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Free workbook for the woman everyone leans on
You Can Set it Down
A strong woman’s guide to rest, boundaries, and faith
You are the one people call when everything falls apart. You show up, you follow through, and you carry what needs carrying. The question was never whether you could handle it. The question is what it is costing you.
This free 15-page workbook is for the woman who is tired in a way sleep does not fix. It is faith-grounded, trauma-informed, and written by a licensed therapist who has lived it.
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For the woman who holds it all together
rest, boundaries, and faith
A mirror, not a report card
5 signs your rest is running on empty
Burnout in high-functioning women rarely looks like falling apart. It looks like holding it together while something quietly runs out. See how many of these feel true right now.
You feel guilty the moment you stop
You finally sit down and a restless voice starts listing everything you should be doing.“I do not have time to rest.”
“Fine” is your default answer
People ask how you are and the honest answer never makes it out of your mouth.“If I say it out loud, it becomes real.”
Your body is keeping the score
Tension headaches, a clenched jaw, shallow breathing, and trouble sleeping even when you are exhausted.“I will deal with it when things slow down.”
Saying no feels like failing someone
You say yes when you mean no, then resent the yes. Boundaries feel like selfishness.“They are counting on me.”
Rest feels unsafe, not restful
A quiet moment arrives and you feel anxious instead of peaceful, like you have to earn your way back to okay.“Something will fall apart if I stop holding it.”
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
What you will walk through
The R.E.S.T. Framework
You do not overcome guilt about rest by trying harder to relax. You overcome it by changing what rest means to you, in your beliefs, your body, your boundaries, and your faith. The workbook walks you through it one letter at a time.
Reclaim the truth about rest
Protects your faith
Trade the lie that rest must be earned for the truth that it was blessed and made holy from the beginning.
Ease your nervous system
Protects your health
Give your body real physical rest, the kind that actually downshifts a stress response, instead of a scroll that leaves you more tired.
Set sacred boundaries
Protects your peace
Learn to say no without apology, so your yes finally means something and your peace stops leaking out the sides.
Trust God with what you set down
Protects your faith
Release the belief that you are the only thing holding it all together, and remember Whose you are when you stop.
15 fillable pages
What is inside the workbook
- The Strong Woman Paradox and the research behind it
- A self check on the 5 marks of the strong woman
- Why rest feels like guilt, and where that belief was learned
- What running on empty actually costs your body
- The 7 types of rest, so you stop refilling the wrong tank
- The 90-second downshift you can use today
- Boundary scripts for the moments you freeze
- A practice of release for what you cannot carry alone
- Your signed Permission Slip to rest
- A 7-day rest plan you can actually keep
Every reflection space is fillable, so you can type directly into it or print it and keep a pen nearby.
Free download
Where should we send it?
Tell us where to send You Can Set It Down and it will be in your inbox in a few minutes.
You are joining the Cheerful Heart email list. We send encouragement and practical tools for rest, and you can unsubscribe any time.
White Plains, NY
Who wrote this
I did not learn to rest from a book. I learned it the hard way.
I am a licensed psychotherapist, and I am also a Black woman who spent years being the strong one while my body and spirit were breaking down. Even with all my training, it took me a long time to admit how much I had been carrying, and how convinced I was that stopping would mean falling apart.
Living with severe endometriosis and medical trauma taught me something I now build my whole practice around: you can set the mantle down and choose to rest. Cheerful Heart offers faith-affirming, trauma-informed therapy for BIPOC women across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Connecticut, and California.
Before you download
Questions women ask us
Is the workbook really free?
Yes. All 15 pages are yours at no cost. Enter your first name and email and it arrives by email a few minutes later.
Do I have to be a Christian to use it?
No. The workbook is faith-affirming and includes Scripture, because that is how many of the women we serve make sense of rest. The nervous system tools, the boundary scripts, and the 7-day plan work whatever your beliefs are.
Is this therapy?
No. It is a psychoeducational workbook, not a substitute for professional mental health treatment. If you would like support from a licensed clinician, you can book a free 15-minute consultation with Cheerful Heart.
How long does it take to work through?
Move through it slowly. Read a section, sit with the reflection questions, try one practice. Most women spend a week or two with it, and the 7-day rest plan at the end is built for exactly that pace.
Can I type into it, or do I have to print it?
Either. Every reflection space is a fillable field, so you can type your answers and save the file, or print it and write by hand.
What happens to my email address?
It joins the Cheerful Heart email list, where we send encouragement and practical rest tools for high-achieving women. Your information is never sold, and you can unsubscribe from any email.
Ready when you are
Rest is not your reward. It is your medicine.
You do not have to be running on empty to be worthy of rest. Start with the workbook, and if you are ready to have someone in your corner while you learn to put the weight down, we are here.
Prefer to talk first? Book a free 15-minute consultation or call (914) 214-7792.
Shakira O’Garro, LMHC-D, LPCC, LPC, NCC | Cheerful Heart Mental Health Counseling PLLC. This workbook is for psychoeducational use only and is not a substitute for professional mental health treatment. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States. “A cheerful heart is good medicine.” Proverbs 17:22