Checking In with Dr. Therese Mascardo
The Burnout Cure High Achievers Are Finding in the Analog World w/ Salomé Peralta You’ve probably tried the rest. The better sleep schedule. The morning routine. Maybe even the therapy. And they’ve helped. But there’s something this particular kind of burnout is asking for that none of those things quite reach — and it has everything to do with what you stopped doing somewhere between childhood and being a serious adult. This week I sat down with Salomé Peralta, who spent over 12 years at Google in Dublin and watched burnout quietly take hold — not because anyone was forcing her into it, but because the environment was so exciting and the work so consuming that it just became everything. When life gave her forced pauses, she kept noticing the same thing: the moment she slowed down and used her hands, something came back. Some version of herself she hadn’t seen in a long time. That realization is what became The Manual Break — and the first edition sold out. This conversation is one of my favorites I’ve had on this show. In This Episode How Salomé got here A Portuguese government program randomly placed her in Dublin for six months. A friend at Google had her over for lunch. She stayed for 12 years. That’s the kind of serendipity that changes everything — including who you become and what you eventually decide to build. What burnout actually looked like inside a company doing everything “right” Google had wellbeing conversations in one-on-ones. It cared. And yet the culture was so performance-driven, so genuinely exciting, that it was easy to lose yourself in it — not because anyone told you to, but because you wanted to. Salomé talks honestly about how it felt to realize she’d drifted away from herself without noticing. The forced pauses that changed everything Every time Salomé stepped away from work — for maternity leave, or when her husband Tiago was laid off — she noticed the same thing: she could breathe again. She could remember what she actually liked. She could see what she’d been missing. She didn’t want to wait for another forced pause to find her way back. What The Manual Break actually is Not a yoga class. Not a silent meditation weekend. Their words: “Not a retreat, but it may feel like one.” It’s a creative weekend — two days in the forest, away from screens — where burned-out professionals work alongside Portuguese artists and craftspeople learning hands-on skills. No performance expected. No end result required. Just your hands doing something real. The first edition, held at Retiro do Bosque about an hour from Lisbon, sold out. Why working with your hands does something screens never can Salomé’s take: it connects you to the child you once were. Before achievement became your identity. Before creativity had to justify itself. There’s something about making something tangible — especially in industries where the end line never really comes — that creates a kind of rest that rest alone can’t touch. On nostalgia as a signal We’re all feeling it — the pull toward analog cameras, board games, reading in the park. Salomé’s read on it: nostalgia shows up when we’re losing too much going the other direction. It’s not just sentiment. It’s your nervous system telling you something. “I’m not creative” Salomé has a reframe for this. Stop calling it creativity. Call it exploration. You’re not there to make great art. You’re there to try something, with your hands, without anyone grading you. That’s it. And for people whose entire professional life is tied to performance, that permission alone can be the breakthrough. What Salomé hopes people walk away with Not just a nice weekend. A felt sense that manual mode is available to them — that it’s not out of reach, that it doesn’t require a special experience to access. The bingo card she sent guests home with said it best: cook something slowly, read before bed, write something by hand, sketch for a few minutes. These things are not gone. They’re just waiting. What’s next for The Manual Break A collaboration with Portuguese grandmas who make art through a social hub for 60+ women. And Salomé and Dr. Therese are exploring bringing The Manual Break to the Checking In community this fall in Portugal. Details to come. Key Quotes “You just easily lose yourself. It’s so easy to forget about taking care of other things because it easily becomes all you want to achieve.” — Salomé Peralta “Every time I was forced to stop, I realized there are so many other things I’m not currently integrating in my life that I really like.” — Salomé Peralta “It connects you to the child you once were more easily.” — Salomé Peralta “If you feel that nostalgia, it’s probably because we’re losing too much while going through the other end of things.” — Salomé Peralta “It’s not about being creative. It’s about being more explorative.” — Salomé Peralta “It’s really easy to completely forget about play and playful things in your life.” — Salomé Peralta “I remembered a part of myself I forgot.” — Dr. Therese Mascardo “It would be successful for me if people would leave feeling that it’s easier to go back to manual mode in their normal lives.” — Salomé Peralta If You Loved This Episode 💌 Share it with someone who’s been running on empty and doesn’t have words for what they need. 📝 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It takes two minutes and makes a real difference in helping this show reach more people who need it. 🔔 And if you haven’t subscribed yet, do that now so you don’t miss the rest of Season 2. About Checking In: This podcast is for high-achievers, perfectionists, and eldest daughters who look like they have it all together while they struggle with burnout. Think of Dr. Therese like a big sister with a doctorate who’s been there too and knows what actually helps. No confusing academic jargon or pretending she has all the answers. Just real conversations about building a life you don’t need to escape from. New episodes every Thursday. About Salomé Peralta Salomé Peralta spent over 12 years at Google in Dublin before co-founding The Manual Break with her husband Tiago — a hands-on creative experience that brings burned-out professionals back to themselves through art and Portuguese craft. Follow The Manual Break on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/themanualbreak/] Connect with Salomé on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/salomeperalta/] Resources Mentioned • The Manual Break on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/themanualbreak/] • The first edition sold out — join the waiting list for the next edition [https://www.themanualbreak.com/#text-129fd9b2] • Interested in joining Dr. Therese for a future Manual Break in Portugal? Click here. [https://forms.gle/Se2uyE3tV3vS6Ra88] About Dr. Therese Dr. Therese Mascardo is a Filipina-American psychologist and author of Love The Journey. For over a decade, she’s been in therapy rooms noticing patterns most people never get to see: what happens right before someone breaks through to genuine joy, what keeps people stuck, what actually helps when everything feels heavy. Her mission is to help people love their lives so they never want to leave them. 💙 Sponsored by TherapyNotes This episode is made possible by TherapyNotes — the all-in-one practice management software built for therapists who are tired of spending Sunday nights catching up on notes. Scheduling, billing, telehealth, and HIPAA-compliant documentation all in one place. Their TherapyFuel AI drafts progress notes in seconds so you can close your laptop and actually be present in the rest of your life. Try it free for 2 months with code DRTHERESE This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit exploringtherapy.substack.com [https://exploringtherapy.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]
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