Episode 12: The Joy Dip™: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Rise From It

“You haven’t done enough.”

“You’re not enough.”

“Your story doesn’t measure up.”

Here’s the thing — I coach women through this exact spiral every day. But that doesn’t make me immune. Because when you’re wired for achievement, it’s all too easy to let someone else’s highlight reel eclipse the truth of your own story.

In that moment, my joy wasn’t gone… but it had gone quiet.

Muffled under layers of comparison and self-doubt.

That’s when I realized I was in what I now call The Joy Dip™.

In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly what The Joy Dip is, why it happens (even to the most accomplished leaders), and the tools you can use to pull yourself out of it — without chasing another gold star.

You’ll learn:

• What The Joy Dip™ really is (and why it’s not burnout or failure).
• Why high-achievers are especially vulnerable to it.
• 5 tools to help you navigate the dip without spiraling into “not-enoughness.”
• How to turn this temporary low into fuel for your next breakthrough.

Whether you’re a CEO, a team leader, or a high-performing professional, this episode will help you stop comparing, start remembering, and reconnect with the truth of your own story.

Key Moments:

• 00:50 – The workshop that left me questioning 25 years of achievements.
• 02:28 – What The Joy Dip™ is — and why it’s different from burnout.
• 04:15 – The brain science behind why we compare and question our worth.
• 05:40 – Why leaders often lose sight of their own wins.
• 07:10 – Tool #1: Naming the dip to break the spiral.
• 08:00 – Tool #2: Taking inventory of the truth with pen and paper.
• 09:35 – Tool #3: Calling in support when you can’t see your own value.
• 10:50 – Tool #4: Serving or shifting to get out of your own head.
• 11:40 – Tool #5: Remembering it’s a dip, not a defect — and why dips often come before breakthroughs.
• 13:20 – Reflection prompts to reconnect with your joy.

Quote to Rembember

“Joy isn’t the reward you get after you’ve achieved everything on your list. Joy is the fuel that powers you to lead, to rise, and to inspire others.” – Lori Pine

Reflection Prompts

• Where have I been spiraling into “not enough” thinking?
• What’s the truth of my story that I need to write down today?
• Who can I reach out to — not to fix me, but to witness me?
• What’s one action I can take right now to reconnect with my joy?

Transcript

Hello, this is Lori Pine, the joy, CEO, and I'm so glad to be here with you today. Today it is you and me, and we are talking about the joy dip, what it is, why it happens, and how to get yourself out of it. You know, this week I spent two full days in a room of brilliance. It was vibrational, the energy was magnetic and I walked out feeling smaller than when I walked in. 

Let me tell you what happened. So I'm at this incredible workshop. It is world-class training, and the people that are in there are world-class people, they are CEOs, they are founders, they are researchers. They are people who are literally changing the world in their own way. And the energy should have been intoxicating. 

And it was for about five minutes, but then everything I knew not to do happened. The self-doubt, the comparison and the louder the voice in my head got the smaller and smaller I shrank. Yikes, what have I actually accomplished? Their stories are so much more impressive than mine. And the shame spiral started. 

The compare and despair started and I found myself questioning everything I've done over the past 25 years. As though it didn't amount to anything compared to them. And here's the thing, my joy wasn't gone. It just disappeared for a bit. It was lost in this swirl of comparison and that familiar ache of not enough. 

And that's when I realized. I was experiencing what I would now call the joy dip. So what is the joy dip? It's that moment when you forget your own enoughness. Your joy doesn't disappear. It just gets quiet. It becomes almost a whisper until you think you can't hear it. Muffled. Pushed down. Pushed aside by comparison, self-doubt, disconnection from who you actually are, the real you, the vibrant, successful, accomplished you. 

I see this everywhere in leadership. I have coached so many people through this. It happens when you hit LinkedIn and suddenly you feel behind. It happens when you walk into a boardroom and feel small despite your track record. You reach a milestone you've worked for and you've worked towards it for months and months and months, and then you feel nothing. 

You're empty instead of proud. Does this sound familiar? I think it might. Here's what I want you to understand. None of this is failure. It isn't weakness. It's your very human brain doing what it's wired to do. Scan for threats, measure for safety, compare for survival. Your brain wants to make sure that you are protected, and yet you want to make sure that you are okay and that you fit in, and that you pack the gear and you've done enough and you have what it takes. 

That's what I want too. So after 25 years of running business, what I've learned is joy doesn't leave you. It just dips. And there is a difference, a significant difference. So let's talk about what happens even when you're crushing it. We are trained from day one to achieve, produce. Deliver the results. We know the KPIs. 

