“Why High-Achieving Women Are Silently Burning Out And What Strong Leaders Must Do to Protect Their Mental Health.”
A Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner’s perspective on leadership, resilience, and why protecting mental wellness is essential for sustainable success.
For generations, women have been celebrated for their strength. We are called resilient, capable, nurturing, and dependable. We are often the ones others turn to in moments of uncertainty, crisis, and emotional need. We lead families, organizations, and communities. We carry visions. We carry responsibility. We carry others.
But rarely do we talk about what it costs to carry so much.
As a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, founder of Sorhaya Writes and Sorhaya Health Writing Services LLC, and mental health advocate, I have had the privilege of sitting with countless women in their most honest moments.
Women who are accomplished.
Women who are respected.
Women who are leading.
And yet, beneath their leadership, many are quietly exhausted.
Not because they are weak.
But because they have been strong for too long without space to be human.
This is the conversation we must begin having more openly. Because women’s mental health is not separate from leadership—it is central to it.
The Invisible Expectations Placed on Women
From an early age, many women are conditioned to be caregivers.
To anticipate needs.
To keep the peace.
To perform well.
To endure.
To adapt.
As women grow into leadership roles, these expectations do not disappear—they expand.
Women leaders are often expected to be:
- Emotionally available but not emotional
- Strong but not intimidating
- Confident yet agreeable
- Productive without appearing overwhelmed
This constant balancing act creates an invisible psychological load.
Many women become experts at functioning while depleted.
They continue showing up.
They continue performing.
They continue leading.
Even when, internally, they feel stretched beyond capacity.
In clinical practice, I often remind women of something they have rarely been given permission to consider:
Functioning is not the same as thriving.
You can be highly capable and still deeply tired.
You can be successful and still silently struggling.
You can be strong and still need support.
These truths do not weaken leadership. They humanize it.
Leadership Does Not Make You Immune to Mental Health Struggles
One of the most harmful myths surrounding leadership is the belief that strong leaders are unaffected by emotional strain.
In reality, leadership often increases emotional responsibility.
Women in leadership frequently carry:
- Decision fatigue
- Emotional labor
- Compassion fatigue
- Chronic stress
- Internalized pressure to maintain composure
Over time, this can contribute to anxiety, burnout, depression, and emotional exhaustion.
Not because women are incapable.
But because they are carrying sustained pressure without sustainable recovery.
In healthcare, I experienced this personally:
Long hours.
High emotional demand.
The responsibility of caring for others while quietly neglecting my own emotional needs.
There is a moment many women reach when they realize they have been surviving instead of living.
And that realization can be both painful and transformative.
Because awareness is where healing begins.
Resilience Is Not About Enduring Everything
Resilience is often misunderstood.
It is frequently defined as the ability to push through hardship.
But true resilience is not endless endurance.
True resilience is the ability to respond to stress without losing yourself in the process.
It is the ability to pause.
To recognize your limits.
To honor your humanity.
To recover.
Resilience includes rest.
Resilience includes boundaries.
Resilience includes saying no.
Resilience includes asking for help.
Women have been taught to view rest as something earned after exhaustion.
But rest is not a reward.
It is a requirement.
Without rest, resilience eventually collapses into burnout.
Without boundaries, strength eventually becomes depletion.
Without emotional support, leadership becomes isolation.
Protecting your mental health is not stepping away from leadership.
It is sustaining it.
The Cost of Silence
Many women suffer in silence because they believe they are supposed to have it all together.
They fear that acknowledging emotional strain will be perceived as weakness.
They worry it will diminish their credibility.
They believe they must protect the image of being capable at all times.
So they continue performing wellness instead of experiencing it.
But silence has consequences.
Unspoken stress accumulates.
Unacknowledged emotional pain deepens.
Unaddressed burnout intensifies.
Mental health rarely deteriorates suddenly.
It erodes quietly.
Often behind professional success.
Often behind smiles.
