After Burnout: Healing Your Success Beliefs with EFT Tapping to Trust Yourself Again

After Burnout: Healing Your Success Beliefs with EFT Tapping to Trust Yourself Again

In today's fast-paced and demanding world, burnout has become an alarming epidemic affecting individuals across so many different industries and continents, especially after the Pandemic. The toll it takes on our emotional, physical, and financial well-being is immense, making it crucial to explore innovative approaches to tackle this issue.

“In other words, it’s burning too much fuel than you’ve put in your tank.” – Melissa Steginus

While medication is certainly an option, more and more people are looking for ways to manage stress and avoid burnout without these as drugs can also carry unwanted side effects. If burnout has already happened to you and you're trying to pick up the pieces emotionally and professionally, this article is for you.

This article delves into the debilitating impact of burnout, identifies five common beliefs that contribute to it, introduces the concept of Emotional Freedom Technique, or (EFT) Tapping, and outlines how EFT Tapping can help transform these beliefs to foster emotional health, prevent burnout, and redefine your success as you rebuild your career.

The Pervasive Impact of Burnout

Burnout transcends geographical and social economic boundaries and impacts people worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, burnout is characterized by feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance from one's job, and reduced professional efficacy.

A study by Gallup found that 76% of employees experience burnout at least sometimes, with 28% experiencing it "very often" or "always." This staggering prevalence underscores the need for a fundamental shift in how we approach work and success.

But it's not only how many hours worked, but lack of flexibility. Research shows that: 

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"...engaged employees who have job flexibility tend to work more hours per week than the average employee, while reporting higher wellbeing. When people feel inspired, motivated and supported in their work, they do more work -- and that work is significantly less stressful on their overall health and wellbeing," --Gallup.

In other words, it's not just the number of hours you work; it's how you're managed and how you experience work during those hours.

Beyond its emotional consequences, burnout has substantial financial implications. When employees are burned out, their productivity decreases, absenteeism rises, and the risk of errors increases, leading to financial losses for both individuals and organizations. Furthermore, the toll burnout takes on relationships is undeniable. Constant exhaustion and stress can strain personal relationships, leading to a vicious cycle where burnout feeds into further emotional distress.

What are the Top Reasons Why People Get Burned out?

Gallup reports that the top five factors that correlate most highly with employee burnout are:

Unfair Treatment at Work: Feeling unfairly treated can be emotionally draining and lead to burnout. Imagine a scenario where an employee consistently puts in extra effort but is consistently passed over for promotions or recognition. This perceived injustice can erode motivation and enthusiasm, eventually leading to burnout.

Unmanageable Workload: An excessive workload can quickly overwhelm employees. Imagine someone juggling multiple projects with tight deadlines and minimal resources. This constant pressure to deliver can lead to exhaustion and reduced quality of work. Over time, the stress from an unmanageable workload can contribute to burnout.

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Unclear Communication from Managers: When managers fail to communicate clearly about expectations, goals, or changes, employees can feel lost and frustrated. For instance, if a project's objectives and priorities are unclear, employees might end up investing time and effort in the wrong areas. This confusion can lead to stress and a sense of futility, contributing to burnout.

Lack of Manager Support: Supportive managers are crucial for employees' well-being. Consider an employee who faces personal challenges but receives no understanding or flexibility from their manager. Without proper support, employees can feel isolated and undervalued, which can erode their motivation and ultimately lead to burnout.

Unreasonable Time Pressure: Constantly facing tight deadlines without sufficient time for quality work can be detrimental. Imagine an employee who's repeatedly pushed to meet unrealistic timeframes. The constant rush can lead to rushed and subpar work, creating a cycle of stress and dissatisfaction that eventually results in burnout.

It's important for employers to recognize these factors and take steps to address them. This could involve promoting a fair and respectful workplace culture, implementing realistic workload expectations, enhancing communication channels, offering support to employees, and setting achievable deadlines. By addressing these issues, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of burnout and create a healthier, more productive work environment.

However, the uncomfortable truth is that sometimes, it's our own belief system that also contributes to us burning out. The more we recognize things like people pleasing, poor boundaries, not asking for help, perfectionism, and lack of self-care, the more we can re-build our professional lives in a healthy way.

‍Top 5 Beliefs Contributing to Burnout

" I have to be perfect and do everything perfectly":

Negative Consequences: Perfectionism drives individuals to set unrealistically high standards, leading to overwork, relentless anxiety, and persistent feelings of inadequacy. Perfection is the enemy of 'good enough'. Also, sometimes with perfectionism we have the tendency to need to do it all ourselves because the way others do it is not good enough. That can lead to taking on more than we can handle and not delegating.

Alternative Perspective: Embrace the notion that progress is more important than perfection. Recognize that making mistakes is a natural part of growth and learning.

"I have to always be available to everything and everyone":

Negative Consequences: The belief that you must always be available blurs work-life boundaries, causing chronic stress, and making it nearly impossible to recharge. This can come from people pleasing, fear of upsetting others, fear of saying no, not wanting to disappoint, etc.

