
349: Your Joy Is Not Selfish
From I AM HUMAN by Yami Cazorla-Lancaster, DO, MPH, MS, FAAP
March 30, 2026 · 26 min
About this episode
In this episode, Yami Cazorla-Lancaster shares her personal journey through burnout recovery and reframes the belief that choosing joy is selfish.
In this deeply personal episode, I share my journey through burnout recovery, depression, and identity loss — and the powerful mindset transformation that helped me rebuild my confidence and reconnect with joy. For a long time, I believed that the more I sacrificed myself, the better of a person I was. That choosing myself — my desires, my happiness, my joy — would somehow make me selfish. Beneath that belief were powerful thoughts: I should put others first. Good people sacrifice. My needs don’t matter as much. If I choose myself, I’ll hurt others. We explore how cultural, religious, and societal conditioning shapes this belief, why so many caregivers and high-achieving women struggle with guilt around choosing themselves, and how self-sacrifice can actually lead to burnout, resentment, and emotional disconnection. This episode reframes one of the most common and limiting beliefs: that joy is selfish — and instead reveals how your joy may be one of the most powerful ways you contribute to others. If you’ve been over-giving, feeling resentful, disconnected from yourself, or questioning whether it’s okay to prioritize your own happiness, this conversation will help you see that…
People in this episode
Host: Yami Cazorla-Lancaster
Topics covered
- burnout recovery
- depression
- identity loss
- mindset transformation
- self-sacrifice
- joy
- caregivers
Keywords
- burnout
- depression
- self-care
- joy
- mindset
- sacrifice
- happiness
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