Dr. Sola Togun-Butler

Thank you, Black Leaders Worldwide, for recognizing me as a 2026 Women to Watch Award recipient. I'm excited to continue leading with purpose, serving others, and making a meaningful impact.

Say it again until it stops feeling selfish.

You are allowed to want things for yourself. Not after everything is taken care of. Not when life finally settles down. Now. As you are.

A career that excites you. Time that belongs to no one but you. Rest that doesn't have to be earned. Joy that doesn't need a reason.

You got so good at wanting last. But your wants matter too. Always remember that!

Burnout is not just exhaustion. It quietly changes who you are.

The things you loved doing just for yourself. The ease of knowing what you want. The ability to say no without guilt. The feeling of being at home in your own life.

Most women don't even notice it happening until one day they look up and feel like a stranger to themselves.

If that's you right now, swipe through. And know that noticing it is already the first step back.

Save this and share it with a woman who needs to read it today. When you're ready to stop figuring it out alone, the Virtual Burnout Support Group is open.

It takes the things you used to love doing just for yourself.

The way you used to show up in a room. The opinions you used to have. The dreams you quietly stopped mentioning. The version of you that existed before survival took over.

And the scary part is you don't always notice it happening. You just wake up one day feeling like a stranger to yourself and wonder when that started.
If you know this feeling, you are not alone and you are not broken. That is what this month is about.

Drop a 🤍 if this resonated.

Strength is not the problem. You have plenty of it.

The problem is that strength became the only option. No one to hand things to. No space to fall apart even a little. Just you, holding it all, for longer than anyone should have to.

This is your reminder that being held is not weakness. Asking for support is not giving up. Letting a community of women carry some of this with you is not a last resort. It is actually how healing works.

You have held so much for so long. You are allowed to put some of it down.
If you need to read this today, save it.

Welcome to July.

Last month we spent a lot of time talking about burnout; naming it, understanding it, letting yourself admit that you're exhausted.

This month we go a little deeper.
Who were you before you got so tired? What did you love before survival took over? What parts of yourself have gone quiet that you miss?

That is what July is about. Not a dramatic comeback. Not having it all figured out. Just the slow, honest work of finding your way back to yourself.

And before we go any further, I want to name something important. July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

If you are a woman who has been told your whole life to be strong, to keep going, to hold it together for everyone else, this month is especially for you. The weight you carry is real. The layers are real. And you deserve space to put some of it down too.

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Honored and grateful to be featured on the cover of the Mental Health, Trauma & Emotional Wellbeing Special Edition 2026 by Wellbeing Observer.
In this special edition, I discuss the importance of belonging and its profound impact on mental health and emotional well-being. My mission has always been to advocate for accessible, culturally responsive mental health care that ensures every individual feels seen, heard, valued, and supported.
Thank you to Wellbeing Observer for this opportunity to contribute to such an important conversation. Together, we can continue breaking barriers and expanding access to quality mental health care for all.
👉🏾Link: https://wellbeingobserver.com/mental-health-trauma-emotional-wellbeing-special-edition-2026/

Let me tell you about 'high-functioning burnout'.

You are still going to work. Still replying to messages. Still showing up for everyone who needs you.

From the outside, everything looks fine.
But inside something has gone very quiet. You are getting things done but you are not really there. You cannot remember the last time you felt genuinely excited about something. You go through the motions and at the end of the day you just feel... flat.

That is high-functioning burnout. And it is one of the sneakiest kinds because it does not look the way burnout is supposed to look. So you keep telling yourself you are not burnt out enough to need help. That other people have it worse. That you should be grateful. That you just need to push through a little longer.

But your body already knows the truth. It has been trying to tell you for a while now.
You do not have to hit rock bottom to ask for support. You do not have to be falling apart on the outside for what you are feeling on the inside to be real and valid.

If this is you, the Virtual Burnout Support Group was built for exactly this. Come as you are.

"I'm just tired."
"I'll rest when this is done."
"I don't want to be a burden."

Sound familiar? These are the things women say instead of "I'm burning out and I don't know how to stop."

If any of these sounded a little too close to home, that's not a coincidence. That's burnout, talking quietly the way it usually does.

You don't have to keep pushing through it alone. The Virtual Burnout Support Group is for exactly this moment. Link in bio.

Most people think recovering from burnout means doing less.

Cutting back. Saying no to everything. Disappearing into rest until you feel ready again.

But rest alone doesn't fix it. Plenty of women take time off, sleep more, slow down completely, and still come back feeling just as empty. Because the missing piece was never just rest. It was support.

Burnout happens in isolation, carrying too much for too long with no one really seeing it. So it makes sense that healing doesn't happen in isolation either. It happens in connection. Being heard. Being understood by people who actually get it.

That's the part most people miss, and it's exactly why I built the Virtual Burnout Support Group. Not another thing to fix on your own. A space to finally not have to.