Transformative tools - stress, anxiety, and burnout

Welcome back to Day 8 of the 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough! Today’s guest, Nick, shared practical, transformative tools to combat holiday stress, anxiety, and burnout.

With his background as a licensed clinical counselor and his expertise in hypnosis and tapping techniques, Nick brings a wealth of experience and compassion to the conversation.

Nick’s insights and techniques offer immediate relief for anyone navigating the chaos of the holiday season—or any other high-stress period.

Let’s dive into the highlights from this episode, including the powerful methods he shared to help you find balance and peace.

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Burnout, Holiday Stress, and Self-Prioritization

Nick reminded us that burnout often stems from trying to juggle too much at once. During the holidays, this can mean endless to-do lists, family obligations, and unexpected crises.

His advice? Prioritize self-care as the foundation for managing stress.

“When you take care of yourself first, you can better help your family, friends, and others,” Nick says.

Here are Nick’s tips for creating balance amidst the chaos:

Set Daily Wins

Each morning, write down five tasks you must accomplish.
If you complete more, that’s a bonus! But five is your baseline for the day.
Checking off these tasks provides a sense of accomplishment and keeps overwhelm at bay.

Be Realistic About Your Schedule

Prioritize your time wisely.
If unexpected events occur (like traffic jams or last-minute errands), focus on what’s truly essential and let the rest go.

Moderation and Health

Don’t let holiday treats derail your energy.
Focus on staying vibrant and healthy to sustain yourself through the season.

The Magic of Tapping: Emotional Draino for Stress and Anxiety

Tapping, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Thought Field Therapy (TFT), is a simple yet powerful tool that Nick has used successfully for decades. Tapping works by stimulating the body’s meridians (energy pathways) to release emotional blocks and stress.

Nick describes tapping as “emotional Drano,” clearing out the mental and emotional clutter that prevents you from feeling balanced.

Here’s how tapping can help:

Releases pent-up stress and anxiety.
Acknowledges and accepts emotions.
Provides a tool for self-care, anytime and anywhere.

The Quick Nick Tapping Technique

Nick introduced a modified tapping routine he developed for children (and later adapted for adults) called the Quick Nick. It’s an easy, discreet way to address holiday stress in real time.

How to Practice the Quick Nick

Identify Your Stress

Think about the stress or anxiety you’re feeling (e.g., holiday overwhelm).
Rate it on a scale from 0 to 10.

Locate the Stress in Your Body

Where do you feel it? (Common areas include the stomach, chest, or forehead.)

Start Tapping

Palms Up: Tap your palms lightly while saying, “Holiday stress.”
Under the Eyes: Tap directly beneath your eyes with two fingers.
Under the Arms: Tap under your arms, crossing your hands if it feels natural.
Upper Chest: Tap the upper chest area with both hands.

Breathe and Release

Take a deep breath and exhale fully.

This technique can be completed in under a minute, making it a perfect tool for quick relief.

Box Breathing: A Navy SEAL Technique for Calm

Nick also shared box breathing, a method used by Navy SEALs to regain focus and control under pressure.

How to Practice Box Breathing

Inhale for 4 Seconds
Hold for 4 Seconds
Exhale for 4 Seconds
Pause for 4 Seconds

Repeat this cycle at least three times, or until you feel calm and centered. This technique is ideal for high-stress situations where tapping might not feel appropriate.

why these techniques work — Why These Techniques Work

Why Tapping and Breathing Work

Both tapping and breathing techniques help regulate the nervous system by shifting the body out of a fight-or-flight response and into a state of relaxation.

Nick emphasized that these tools not only reduce immediate stress but also promote long-term balance and resilience.

Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode

Burnout stems from imbalance. Tools like tapping and breathing help restore harmony to the body and mind.
Daily wins boost confidence. Writing and accomplishing small goals each day creates a sense of progress and purpose.
Quick techniques can create big results. Both the Quick Nick and box breathing are accessible, effective tools for managing stress in any setting.

Connect with Nick

Nick offers one-on-one coaching sessions where he tailors these techniques to your specific needs. For $66, you’ll get a personalized session designed to help you overcome stress, anxiety, or burnout.

To book a session, contact Kathie directly, and she’ll connect you with Nick.

Your Quick Win for the Day

Ready to try the Quick Nick or box breathing? Give one (or both!) a go and notice how your body responds.

Remember: You have the power to shift your state and find calm, no matter how stressful life gets.

If you found this post helpful, share it with someone who could use these tools to navigate holiday stress or burnout. Stay tuned for more quick wins in the next episode of the 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough!