Alternative Perspective: Set clear boundaries between work and personal time. Prioritize self-care, allowing yourself to disconnect from work to maintain mental and emotional well-being.

"I am my job, my career is who I AM"

Negative Consequences: When your self-worth is solely tied to your career, it neglects other aspects of life, leading to an imbalanced identity and a higher susceptibility to burnout. If your only way to validate is via work, achievements, success, then you have to keep moving the goalposts because you see yourself only as your job. What if you didn't have that job, who would you be?

Alternative Perspective: Cultivate a diverse sense of self by engaging in hobbies, spending time with loved ones, and pursuing activities that bring you joy outside of work.

"I have no control over anything":

Negative Consequences: Feeling powerless over your tasks and outcomes fosters frustration, diminishes job satisfaction, and exacerbates stress. Feeling like everything happens to you causes lots of blame and loss of power. It can make you feel you're at the mercy of everyone else's decisions and make you hopeless and lost.

Alternative Perspective: Focus on areas within your control, seek input when necessary, and advocate for changes when feasible, thereby empowering yourself within your role.

"I don't have TIME to take care of MYSELF"

Negative Consequences: Neglecting self-care results in physical and mental exhaustion, weakening resilience, and making you more susceptible to burnout. This is one of the easiest ways to burn out. If we don't take time for our self-care, we will have to make time for our mental, emotional, and physical breakdown.

Alternative Perspective: Prioritize self-care as a cornerstone of overall well-being. Understand that taking care of yourself is not selfish; it's essential for maintaining optimal performance.

EFT Tapping: A Tool for Rebuilding Healthy Emotional Resilience

Rebuilding Emotional Health

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Tapping is a revolutionary approach that combines ancient acupressure principles with modern psychology. EFT involves tapping on specific energy meridian points while focusing on the negative emotions, beliefs, or experiences causing distress.

"An ever increasing number of studies on the benefits of EFT for stress, anxiety and burnout, as well as for other conditions are being documented. Many of these studies demonstrate that EFT is effective as a self-help tool, and for use in healthcare settings by healthcare professionals and students," according to a scientific paper by Suzan Blacher.,

This process aims to release emotional blockages, restore balance, and promote healing of difficult experiences and the emotions that surround them.

EFT Tapping's effectiveness stems from its ability to engage both the body and mind. By stimulating acupressure points, you address the emotional aspects that contribute to burnout and other psychological challenges. This holistic approach can help manage stress, regulate emotions, and promote a greater sense of well-being.

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Managing your emotional health on a daily basis in the morning, as a way to re-calibrate throughout your day when small things happen to set you off or cause stress, worry, overwhelm, etc. In addition, using EFT in the evening before bed can help you release your burdens of the day when you're overthinking. This is an extremely helpful way to get back on track when you're trying to build your emotional resilience in a healthy way after burnout..

Empowering New Success Beliefs through EFT Tapping

After experiencing burnout, rebuilding belief systems and redefining success can be challenging because there is a sense of fear, shame, and lack of confidence surrounding work.

“Burnout, like any difficult experience, is a great teacher. My question is: What is it trying to tell you?” – Dr. Rebecca Ray

Recovering from burnout is a journey that goes beyond just physical and mental healing—it often entails rebuilding the shattered trust we once had in ourselves, particularly when it comes to re-engaging with work. The aftermath of burnout can leave us doubting our abilities, questioning our judgment, and fearing that history might repeat itself.

This is especially true in the context of setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care, as burnout often arises from a lack of these crucial safeguards. It's a challenging paradox: wanting to succeed in our careers while being hesitant to plunge back into a work environment that once drained us.

The fear of overcommitting, neglecting self-care, and failing to establish healthy limits can be paralyzing.

However, this process of rebuilding trust in ourselves is not insurmountable. It involves learning to navigate the delicate balance between ambition and well-being, while also seeking support from mentors, counselors, or coaches who can guide us in setting those vital boundaries.

With time, patience, and self-compassion, we can gradually regain the confidence to trust ourselves with work again, armed with the wisdom of our past experiences and a renewed commitment to our own well-being.

EFT helps individuals address the fear of repeating past patterns by releasing emotional attachments to these beliefs. It enables you to establish new, positive beliefs about success, work, and self-worth. This process involves acknowledging past experiences, forgiving yourself, and creating empowering affirmations that align with your desired success mindset.

Gratitude for everything you still have, and every step of your recovery, is such an important part of healing from burnout.” – Emma Matthews

Top Benefits of EFT for Recovering from Burnout

Using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) with a practitioner to refresh your emotional health after burnout, especially when you don't trust yourself, offers a range of powerful benefits.

Release Negative Emotions Around the Past and Experiences:

Burnout often leaves individuals with a residue of negative emotions and traumatic experiences. EFT enables you to confront and release these emotions, allowing you to process and let go of the emotional weight that contributes to your lack of self-trust.

