Stage 1 · Awareness
See the Pattern
Recognize what keeps happening and where being dependable may be costing more than you realized.
October 15, 2026 · Walsh College · Troy, Michigan
Rewrite
Your Story
Leadership Workshop + Live Comedy Show
Everyone depends on you. But what is that costing you?
You're the reliable one. The person people trust. The person who figures it out. And somehow, more and more keeps finding its way back to you.
Maybe doing a good job has simply earned you more work. Maybe you've handed something off but you're still carrying it. Maybe you're responsible for results you don't actually have the authority to control. Or maybe you keep making a broken system work because it feels easier than letting it fail.
Rewrite Your Story helps you see the pattern, listen for the story keeping it going, and choose a different path.
Workshop 1:00–4:30 PM · Live Comedy Show 7:00 PM
VIP Story Lab 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Save $20 · Register by September 27
A Different Way to Understand Burnout
Burnout does not begin with collapse.
You work harder. You become more dependable. People learn that when something needs to get done, you're the person to call.
Before long, more decisions, problems and responsibilities keep finding their way back to you.
And because you keep getting the work done, everyone—including you—can assume everything is fine.
You assume everything is fine. Until it isn't.
Sustained pressure can move from increased effort and overcommitment into exhaustion, detachment and reduced effectiveness.
But one of the hardest stages to recognize is the one in which you are still performing, still succeeding and still doing what you've always done.
Rewrite Your Story helps you recognize the pattern before burnout becomes the whole story.
Does This Sound Familiar?
Being the dependable one can become expensive.
You may still be succeeding. The problem is what success has quietly taught you—and everyone around you—to expect from you.
“Everything somehow ends up back on my plate.”
You're the person everyone turns to because they know
you'll get it done.
“If I don't do it, who will?”
You keep stepping in because letting something fail
feels worse than doing it yourself.
“I'm doing the work of two or three people.”
Someone leaves, a position disappears or priorities change,
and somehow the work gets redistributed without anything
coming off your plate.
“I've handed it off, but I'm still responsible for it.”
You delegate, but continue checking, worrying,
reminding or stepping back in.
“I'm responsible for the result, but I can't actually make the decision.”
You're accountable for outcomes you don't fully control.
“Doing a good job just earns me more work.”
Your reliability gradually becomes an expectation rather
than something anyone even notices anymore.
“It's easier if I just take care of it.”
You keep making the broken process work—and because you
keep making it work, the underlying problem stays hidden.
“I can't really step away.”
Even time off can feel difficult because too much still
depends on you.
These patterns may have helped create your success. But when being the dependable one becomes part of your identity, the pattern can become difficult to see—and even harder to step out of.
That's the Trust Tax™.
Being trusted is a strength.
But when capability continually attracts more responsibility, unclear ownership keeps sending work back to you, or you become accountable for outcomes you don't fully control, trust can begin carrying a hidden cost.
The person pays in time, energy, capacity and potentially burnout. The organization can pay in hidden problems, rework, lost capacity and turnover.
Your Rewrite Your Story Journey
See the pattern. Hear the story. Step out of the pattern. Choose a different path.
This isn't another seminar about managing your time better, trying harder or giving yourself another list of things to do.
It's a guided experience designed to help you recognize the pattern you've been repeating, hear the story underneath it, loosen its grip and choose a different response.
Stage 2 · Understanding
Hear the Story
Notice the beliefs, identity and assumptions that may be helping keep the pattern going.
Stage 3 · Action
Reset Responsibility
Decide what belongs to you, what belongs to someone else, and what needs to be redesigned.
Stage 4 · Perspective
See It Differently
Use humor to loosen the grip of the old story and create room for another possibility.
Stage 5 · Vision
Choose a Different Path
Imagine how you want to work, lead and live when the old pattern is no longer making the decision for you.
Stage 6 · Commitment
Choose What Happens Next
Leave with one decision, boundary, conversation or action that reflects the story you want to live instead.
Awareness → Understanding → Action → Perspective → Vision → Commitment
Two Experiences. One Transformation.
The workshop helps loosen the pattern. The comedy helps you see the story differently.
The afternoon creates awareness, understanding and choice. The evening uses laughter to shift perspective—because sometimes we can't release an old story until we finally see it from another angle.
Afternoon · 1:00–4:30 PM
Rewrite Your Story Workshop
A guided, interactive leadership experience with Natalie Luke, PhD, and Merit Kahn.
- Recognize the progression and warning signs of burnout
- Discover where you may be paying a hidden Trust Tax™
- Identify the stories worth listening for
- Reset responsibilities that should no longer belong only to you
- Step out of automatic patterns
- Imagine a different path before asking how to create it
- Leave with one practical commitment for what happens next
Evening · 7:00 PM
Optimistic Personality Disorder™
Merit Kahn's inspiring and hilarious one-woman show blends stand-up, storytelling and irreverent optimism to explore life's messiest plot twists.
- Laugh—really laugh
- Recognize yourself in a new way
- See your story from another perspective
- Leave lighter, energized and inspired
Explore the Experience
One afternoon designed to move insight into choice.
11:00 AM–12:00 PM
VIP Story Lab
Small-group reflection and live coaching with Natalie and Merit. VIP ticket required.
