Why Can’t I Relax? When Rest, Fun & Doing Nothing Make You Feel Guilty

Found at 17 | Abandonment Wounds & Relationship Patterns · Sep 1, 2026 · 11m · transcript

Why can’t you relax without feeling guilty? Why does sitting down, doing nothing, or doing something just for fun somehow feel like you should be doing something more productive?

In this episode of Found at 17, we’re talking about why so many of us stopped playing somewhere along the way—and why it may have less to do with getting older and more to do with what we learned growing up.

I share the story of the little girl who could spend hours building an entire Barbie city in her attic, and how that playful, hopelessly romantic part of me slowly became something I learned to put away.

We’ll…