We know all of the initiatives that we need to reach and the metrics that it's going to take to get there. But nobody really teaches us how to pause, how to reconnect with ourselves. When we were little, taking a timeout was a punishment. In our adult world, taking a timeout would actually serve us. 

Because we are so busy climbing and doing and being that we forget to look around and see how far we come, see what we've accomplished, see the stock of our hard earned labor. When you're always on as a leader, and believe me, we are always on, you lose access to your own story, your own wins, your own enoughness. 

I ran a billion dollar business for a Fortune 500 company. I built teams. I launched products. I navigated crises. But in that workshop last week, none of it felt real, none of it. And I couldn't see any of what I had done. All I could see wa was what I had yet to accomplish. So the joy dip is not burnout. 

Though it can lead there if you're not careful. It's that moment when your mind forgets what your soul already knows, and it's that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. So how do you navigate this? What do you do without a complete meltdown and spiral? First number one. You name it. The moment you can say, I am in a joy dip, you interrupt the shame spiral. 

You get curious instead of critical, you become the observer of your experience instead of a victim of it. Critical difference. Number two, you inventory the truth. You get a pen, you write it down, you take stock of all of the things you've done, how far you've come, everything you've actually accomplished, not what you think you should do, should have done, but what you have actually done, the business you've built, the people you've developed, the ways in which you've made a difference, the challenges you've overcome, the ways you've pivoted. 

The lives who have been impacted by you. I had to do this exercise myself. When I got back from this two day workshop, I had to get a pen and a paper and say, what have I accomplished? And in just the last six months, I've accomplished incredible things. I spoke at Harvard, I've spoken at five of the top CPG companies in the world. 

I've taken a large stage and delivered a keynote about the power of joy and the stories we tell ourselves. I've taken on 13 new clients, I've delivered two trainings for a major Fortune 500 company, but in that room that day, I couldn't remember any of that. I would've told you I'm not good at what I do. 

I'm failing. In fact. Maybe I should do something different. But in doing this exercise, everything looked different. When I had it written down on paper, my brain could see it. It was there in black and white proof, a data point. Okay? Number three, you're gonna call in support. Here's something that might surprise you. 

Everybody needs support. I need support. I might be an executive coach who offers support to anybody who works with me, but in that moment, I needed support and I called my coach, and my coach knew how to show up for me in that moment. I didn't need to be fixed, but I did need to be witnessed. She did that for you. 

And so perhaps you need the same thing. Somebody to witness you reflect back your truth when you can't see it yourself. That is a powerful experience as opposed to staying very stuck in your own thoughts, living in the shame that can happen with them, and actually starting to believe that maybe you aren't enough. 

When the truth is so far from that, okay. The fourth one is serve or shift. Joy often runs through connection, so pick up the phone and encourage somebody else. Maybe you mentor somebody, maybe you manage somebody. Maybe you volunteer somewhere, but pick up the phone and reach out and encourage somebody else. 

That act of service will get you out of yourself, out of your own thinking, out of that. Yucky swamp that you're feeling. And helping somebody else is such a powerful remedy. Whenever we're stuck in our own thinking, joy is energy, and energy needs to flow. So get moving. Do something physical, move your body, shift that energy, and you will see a tremendous difference. 

Okay, and the last one, remember, it is a dip and not a defect. There is nothing wrong with you. The most successful leaders I know, and believe me, I've worked with hundreds. Everybody experiences this. This is common. Often it comes right before their next breakthrough. So do not mistake the pause for the end of your story. 

Make sure you understand the need for the pause. So that you can continue your story and continue to thrive. Okay. In closing, your leadership does not end at the dip. If you are in a joy dip right now, please trust me when I say you do not need to achieve more to earn your joy back. In fact, it's the opposite that you need to do. 

You just need to remember who you are and what you've already accomplished, and I've given you some tools on how you might be able to access that. Joy is not the reward you get after you achieve everything on your list. In fact, joy is the fuel that powers you to lead. How you show up and how you rise. 

The joy will differentiate you. It will become your superpower. And when you reconnect to it, not only do you bounce back, but you will lead differently and people will take notice. You'll make decisions from a different place. You'll inspire differently. Others around you will rise as well. That's the power of joy in leadership and that my friend is why you are here. 

I'm so glad to be doing it with you. If you'd like a few reflection questions to journal on, here they are. Where have I been spiraling into not enough thinking. What's the truth of my story that I need to write down today? Who do I need to reach out to? Not for fixing, but to witness what is going on with me. And what's one action I can take right now today, in this moment to reconnect with my joy? 

It has been a pleasure. I hope you have enjoyed this episode, and I will look forward to being back with you next week.