Jane Chen On Collapse, Extreme Self-Help, and Healing Yourself

The Anxious Achiever

Morra Aarons-Mele

Business, Careers, Health & Fitness, Management, Mental Health

4.7 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2026

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Work becomes the place where we pour everything we can’t face elsewhere. In this episode, I’m joined by Jane Chen, founder of Embrace, to talk about burnout, identity, and what happens when your worth becomes tied to what you produce. Jane shares how building a world-changing company nearly broke her, why healing can become another form of overachievement, and how childhood trauma shapes your drive to succeed. Tune in to rethink ambition, resilience, and what it really means to choose yourself. Check out our sponsors: Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree Shopify - Sign up for a $1 per month trial, just go to http://shopify.com/anxiousachiever Cozy Earth - Give your home the luxury it deserves. Head to http://cozyearth.com and use code ACHIEVER for up to 20% off. Express VPN - Secure your online data today. Visit http://expressvpn.com/achiever and find out how you can get up to four extra months. Talkiatry - Head to http://talkiaitry.com/achiever and complete the short assessment to get matched with an in network psychiatrist in just a few minutes. Working Genius - Take the working genius assessment today and get 20% off with code ACHIEVER at working http://genius.com In this Episode, You Will Learn 00:00 What happens when your dream company starts destroying you? 03:00 Why “self-work” can become a form of escapism. 06:15 How childhood trauma fuels the need to succeed. 10:45 Why so many changemakers are driven by unresolved pain. 14:30 Why you never give yourself credit for your own resilience. 20:15 How Embrace was born in a Stanford classroom. 27:00 The country where 40% of the world’s premature babies are born. 34:30 When identity collapses with your company. 38:00 Hitting rock bottom after 10 years of overwork. 49:00 How does trauma live in your body? 52:00 How achievement becomes a way to earn love. 56:30 Why you can’t think your way out of pain. 1:00:45 What Internal Family Systems teaches about your “parts.” 1:05:00 Why achievement becomes a survival strategy. 1:13:45 Why your worth can’t live outside you. Resources + Links Get your copy of Jane’s book, Like a Wave We Break HERE Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever Watch the podcast on YouTube Find more resources on our website morraam.com Follow Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam Follow Jane on Instagram @janemarie.chen

Transcript

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0:00.0	I don't know if you've seen the new movie version of Frankenstein.
0:07.6	It's really amazing.
0:09.7	And the story, the parable at this point of Frankenstein was really resonant when I was
0:15.9	talking to my guest today, Jane Chen.
0:19.1	Jane built Embrace, which was a company, a social enterprise. So it helped society
0:25.4	while being a for-profit business that created a really first of its kind, low-cost infant warmer
0:32.4	that has helped save many vulnerable premature babies, especially in places where the power goes out
0:41.1	and traditional incubators might fail. And for you anxious achievers, Jane's story has all the
0:48.6	external markers, Stanford, Harvard, Davos, global stages, big stars, big funding, even fame.
0:59.1	And yet, Jane realized I've created Embrace and it's killing me.
1:06.0	And the business actually failed.
1:08.6	So today, Jane takes us on her journey. She takes us literally on the journey, and she has
1:15.5	done some wild things in the name of healing from psilocybin, retreats, eating frog poison,
1:23.6	to traveling all over the world to enacting her own family drama. Her book is like a wave
1:31.0	we break, a memoir of falling apart and finding myself. And that's what she did. I'm Maura
1:39.0	Aaron's Mealy, and this is the anxious achiever, the show that looks at the intersection of mental health and leadership and work and asks, how can we do it all better?
1:50.5	This is a conversation about ambition and trauma, about when purpose can actually be the thing that's going to take us down a trap.
2:01.5	And about chasing healing at extreme levels before realizing no one else can give you what
2:09.3	you need except yourself.
2:12.4	My Conversation with Jane Chin.
2:17.9	So Jane, your book reads like a thriller.
2:21.9	Like I, you know, I was always waiting to see what happened next.
	...

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