About the Author:

Kathie Owen is a seasoned corporate wellness consultant, life coach, and former fitness and wellness director with over two decades of experience in creating healthier, happier workplaces. With a psychology degree from the University of Houston and a passion for motivation, Kathie has dedicated her career to ending toxic workplace cultures through holistic wellness programs that truly make a difference.

*Kathie Owen,* *Corporate Wellness Consultant since 2012 (Our Story*)

Having worked in both corporate and fitness environments, Kathie blends her expertise in employee engagement, leadership development, physical health, and mental well-being to design programs that prevent burnout and inspire thriving teams.

She’s been a certified fitness trainer since 2002 and has personally coached hundreds of individuals to reach their wellness goals. Now, she’s on a mission to share her strategies with companies that value their people.

Through her 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough series, Kathie combines personal stories, expert insights, and practical tips to help you recognize, prevent, and heal from burnout. Her goal? To show you how a little bit of wellness can transform not only your workplace but also your life.

When she’s not leading workshops, coaching aspiring wellness professionals, or writing her next blog post, you’ll find Kathie walking her dog Rusty, diving into her favorite self-development books, or dreaming up her next big idea to inspire and uplift others.

Follow Kathie on Social Media

Transcript:

Kathie: 0:00

Welcome back to another day of the 12 day of burnout breakthrough with Kathy's coaching podcast. These episodes will be run on my podcast on the YouTube channel. And today I want to introduce you to one of my friends and colleagues. His name is Nick, and I have known Nick for several years. And we met through Reality Transurfing Concepts. He has really helped me deal with some anxiety, some stress, and I'm hoping today it's going to provide you, like he did with me, a quick win. So before we get started and get into this episode, I want to let Nick introduce himself to you and kind of say a little bit about what he does. and how he's, he helps people.

Nick: 0:48

Well, thank you, Kathie. And thank you for having me here. I'm going to just talk a little bit about my past. I'm a licensed clinical counselor. I've done hypnosis. I've had a private practice. I've worked in schools and I've also trained other counselors and, various counseling techniques and stuff. I really appreciate you having me here and, I'm looking forward to. Getting in on this and hopefully we get you give people some practical useful tips to get them through the holiday season

Kathie: 1:22

awesome, all right, so um Nick very first thing let's talk about how to deal with burnout and and maybe even describe What it is because we all have different words for burnout all of the interviews I've had have had different aspects of burnout Um and how we work with it. And I'm going to turn it over to you and let you help us get a quick win with, burnout breakthrough.

Nick: 1:51

Okay. Well, one of the big things, especially during the holiday season is there's lots going on. So people get burned out because it's like too much and you have a hard time keeping things in place. What I say is the number one thing you need to keep in mind and you want to do is to keep yourself vibrant and healthy during the holidays. And I know that sometimes it's tough with going out to dinner, parties, all that. Ultimately, you need to take care of you. And by taking care of yourself, you'll be able to help family members, friends, and everybody else. If you don't do that, you're going to be stressed and the people around you will be able to read that and know that also. The two big things that happen for people is usually It's stress and anxiety, and we kind of, kind of lump them together for this particular issue for the holidays here because if people are feeling a lot of anxiety about, and I'll just give some examples, let's say having to, be at a family gathering and there's people there that you probably don't want to see or don't want to be with, Let's say you have so much to do that you don't think you're going to be able to accomplish it all. The other things that go on is people don't take care of themselves. You know, you have all this wonderful Christmas cookies, treats and everything, and people feel that they're obligated to eat it. So once again, the big thing is to keep yourself healthy. And kind of modulate your day so you can accomplish what you need to accomplish and do what you need to do, go where you need to go. But the other thing is too, is you have to sometimes prioritize things. Um, one of the things I always suggest for people to do is to, in the morning before they walk out the door or go any place, is you make your list of five to-dos and those to-dos are the things that have to get done. Now, you might have 10 of them. But you write five, you can write the other five that, uh, If you get them done, it'll be nice. But if it doesn't get done, no, no, no big problem. So one of the things I'm saying is you need to schedule wise yourself. So you're not trying to do too much in the amount of time that you have. And it's, you know, it's difficult when people are working and. Have social events to be at, and then you also have those crises that come up in the middle of it. The store is out of what you want. Somebody bangs into your bumper. Things like that. Like all of a sudden it was not on the schedule, but you still have to deal with it. One of the things I'm saying is your five wins of the day, you do that, but you do it before you leave the house. And I, I have like a, a little, calendar type of thing. And, uh, I'll just kind of show it to you. And it's, uh, it's a day calendar. And I just rip off a sheet of paper every day. And I have my five wins that I'm going to do. Now, some days I might only get two done. Because those other events have happened in life, but I have my schedule for five. Sometimes I bring them on to the next day and sometimes not. Sometimes I have a new five. But like this morning's for me was one was to walk and I do a four mile walk in the morning. And the second one was to go to the gym. So those two have been checked off my list and you're number three. So anyways, as we get A little bit later on in the podcast here, we're going to get to some, quick techniques to help you with stress and anxiety. And, it back over to you, Kathie

