Finding Your Way Back: Burnout, Recovery, and Redefining What Healing Looks Like
As I reflect on my own journey—and the work I now do with clients—I’ve come to understand that one of the most profound and overlooked aspects of burnout is what happens afterward. Not just the experience of burnout itself, but the deep, often disorienting process of recovery.
When burnout takes you to the point where you need to step away from your career entirely, it doesn’t just take your energy—it shakes your identity. Walking away from work can feel like walking away from a huge part of yourself. It can come with a heavy mix of defeat, shame, hopelessness, fear, and grief. And then, the questions start to come in waves:
What will people think of me?
How will I afford to take this time off?
Will I ever be able to do this kind of work again?
Will I be able to work at all?
These aren’t just passing thoughts—they’re often existential. And they don’t always show up right away. Sometimes, the nervous system is too overactivated, and emotional reserves too depleted, to even begin processing what’s happening.
Healing, in this stage, is slow. And it looks different for everyone. That truth can feel frustrating and overwhelming—but with time and support, it can also be freeing.
In a new part-time role, I came across a mental health recovery framework that deeply resonated with me. It defines recovery as the process of finding a safe, dignified, personally meaningful, and gratifying life—with or without the presence of symptoms. That includes symptoms of mental ill health, physical health challenges, or burnout.
There is real hope in that definition.
Because burnout doesn’t just make you tired—it makes you question everything.
Can I return to the work I was doing?
Can I handle pressure again—both internal and external?
What do I really need to earn to live the life I want, or even just to meet the cost of living?
What if I burn out again?
And then comes the even bigger, messier question: How do I change? And… what does that even mean?
So much of our burnout is rooted in deep, often unconscious core beliefs—ones we’ve carried for years, sometimes decades. Beliefs about worth, success, productivity, and identity. It’s not easy to untangle ourselves from these patterns. But it is possible. I’ve done (and continue to do) this work personally, and I’ve supported clients as they begin to recognise and shift their own limiting beliefs.
That kind of self-awareness can be painful at first—but it opens the door to something powerful: self-compassion. From there, recovery becomes more than rest—it becomes rebuilding.
Recovery might include:
Regaining a sense of hope
Addressing the fear of burning out again
Setting and protecting healthy boundaries
Adjusting unrealistic expectations
Recognising and releasing limiting beliefs
Learning how to relate to yourself with kindness and understanding
Tools like Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and Matrix Reimprinting can gently support this healing process. These techniques help calm the nervous system, release self-blame, uncover stuck beliefs, and open space for clearer choices and new possibilities.
Burnout may change you—but that doesn't mean you're broken.
Recovery isn’t about going back to who you were.
It’s about discovering who you’re becoming.
And you get to do that—on your terms.
About My Work
I support clients navigating burnout, life transitions, and mental health recovery by helping them reconnect with themselves in safe, compassionate, and empowering ways. Through the modalities of Clinical EFT and Matrix Reimprinting, I guide individuals in regulating their nervous systems, releasing limiting beliefs, and redefining what meaningful work and life can look like.
