In Episode THREE of In The Genes, Kayla and Christie return to a question that seems simple on the surface… but turns out to be much deeper than we think:

What’s the difference between joy and happiness?

We often use these words interchangeably when we talk about well-being, purpose, and fulfillment. But research, especially in fields studying burnout in helping professions, shows that joy and happiness actually come from very different psychological systems.

And confusing the two might be costing us more than we realize.

In this episode, Kayla and Christie unpack the paradox many mission-driven people experience:

feeling deeply called to their work while also feeling completely exhausted.

Drawing from Christie’s doctoral research and Kayla’s real-world observations, they explore:

• Why people can lose happiness but still retain joy
• How meaning and purpose can coexist with exhaustion
• Why burnout in helping professions is often misunderstood
• How leaders can better recognize whether their teams have lost happiness (external overload) or joy (internal misalignment)

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And remember: keep what’s worth passing down.

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