Reduce Anxiety and Stress:

EFT tapping helps lower cortisol levels and reduce stress and anxiety. After burnout, you might be constantly on edge or overly cautious due to fear of repeating past patterns. EFT can calm your nervous system, helping you regain a sense of control and security.

‍Reframe Negative Beliefs:

Burnout can erode self-esteem and breed negative self-beliefs. EFT allows you to challenge and reframe these beliefs, such as feeling unworthy or incapable. You can replace them with positive affirmations that support your self-trust and self-worth.

Rebuild Self-Trust:

EFT can assist in rebuilding self-trust by addressing the underlying reasons for the lack of trust. It helps you process past mistakes or failures and cultivate self-compassion. As you work through these issues, your self-trust can naturally begin to regenerate.

Cultivate Self-Compassion:

Burnout often involves pushing yourself to the limit and self-criticism for not meeting unrealistic expectations. EFT encourages self-compassion, allowing you to treat yourself with kindness and understanding, which is crucial for rebuilding trust and emotional well-being.

Enhance Emotional Regulation:

When you lack trust in yourself, emotional regulation can become challenging. EFT can teach you to manage intense emotions effectively, preventing them from overwhelming you and contributing to overthinking, stress, and burnout.

Promote Mind-Body Connection:

EFT taps into the mind-body connection, aligning your thoughts and emotions with your physical sensations. This synchronization enhances your awareness of your feelings and helps you understand the root causes of your lack of self-trust.

Create Positive Affirmations that Actually Work:

EFT can assist in crafting and integrating positive affirmations that support your renewed sense of self-trust. Regularly tapping while repeating these affirmations can help anchor them deeply in your subconscious mind.

Boost Your Emotionally Healthy Resilience:

By addressing the emotional aftermath of burnout through EFT, you can enhance your emotional resilience. This allows you to better cope with future stressors and setbacks without succumbing to the same negative patterns.

Regain a Sense of Empowerment:

Burnout can leave you feeling powerless and trapped. EFT empowers you by giving you a tool to actively manage your emotions and beliefs. This empowerment is crucial for rebuilding trust in yourself and your decision-making abilities.

Facilitate Self-Discovery:

As you tap through your emotions and beliefs, you may uncover insights about the root causes of your lack of self-trust. This self-discovery is a crucial step in the healing process and can provide clarity on how to move forward.

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Support Sustainable Change:

EFT isn't just a quick fix; it's a tool that can support ongoing emotional well-being. Regular EFT practice can help you maintain your progress, continue to build self-trust, and prevent relapse into burnout patterns.

Incorporating EFT into your journey to refresh your emotional health after burnout, especially when self-trust is compromised, provides a holistic and effective approach to healing. Through consistent practice, you can gradually rebuild your sense of self-trust, cultivate emotional resilience, and create a healthier foundation for your personal and professional life.

‍Prevention and Transformation through EFT and Coaching

Transformational coaching, coupled with EFT Tapping, serves as a comprehensive approach to prevent burnout and reshape success beliefs:

Prevention: If you feel like you're dangerously on the brink of burnout and you're feeling overwhelmed, flailing, and you don't know how to move forward, transformational coaching helps individuals recognize early signs of burnout, build healthy habits, and develop strategies to maintain work-life balance. EFT Tapping acts as an ongoing tool to manage stress, diffuse negative emotions, and reinforce positive beliefs.

Post-Burnout Transformation: If you've already had a burnout and you're trying to recover and put your life back together, you're probably feeling confused, drained, and you don't know what your next steps should be. After burnout, individuals often struggle to trust themselves and set new professional goals. Transformational coaching, combined with EFT, supports individuals in re-creating a healthier belief system and self-image. EFT Tapping helps release the fear of repeating the same patterns and empowers individuals to embrace a balanced and fulfilling career.

Conclusion

In a world where burnout is a prevalent threat to our well-being, it's crucial to adopt innovative strategies to prevent, address, and transform the beliefs that contribute to this phenomenon. EFT Tapping provides a powerful tool to manage stress, reframe negative beliefs, and cultivate emotional resilience. By utilizing EFT Tapping alongside transformational coaching, individuals can not only prevent burnout but also rebuild their belief systems and redefine their relationship with success and career. It's time to tap into a new way of thinking and create a future of balance, fulfillment, and emotional well-being.

Are you heading towards burnout or did you burn out and you need help rebuilding yourself emotionally? Reach out for a discovery call to see how transformational coaching and EFT Tapping can help you re-create yourself in an emotionally healthy way.

ANDREA HUNT - Online Transformational Life Coach & EFT Tapping Practitioner based in Munich, Germany

I'm an accredited transformational life coach from Animas Centre for Coaching UK  and a member of the International Coaching Federation. I'm also a Level 2 practitioner in EFT Tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique) and a member of AEFTP (Association of Emotional Freedom Technique Professionals).

If you're not sure where to start transforming your life, you can download my free ebook on How to Start Your Personal Growth Journey.

Are you ready to change your life, let go of old beliefs, empower yourself for a mindset shift to move forward? Mark Batterson says: You're always one decision away from a totally different life.

Photo header: Claudia Wolff