Kathie: 5:47

So I've talked about this before on my channel, how you have a list of things we need to do in the day and checking those off. And even if you're, Going to meet a friend for dinner. That can be one of your five things that Nick is talking about. What happens when you check those things off is it gets good brain chemicals going and tells yourself that you accomplished something. And it's like a quick win and it helps you feel better. And as we've been talking about during these 12 days of burnout, all of these techniques help you to feel better about your day, to feel better about yourself, to feel better in your physical body. And those are the quick wins that we're looking for. So Nick gave us a really good quick win. But here's one thing I really want to touch on because Nick has coached me before with tapping. And these tapping processes are so simple. We've talked about it before on my channel. with some other guests that talked about how they use tapping, but we didn't go into specific details. And I would love for Nick to explain to us, what tapping is and why it helps and maybe give us a brief, quick win on a tapping technique we can do, because there's so many things you can Google. You can even YouTube search tapping and learn these. But I can tell you from my personal experience that that tapping, I had really bad anxiety. And I had a very rapid transformation where the anxiety was quickly gone by working with Nick. So Nick, I'll turn it over to you.

Nick: 7:40

Thank you, Kathie. It's something that I've been doing since, I think the early nineties. And, when we say the tapping techniques, there's really, there's two major. schools of thought out there, and I'll talk a little bit about each one. And fortunately, I have studied with both of these gentlemen, so I know what the difference is. The tapping techniques are, you're tapping on various parts of your body, and the question is, what does it do? And, the idea was discovered by using the meridians, which is probably, you're familiar with that from acupuncture. And, the places that these people discovered was While you don't have to inject yourself with needles, you can just tap to kind of open up or the meridian or the electrical highway you have in your body. And there were certain sequences, or lack of better words, recipes, that you can use to do various things. you can get rid of phobias with them. you can treat depression with them. You can treat anxiety with it. So there's a plethora of things that you're able to do with using these, tapping methodologies. The two tapping methodologies, the major ones that are out there, are ones called Thought Field Therapy, and it was discovered or put together by a man named Roger Callahan. He has since passed, but his wife's still doing trainings and is out there and is available, for the thought field therapy at a TFT. The other person studied with Dr. Callahan and, came up with his own version of it and he calls his EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. And what I always kind of liken it to, or compare it to, it's kind of like Drano. It's kind of like an emotional Drano. You know, when you have your pipe and all of a sudden, you know, the water's not going down, you put the Drano in, let it sit for a while, and then rinse it out, and it kind of clears it out. Well, what the tapping does, kind of clears out the, Meridians and also your thoughts about whatever the particular problem is and in the hands of a skilled practitioner, they're able to kind of zero in on what you need at those particular moments and help you through the process. There's a plethora of other versions of this tapping routine, but I say if you stick with the EFT or the TFT, the Thought Field Therapy or the Emotional Freedom Technique, you, you have a good essence of what it is, what it can do. I know there's a, a bunch of, videos about various practitioners doing it for various things online on YouTube. And, to me, when I was in private practice, this was my first go to when a client came in with a problem. And, I used to treat a lot of phobias, and I used to treat a lot of people with, smoking cessation. And, what I always used to do was, if you came in and wanted to quit smoking, I'd say, quit smoking before you come in, because I want to see you with the urge or craving up high. Now, lots of times people will say, well, hold it, I'm coming to you to quit smoking. Why would I quit before I come in? I'm saying, because you're paying me a lot of money, and We want to make sure it works. So what I used to do is when they used to come in and I used to say, make sure when you come in that you're craving a cigarette that, you know, you want to pull off the door and go find a package of Winston's or something. In other words, we want you up high because when we're treating you, we want to be able to know that we can, eliminate the urge or craving for the cigarette. And once we've done that, um, I used to follow it up with a brief hypnosis session, because I also used to do hypnosis at the time. When a person came in with a phobia, usually what would happen is, I'd usually get the phone call like a day or two before they had to do something, meaning they had to go fly someplace and they had a fear of flying phobia, or one time I had a person that had to take a test that their job depended on and they've already, I think, I think they already flunked it once. So they wanted to come in to have the hypnosis to kind of be relaxed and confident that they were going to be able to pass the test. And so what used to happen, it was all of a sudden I got these appointments and it's like, okay, how soon can you get in here? And, the smokers, like I told you. We take care of the urge or cravings as soon as they came in, and then we talk about what the difficult times were when they needed to have a cigarette. For smokers, that first one in the morning is very important for them because that's the longest time they've been without nicotine, and they want to have that first one. For some people, it's, when they're socializing. For other people, it's like after meals or when they're talking on the phone. So. We used to take care of all that in the hypnosis part of the session, but we also gave them the tools so they could take care of their own urges and cravings if or as they came up.

