovery parallels. How treating a difficult part of yourself as an enemy that needs defeating can backfire — versus understanding it as a protective part trying to help.
• Body image and the "messy middle." You don't have to love your body to accept it. Holding two truths at once — "I feel uncomfortable with this" and "I'm not going back to the diet train" — is 'healthier' than forced positivity.
• Cravings work the same way. Resisting a food craving by having a substitute often just prolongs the craving — sometimes having the thing you actually want is the kinder, more effective option.
• Permission to not be the "fun, positive" person all the time. Whether it's dreading a hot holiday, not wanting a birthday party, or feeling slower on a run than you were years ago — we both land on the idea that accepting discomfort (rather than fighting it or forcing yourself into positivity) is what actually creates ease.

The takeaway: acceptance doesn't mean loving everything about how you feel or look — it means making room for the truth of where you are, without judgment, so the feeling doesn't have to fight so hard to be heard.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this - is there something you resist, that just doesn't get easier or go away? Is there something in your life where acceptance would bring about ease and peace?

Support the show

Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine. If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here.

We appreciate you

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, we're joined by the wonderful Caroline Toshack for a thought provoking conversation about coming home to our bodies after an eating disorder or indeed years of chronic dieting.

Caroline shares how her career evolved from personal training, sports coaching and competitive endurance sport into Pilates, yoga and body-led therapeutic work. We talk about her experience of living with an eating disorder, the pressure and identity that can become wrapped up in athletic performance, and the shift that came when movement became less about punishment and more about connection.

We explore recovery, body image, neurodivergence, slowing down, and what it can look like to return to movement with curiosity rather than striving. This conversation is about permission: permission to change, permission to let go of old identities, move for joy, and choose the path that feels sustainable.

Key takeaways

• Movement can be a way of coming home to our bodies.
• Pilates and slower, more embodied forms of movement can help us tune into breath, sensation and self-trust.
• Athletic identity can be difficult to release when performance, achievement and self-worth have always been interconnected.
• We can return to sport and exercise in a healthier way by loosening/ softening our attachment to pace, goals and external validation.
• Neurodivergence can shape our relationship with movement and routine.
• Goals do not always need to be rigid; sometimes it is enough to have something to explore, rather than something to prove.
• Letting go of who you thought you had to be can make room for who you actually are
• Recovery isn’t about doing everything perfectly. It’s about building trust with yourself, one choice at a time.
• There is an important need for more informed conversations and training around movement and eating-disorder recovery.

Support the show

Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine. If you'd like exclusive access to our supporter-only channel click here.

We appreciate you