12:30–1:00 PM
Registration and Connection
Arrive, settle in and connect with other participants.
1:00–1:35 PM
Burnout Does Not Begin With Collapse
Recognize the progression before burnout becomes the whole story.
1:35–2:05 PM
What Is Your Story?
See the beliefs, identity and roles shaping how you respond to pressure.
2:05–2:35 PM
The Trust Tax™
Understand how the story becomes a pattern—and why being dependable can become expensive.
2:35–3:00 PM
The Responsibility Reset
Decide what is yours to carry, what is yours to influence and what needs to be shared or redesigned.
3:00–3:10 PM
Break
Pause, process and prepare for a new perspective.
3:10–3:35 PM
Think Like a Comedian
Use humor to interrupt fixed interpretations and see another possibility.
3:35–4:00 PM
Dream Before You Plan
Imagine the future you want before asking how to make it happen.
4:00–4:20 PM
Choose Your New Story
A guided meditation to experience a different story emotionally, not only intellectually.
4:20–4:30 PM
Choose What Happens Next
Choose one decision, boundary, conversation or action that reflects the path you want instead.
7:00 PM
Optimistic Personality Disorder™
Live comedy, storytelling, perspective and release with Merit Kahn.
Meet Your Workshop Leaders
Leadership insight meets unforgettable performance.
Natalie helps you recognize and interrupt the patterns. Merit helps you see—and experience—the story differently.
Creator, Producer and Workshop Leader
Natalie Luke, PhD
Leadership Strategist · Researcher · Host of UnCeiling You™
Natalie helps high achievers recognize the stories, responsibility patterns and leadership systems that cause work, decisions and problems to keep finding their way back to them. She is the creator of The Trust Tax™ framework.
Creator, Workshop Leader and Featured Performer
Merit Kahn, CSP
Comedian · International Keynote Speaker · Playwright · Producer
Merit is the creator and performer of Optimistic Personality Disorder™, a hilariously healing one-woman show blending comedy, storytelling and transformational insight.
Hosted by
Mariette Frey
Community builder and strategic connector Mariette Frey will serve as emcee, welcoming participants and helping guide the experience from the afternoon workshop into the evening performance.
Get a Glimpse of the Show
Laugh. Release. See the story differently.
See why audiences connect so deeply with Merit's blend of comedy, storytelling and transformational insight.
Go Deeper
VIP Rewrite Your Story Experience
Begin with personal access before the workshop—and return two weeks later for support as you step into the path you chose.
Reserve VIP Seat · $197- VIP Story Lab: October 15, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
- Small-group reflection and live coaching with Natalie and Merit
- Salad lunch and beverage
- Premium workshop and evening-show seating
- VIP photograph with Natalie and Merit
- Virtual Implementation Session: October 29 at 12:00 PM Eastern
- Complete afternoon workshop and live comedy-show experience
What Will Be Different When You Leave?
You won't leave with more work. You'll leave with more choice.
See Your Pattern
Recognize what keeps happening and where being dependable may be costing more than you realized.
Hear the Story
Identify the beliefs and assumptions worth listening for when the old pattern gets activated.
Step Out of the Pattern
Create room to respond differently instead of automatically doing what you've always done.
Choose a Different Path
Leave with one decision, boundary, conversation or action that reflects the story you want to live instead.
Choose Your Experience
Reserve your seat for October 15.
Save $20 · Register by September 27
Workshop tickets include the interactive afternoon workshop and the evening performance of Optimistic Personality Disorder™.
Early Bird
Workshop + Show
$147
Save $20 through September 27.
The complete workshop and live-show experience.
- Interactive afternoon workshop
- Practical tools and guided exercises
- Meaningful connections
- Evening performance
VIP Workshop + Show
$197
Personal access before the workshop and implementation support afterward.
- 11:00 AM VIP Story Lab
- Salad lunch and beverage
- Premium workshop and show seating
- October 29 virtual follow-up
- Complete workshop and evening performance
Group Workshop + Show · 6+
$140 / person
Bring your colleagues, leadership team, clients or community.
- Interactive afternoon workshop
- Evening comedy show
- Group seating coordination
Evening Show Only
$30
Join us for the live performance of Optimistic Personality Disorder™.
- General admission
- Live one-woman show
- Comedy, storytelling and inspiration
Not Sure Yet?
Not sure if Rewrite Your Story is worth an afternoon? Start with the assessment.
In about seven minutes, the Trust Tax™ Assessment will help you understand:
Is there a responsibility pattern problem?
What is the pattern?
What story might be helping keep it going?
What might that pattern be costing you?
Then you can decide whether it's worth spending an afternoon learning how to step out of the pattern and choose a different story.
“I can handle it”
doesn't have to mean
“I have to do it.”
Take the Free Trust Tax™ Assessment →
About 7 minutes · Personalized results immediately · No name or email required to see your results
October 15, 2026 · Walsh College · Troy, Michigan
You've spent enough time doing what you've always done. What if you chose a different path?
See the pattern. Hear the story. Step out of the pattern. Choose the story you want to live instead. And then laugh, gain perspective and leave lighter.
Workshop 1:00–4:30 PM · Live Comedy Show 7:00 PM
Reserve My Seat
Proud Partner of Rewrite Your Story
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