Often behind achievement.
This is why creating space for honest conversations about women’s mental health is essential—not just in private, but in leadership.
Because when women leaders speak openly about mental health, they create permission for others to do the same.
They transform culture.
They redefine strength.
Redefining What Strong Leadership Looks Like
Strong leadership is not emotional suppression.
Strong leadership is emotional awareness.
Strong leadership includes:
- Self-awareness
- Emotional regulation
- Boundaries
- Rest
- Reflection
- Support
The most effective leaders are not those who ignore their humanity.
They are those who honor it.
When women protect their mental health, they lead with greater clarity.
They make more grounded decisions.
They experience less emotional reactivity.
They sustain their energy.
They lead from wholeness rather than depletion.
Mental wellness is not separate from leadership effectiveness.
It is foundational to it.
Healing Is Not a Luxury. It Is Leadership.
My work through Sorhaya Writes was born from a deep recognition of how many women were silently struggling while continuing to serve others.
Women who needed space.
Women who needed language.
Women who needed permission to pause.
Mental health support is not about fixing broken women.
It is about supporting strong women who have carried too much for too long.
Healing is not a sign that something is wrong with you.
Healing is a sign that you are honoring yourself.
Healing allows women to:
- Reconnect with their identity beyond their roles
- Restore emotional energy
- Strengthen confidence
- Lead with authenticity
- Experience life beyond survival
When women heal, they do not become weaker.
They become more fully themselves.
You Are Allowed to Be Both Strong and Supported
One of the most important truths I share with women is this:
You do not have to choose between being strong and being supported.
You are allowed to be both.
You are allowed to be a leader and still have moments of uncertainty.
You are allowed to care for others and still care for yourself.
You are allowed to succeed and still rest.
You are allowed to be resilient and still heal.
Strength does not mean you never struggle.
Strength means you allow yourself to recover.
Strength means you refuse to abandon yourself in the process of achieving everything else.
The Future of Women’s Leadership Must Include Mental Wellness
We cannot continue to celebrate women’s achievements while ignoring the emotional cost required to sustain them.
Women’s mental health must become part of leadership conversations.
Not as an afterthought.
But as a priority.
Because leadership is not just about performance.
It is about sustainability.
It is about longevity.
It is about wholeness.
When women are mentally well, they do not just survive leadership.
They transform it.
They lead with clarity.
They lead with presence.
They lead with authenticity.
They lead with strength rooted not in exhaustion, but in balance.
A Final Word to Every Woman Carrying More Than She Shows
If you are tired, it does not mean you are failing.
If you need rest, it does not mean you are weak.
If you need support, it does not mean you are incapable.
It means you are human.
Your mental health matters.
Not just because of who you help.
But because of who you are.
You deserve the same care you so freely give to others.
You deserve space to breathe.
You deserve space to heal.
And most importantly, you deserve to lead a life that feels as whole on the inside as it appears on the outside.
With compassion and conviction,
Sorhaya Zamor, DNP(c), PMHNP
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner | Founder, Sorhaya Writes and Sorhaya Health Writing Services LLC | Mental Health Advocate | Author | Speaker | Editor
Author Bio
Sorhaya Zamor, DNP(c), PMHNP, is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, mental health advocate, author, speaker, editor, and founder of Sorhaya Writes and Sorhaya Health Writing Services LLC. With a clinical background in psychiatric care and a passion for storytelling, she uses her voice to educate, inspire, and advocate for women’s mental wellness, leadership resilience, and emotional sustainability.
Sorhaya is the author of multiple mental health books and journals and a published writer featured in national and regional publications. Her work focuses on breaking the stigma surrounding mental health, particularly among high-achieving women and healthcare professionals. Through her writing, speaking, and clinical work, she empowers women to protect their mental health while pursuing meaningful leadership and purpose.
Her mission is simple but urgent: to remind women that they do not have to sacrifice their well-being to be strong.