Kathie: 12:46

Wow. I can tell you from experience that, the tapping really, really helps. And as we've talked with previous guests, What happens when you're doing tapping, what happens is you, Recognize the emotion that you're feeling. You're not suppressing it. So you're realizing that that emotion is there. But like Nick said, we're, it's Drano. It's helping us get rid of all the clogged. that's going on around that emotion. So you're accepting the emotion at the same time you're cleaning it out.

Nick: 13:26

I used the word releasing. And I remember when we had this session and you said, well, I said, so there it is. And you said, well, how'd you know that? Because I looked at you and I could see the, the breath of you releasing that particular issue we were dealing with.

Kathie: 13:44

That's exactly what happened. I just released it and he did recognize it. And I was like, how did you know? Or when, when did it come through? And it was when I took a deep breath and I released it. And I could tell you with everything that it worked tremendously. But I do have a question for you, Nick, because I noticed that that afternoon. I was physically exhausted, but then when I went to bed that night, I slept like a rock. Do you have an explanation for why I was so tired after that?

Nick: 14:20

Well, and this is just pure guess on my part, but usually what it is, is, you know, up to that point, you had a lot of stress going on, and all of a sudden, We released it. And I think that's your body's way of kind of catching up with the fatigue and stuff of you being tight and stressful and allowing it to let go. And like, like you said, you slept comfortably in the evening. And usually I, I tell this to people too, when, when I do these sessions with people, I get benefits from it also, you know, what, you know, helps.

Kathie: 15:00

Oh, it does.

Nick: 15:01

Yeah. It, relaxes me and, once again, the method is so simple you can do it and you can do it anytime, and what I always tell people is, and I used to tell my clients this too, you don't need to have me there. Here, I used to give them an instruction sheet with step by step details on what to do, and, uh, I says, and you can do this for yourself. I mean, ultimately, ultimately you want to be able to take care of yourself. Yes, we go to the doctors when we're not feeling well and stuff, but ultimately we want the bodies. immune system to take over and to kind of get us back in balance and the same thing with emotional issues or stress issues. We want to get the body back in balance. And that's what we can do with the tapping.

Kathie: 15:49

Wow, that is it. That's it right there in a nutshell. So if you've listened to all the episodes, I think they all go back to balance and getting in touch with your body and feeling that and then releasing those Emotions. Emotions and then also that's releasing that stress and that's where I think he's right where I was exhausted because I had just been feeling that for so long. That's burnout. It's just gonna happen if you don't release it. So that was your quick win for today. I really appreciate your time, Nick, and thank you so much for coming on here, and I can guarantee you've helped many just by sharing this with us today. Do you have anything else you'd like to share with us before I close out?

Nick: 16:38

Well, if anybody wants a session with me, right now I'm doing coaching sessions, approximately an hour long and that the cost is 66 and, and they can get in touch with you, Kathie and you'll let me know, and we'll set it up on a zoom type thing and, we'll meet and we'll work through an issue that you have and Once again, a lot of this doesn't take that long. I know occasionally when I talk to people they say, Oh, well, I've tried tapping and it didn't work. Usually those particular cases is either that practitioner didn't know what to do when a person had certain blockages or a reversal or Or things like that. So, they weren't able to bring him along, but what I what I say is, you know, it doesn't take too long. And if we can help a person, I'll be happy to do that. And if, before we leave, if you want to try something quick with me, I have maybe two little techniques that might be able to help your audience out.

