349: Your Joy Is Not Selfish

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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