Every summer, Jen heads off on her annual Me Camp, a month dedicated to stepping away from the noise to reconnect with herself. But this year, Me Camp isn't a tradition or a luxury. It's an act of survival.

In the wake of major surgery, while carrying the weight of parenting adult children, navigating family crises, supporting loved ones through illness, and trying to hold together a life once built for two people, Jen found herself physically, emotionally, and mentally depleted. She almost didn't go.

In this deeply personal solo episode, Jen shares what finally convinced her to leave anyway, why asking for help has become one of the hardest and holiest lessons of this season, and what she's learning about the difference between escaping your life and stepping away long enough to return to it whole.

If you're the dependable one, the fixer, the person everyone calls in a crisis, this conversation is a gentle but urgent invitation. Loosen your grip. Let people show up for you. Remember that rest isn't a reward for finishing the work. Sometimes it's the very thing that makes it possible to keep going.

In this episode, Jen explores:

• What happens when life outpaces your capacity
• Why asking for help feels so uncomfortable, especially for capable people
• The hidden cost of believing you're indispensable
• How codependency can disguise itself as responsibility
• Why retreat can be an act of courage, not avoidance
• The simple invitation to "choose the lake chair anyway"

Whether you're recovering from something visible or carrying burdens no one else can see, this episode offers permission to stop white-knuckling your way through life, receive the care that's available to you, and trust that stepping away can be the very thing that helps you step back in with renewed strength.

Thought-Provoking Quotes:
"I have managed and been the troubleshooter, the point person, the heavy lifter, the anchor, the decider of so much in the last few months by myself. And some of it is absolutely consequential. Huge, huge things. And all of it just outpaced me." – Jen Hatmaker

"I think those of us who struggle to ask for help have some brutal combination of pride (the bad kind) and a false sense of self-sufficiency, and this is somehow wrapped up in how people think of us. Do they think of me as needy? Do they think of me as irresponsible?" – Jen Hatmaker

"I'm gonna treat rest like it's sacred, as opposed to the go, go, go adventure energy I normally have." – Jen Hatmaker

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Sacred Yes: Reclaiming Joy in Midlife Starts Here - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/sacred-yes-reclaiming-joy-in-midlife-starts-here/
• Jen's first cookbook, Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew - https://amzn.to/3R1P0ps
• Jen's Substack - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/
• The Awake Collective - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/p/the-awake-collective

Connect with Jen!
Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ | Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker | Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ | Facebook -

Description: Three years ago, Katherine May gave us a language for something many of us experience but rarely know how to name: wintering. Those seasons of life when everything slows down. When grief arrives. When burnout catches up with us. When illness, loss, caregiving, parenting challenges, or unexpected change force us to stop and reconsider how we're living. As part of our Sacred Yes: Reclaiming Joy in Midlife series, we're revisiting this unforgettable conversation because Katherine's wisdom feels even more relevant today than it did when it first aired. Together, Jen and Katherine explore what it means to stop treating ourselves like machines and start honoring our humanity. They discuss the value of retreat, the necessity of rest, and why healing cannot be rushed. Katherine challenges the cultural pressure to push through difficult seasons and instead invites us to trust that growth is still happening beneath the surface—even when life appears dormant. Nestled in this conversation is a gentle reminder that joy isn't always found by adding more. Sometimes it emerges when we create space. Space for solitude. Space for beauty. Space to notice what's growing quietly within us. If you've been feeling weary, stretched thin, or ready to step off the hamster wheel for a moment, this episode offers a different path forward—one marked by grace, patience, and the courage to rest before collapse forces it upon us. In this very gentle and generous conversation, you’ll hear:

• Why every life includes seasons of "wintering"
• The difference between retreat and isolation
• How beauty sustains us during difficult seasons
• Why sadness isn't something to fix
• Practical ways to create restorative space in everyday life
• What it means to trust the season you're in Sometimes the most sacred yes isn't a leap forward. It's permission to pause. Thought-provoking Quotes:
• "You can trust this space, and you can trust your sadness. It's telling you something. You don't have to run away from it. You can be sad. You can handle being sad. What you can't handle is pretending not to be sad and being sad anyway." — Katherine May
• "There is a process of healing, and it's also a process of change. Those things will take a certain amount of time whatever you do. You are not doing anything wrong if you're still suffering a week later, a month later, or six months later." — Katherine May
• "If you can lean into that space and accept it rather than fight it, you will spare yourself a lot of pain." — Katherine May
• "People who've gone through major winters always seem to look back and say, 'I wouldn't have not gone through it if it meant I couldn't be who I am now.'" — Katherine May
• "Look for beauty in that space. Reacquaint yourself with your gut feeling that leads you toward what you find beautiful and awe-inspiring." — Katherine May Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
• [Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times](https://katherine-may.co.uk/books/wintering/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) by Katherine May - https://katherine-may.co.uk/books/wintering/
• [Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age](https://katherine-may.co.uk/books/enchantment/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) by Katherine May - https://katherine-may.co.uk/books/enchantment/
• [The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch](

Description:

In this deeply personal solo episode, Jen takes us to the place where this journey began: Me Camp. What started as a spontaneous trip to coastal Maine during one of the hardest seasons of her life became an annual practice of restoration, adventure, healing, and joy. Six summers later, as she arrives in a tiny lakeside town in Ontario for another month of Me Camp, she's reflecting on the small word that changed everything: yes.

This month, we'll be exploring what it means to reclaim joy, embrace rest, honor our desires, and create lives that are not just productive—but deeply satisfying.

It's time to discover your own Sacred Yes.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

• “MeCamp changed my life. I’m not being demonstrative or exaggerating. It's where the ‘Sacred Yes’ got its first footing.” – Jen Hatmaker
• “I keep my heart open to whatever's possible. Who could I meet? What could I experience? Where could I go? What can I see? And when people are like, hey, do you wanna…? The answer's yes. And so that sacred yes got sort of imprinted on my heart.” – Jen Hatmaker
• “I feel the weight of irresponsible yeses that should have been no's.” – Jen Hatmaker

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• MeCamp 2026 Announcement -
• Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/4xzBo5n
• Jen’s Substack - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/
• Join the Awake Collective - https://jenhatmaker.substack.com/p/the-awake-collective
• Jen Hatmaker Book Club - https://shop.jenhatmaker.com/collections/book-club

Connect with Jen!
Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker
Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker
Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.