HR Burnout Is Real: If You Don’t Feel Valuable, Stop Doing This

Be mindful of your self-talk. It’s a conversation with the universe. – David James Lees

There’s a familiar thread that runs through so many of the conversations I have with HR professionals.

They don’t feel valued, and they are experiencing HR Burnout.

They feel like the business doesn’t see them. Like, their contribution is invisible. Like the work they do is just expected, absorbed, and never truly acknowledged.

And I get it. I’ve been there. Got the t-shirt.

Most people don't see the work that HR do behind the scenes. It takes a high level of resilience to take your business through yet another restructure, letting people know they are at risk of redundancy and managing the emotional fallout from that.

And while I loved the employee relations side of HR role, it could get intense (think dead bodies, near fatalities and shooting pigeons!).

But here’s the question I want to ask:

How much are you valuing yourself?

Because what I see time and time again is this: The most emotionally intelligent, purpose-led HR professionals are not only hard on themselves, they gaslight themselves.

You care deeply about what you do. You want to make a difference. You want to create change for the greater good.

But if you're constantly judging yourself...

If you're putting yourself down...

If that inner critic is whispering that you should have tried harder...

If you're comparing yourself to others...

If you're giving yourself a hard time for having a wobble, or dropping a ball...

That's not valuing yourself - that's you gaslighting you - and it's time to stop it.

And whether you realise it or not, it impacts the vibe you put out.

Everything is Energy

This is something that absolutely fascinates me: energy.

Everything is energy. You might already know this. You might not. But it's true.

And the signal you send out when you're interacting with the business is an energetic one first. It's the vibe people pick up on.

You know that feeling when you walk into a meeting room and you just sense the tension? Or when you’re interviewing a candidate and get a certain sense of them? That’s energy.

So if you're walking into those spaces second-guessing yourself, listening to that inner critic, feeling insecure, anxious or quietly beating yourself up on the inside, questioning if you're capable, that energy is being transmitted as a signal — even if you’re smiling on the surface.

If you want to be of real value to the business, my invitation is this: Start by valuing yourself.

But I Do Value Myself… Don’t I?

You might pause at this moment and think, "Of course I value myself."

And if we rewind 15 years, I probably would have said the same.

But I wasn’t conscious of the way I was talking to myself when I worked in HR. And I know — I was the absolute queen of being hard on myself.

In fact, if they were handing out awards for who could be hardest on themselves, I would have got that award. It was even raised in my appraisals. That tells you something.

Self-Talk is Habitual Thinking - Part of an Identity

The truth is, this way of thinking often isn’t even conscious. It’s a loop. A habit.

A pattern that runs quietly in the background.

It sounds like:

"I should have known better."

"I should have handled that differently."

"Why do I always mess this stuff up?"

"I'm not good enough"

And just like that, you’re reinforcing a story that says you’re not enough, not valuable.

Even when someone gives you a compliment, you brush it off: "Oh, it was nothing." "It was my team, really."

That’s self-gaslighting.

You’re actively rejecting a moment of validation.

And the worst part is, you don’t even notice you’re doing it.

That voice in your head?

That’s not the truth. It’s a story you learned over time.

A conditioned way of thinking based on an early identity, but unless you've done some deep inner work to upgrade that identity, it's running the show over 95% of the time.

Ready to Upgrade Your Identity?

When I was studying psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, I had my mind blown.

Not only did I start to see my patterns and inner beliefs that had created my HR Burnout, what I saw was this: This work was the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

Because behind every mental health struggle... Behind HR burnout... Behind workplace conflict...

There’s something deeper going on.

And it has everything to do with our unconscious patterns.

You Can’t Change What You’re Not Aware Of.

If we don’t understand what’s driving our behaviour — if we’re not aware of the programmes and patterns shaping how we think, feel, and respond — then we can’t consciously change them.

It’s like that quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

That’s what I was witnessing in workplaces everywhere. Tick-box wellbeing initiatives. Insights Training. Surface-level strategies that didn’t get to the root of the problem.

But what I could see… Was an opportunity not just to improve employee wellbeing, but to raise consciousness inside HR itself.

Because when HR operates from a different state of being — one grounded in awareness, regulation, and emotional truth — everything changes.

Burnout reduces. Emotional intelligence expands. And your impact on the business grows exponentially.

That’s Why I Created HR Alchemy

HR Alchemy is my signature two-day intensive designed exclusively for HR teams. It’s not training. It’s a recalibration.

Over two transformative days, I take your HR team on a journey through their human psyche. We explore the unconscious patterns that drive stress, over-functioning, and emotional exhaustion. We rewire the limiting beliefs that keep them stuck in survival mode.

I teach them what it actually means to connect — deeply, authentically — with the people around them.

I equip them with exceptional listening and coaching skills that create real impact.

And I show them how to thrive in the work they do, not through more strategy, but through a powerful shift in how they see themselves and others.

I Know HR Doesn’t Have It Easy

I spent 12 years in HR. I know the pace, the pressure, the emotional weight you carry — often unseen.

Which is exactly why I created this programme. For you. For your team. For my old tribe.

Because you deserve more than frameworks and firefighting. You deserve to experience what it’s like to lead from a place of value, presence, and emotional clarity.

Ready to Create a New Paradigm for HR? If you’re ready to stop doing more of the same and start leading from a different level of consciousness, then now is the time.

👉 Schedule your free consultation call and let’s explore whether HR Alchemy is the transformation your team’s been waiting for.