Kathie: 17:41

Perfect! Go ahead, share

Nick: 17:42

it. And one is, I'll just give a little background on it. One is, I was doing the, tapping techniques, so the EFT, the TFT, and I was working with, school children, and that school children were from the age of five to about nine or ten. And, what I found out was, Sometimes it was difficult to get them to do all the techniques together in the right sequence. So, what I did was I came up with a simple method for children to kind of get themselves back in balance, get themselves back into the classroom, and whatever the issue was that was going on. And, I once had to try it with one of my adult clients who had just problems following instructions. I'm saying, why don't I try the one that I do with the kids? And sure enough, it worked and it worked very, very well. And, if, Your audience wants to try this. They can try it with us, Kathie. And, I usually do a couple things first. I'm going to ask you, think about something you have anxiety about. And that can be anything. And on a scale of zero, meaning no anxiety, ten, meaning lots of anxiety, wherever you're at, you might want to write it down on a piece of paper, or Keep it in mind. And usually what I say is we're going to do a key word. So for this, we'll just say holiday season or holiday stress. And this is just a modified version of the tapping techniques that I do. And, if you keep in mind that anxiety and also. Kind of catalogue it. Where is it in your body? For a lot of people, they feel it in their stomach. Other people feel it in their chest areas. Some people say they feel it in their foreheads. So, but where is yours? You know, the viewer of this video have theirs and keep that in mind. And what we're going to do is we're going to just try a technique and, it's called a quick Nick. And when I developed this for children, I had a friend of mine, I was demonstrating it to him. And he says, wow, what a, what a great technique. We'll have to call it the quick Nick. And so it's kind of stuck and we've done it ever since. And then if we still have time, Kathie we'll have one more quick thing that people can do, and they can do it in the grocery store, they can do it at their Walmart or wherever they need it, or they could do it at that anxiety ridden Christmas event that they have to go to. But first, let's do the anxiety for, holiday stress. And if you can take and just put your hands Put your palms up towards the ceiling and, think about where that stress is in your body, whether it's shoulders, stomach, forehead, or any other part. And what we're going to do is just tap like this and think holiday stress, holiday stress, holiday stress. Great. And then take two fingers on each hand and tap directly underneath your eyes. Holiday stress, holiday stress, holiday stress. Three. We're gonna go underneath the arms, and there's two ways you can do this. You can do it like this. Holiday stress, holiday stress. Or sometimes people like to cross their hands across and do it like this. I don't know whether you can see that. There we go. And last one is, upper chest area. Holiday stress with the full hands. I'll let it stress, I'll let it stress, take a deep breath and release. And that's the quick neck. And the other, the other technique I was going to share with you today was, something called box breathing. And this is the ones that the, Navy SEALs use and stuff. there's various versions of it, and you can, Look it up on the internet. I choose a real simple version that I give to people to When they feel find themselves in those stressful situations and this is not a place to do any in other words, you know You don't want to be in the middle of a christmas party tapping So you might want to do this and all it is is, It helps bring you back to yourself and it's just called box breathing and i'll explain it to you. It's breathing in You Holding for, letting out for, and, we'll just try it right now. And it's something you do. And what I say is you do a, probably a minimum of three and then decide whether you need to do it more. Or it's the time to let it go and then, you know, you can do it again later if you have to. So, uh, let me try this with you, Kathie. Okay. Inhale. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold it. 2, 3, 4. Exhale, 2, 3, 4. Inhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold it. 2, 3, 4. Exhale, two, three. One more time. Inhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold it, 2, 3, 4, exhale, 2, 3, 4, and, and make a choice. Now whether you know you wanna continue doing it or you just want to let it go because you're back centered again. And for lack of better words in balance,

Kathie: 23:17

whoa. I don't know about y'all, but I feel fantastic right now. I. I wasn't under anxiety before, but I was having a little bit of a headache when Nick started. And it's gone now. It's, it's gone.

Nick: 23:31

Yeah.

Kathie: 23:32

I like it called the Quick Nick. And we could even add the Quick Saint Nick, because it's holiday season. There you go. And, and, but I will always remember that, the Quick Nick. And the thing is, with each of these episodes, I have a blog post that goes with it. And inside that blog post will be bonus tips of how we talked today, the things that we talked about where you can actually read them. You can also watch the video again there. You can listen to the podcast episode there. But you'll have more resources to add little bonus tips. But I'm going to close out this episode today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know somebody who could benefit from this, please share it with them. And until next time, we'll see you next time. Peace out and Namaste.

Day 8: Tap Your Way to Sanity? The Unconventional Burnout Solution

Watch this episode on Kathie’s YouTube Channel

Listen on Kathie’s Coaching Podcast