From Burnout to Embodied Energy: The Story Behind My Awakening
By Christine Higgins
People often meet me now as the healer, the guide, the woman who holds moon circles for thousands on Killiney Beach.
But that version of me didn’t appear out of nowhere.
My journey into healing began in the messy, overwhelming, beautifully chaotic chapters of my own life — the ones that nearly broke me before they rebuilt me.
This is the story behind Embodied Energy Wellness.
CHILDHOOD — The First Wound That Shaped My Sensitivity
I grew up with a father who was emotionally unstable and often abusive.
My parents split when I was young, and he disappeared from our lives for years.
Later, we learned he suffered from severe mental health conditions:
manic depression
schizophrenia
deep emotional isolation
As a child, I didn’t understand any of this — I only felt the absence, the confusion, and the fear.
I didn’t see him for long periods, and when I did, it was always complicated.
In the latter part of his life, we reconnected in small ways… but it was fragile.
In 2013, he died alone in his bedsit.
A man who needed support, love, and stability — but never received it.
I’ve always said he died of a broken heart.
That loss changed something in me.
It made me grow up fast.
It made me see pain differently.
It made me feel deeply, read people energetically, and understand suffering from the inside out.
This was my first initiation into compassion, intuition, and emotional awareness — long before I had language for it.
Caught in the Middle: The Family Dynamic That Shaped Me
As an adult, I tried to create stability for my own family — but I ended up carrying emotional dynamics that weren’t mine.
For years, my home life was a constant emotional balancing act.
There was ongoing tension between my partner and my eldest daughter, and—like many mothers do—I became the one stuck in the middle.
It wasn’t explosive.
It was quiet.
Constant.
Draining.
I was:
• The peacemaker
• The emotional buffer
• The one reading the room to prevent arguments
• The one absorbing tension so the kids didn’t have to
• The “glue” holding everything together
I didn’t realise it then, but this role was slowly exhausting my nervous system.
I was living in hyper-awareness, scanning for emotional storms, anticipating reactions before they happened.
This was my early intuitive training — but it came at a massive cost.
Motherhood, Survival Mode, and the Silent Load
With four children, a partner, and a household to run, my life became a constant cycle of giving.
I juggled everything:
school runs, career, dinners, cleaning, refereeing arguments, appointments, bedtime routines…
all while trying to show up as the “strong” one.
I thought exhaustion was normal.
I thought overwhelm was part of being a mum.
I thought losing myself was the price of keeping everyone else together.
I didn’t see it as burnout.
But that’s exactly what it was.
The Business That Became Too Heavy to Hold
At the same time, I worked full time and also built a successful online makeup distribution company, FaceFX Makeup Supplies, from scratch, that grew quickly and successfully.
It was exciting.
It was thriving.
It gave me a sense of achievement.
But behind the scenes, I was running it on fumes — at night, between naps, between school pickups, after everyone else had gone to bed.
On the inside, I was struggling with:
• constant anxiety
• sleepless nights
• burnout
• panic attacks
• a nervous system stretched too thin
And yet… I kept pushing.
Like most women, I told myself:
“Just keep going. It’ll be fine.”
But life had other plans.
The Moment Everything Changed — My Near-Death Experience
The turning point came moments after my fourth child was born. One minute I was recovering in my hospital bed — the next, I was hemorrhaging. Six doctors ran into the room, alarms going off, hands working fast. As they battled to save me, my body slipped into anaphylactic shock. And in that split-second between holding on and letting go, I crossed into a near-death experience… a stillness that changed my entire life.
In that moment, I saw the truth of my life:
I had become completely disconnected from myself.
I was running on empty.
I was giving from a place of depletion.
My body, mind, and spirit were not aligned.
And something had to change.
That moment cracked me open.
When I returned to my body, nothing felt the same.
I knew I couldn’t continue living the way I had been.
The Aftermath: Breakdown → Awakening
Recovery after my NDE wasn’t linear.
It was raw, emotional, and brutally honest.
All the burnout, the stress, the suppressed emotions — everything I had ignored — finally demanded attention.
Instead of running from it, I surrendered to it.
I began to heal.
I began to remember myself.
I began to rebuild.
This was when I was guided into:
✨ Yoga
✨ Shamanic practice
✨ Energy healing (Reiki)
✨ Nervous system work
✨ Somatic embodiment
✨ Meditation
✨ Breathwork
✨ Spiritual development
✨ Consciousness studies
Every modality became a piece of my rebirth.
Selling My Business: The Final Act of Letting Go
After the NDE — and not before — I realised I couldn’t return to the high-stress life that had contributed to my collapse.
The business that once lit me up now felt heavy, misaligned, and draining.
Letting it go was emotional, but it was necessary.
Selling FaceFX after my NDE was one of the most powerful decisions I ever made.
It was my way of finally choosing myself.
Choosing health.
Choosing alignment.
Choosing peace.
Choosing purpose.
The Birth of Embodied Energy Wellness
My work today didn’t come from a textbook or a strategic plan.
It was born directly from my lived experience:
• Surviving burnout
• Navigating emotional tension
• Raising four children
• Running a successful business
• Losing myself completely
• Nearly losing my life
• Rebuilding from the inside out
Embodied Energy Wellness isn’t a brand — it’s my soul’s work.
It’s the result of a woman who walked through the fire and refused to stay burned.
Now I stand in front of thousands — in corporate rooms, at retreats, on beaches, and in sacred circles — guiding people back to their bodies, their intuition, and their inner wisdom.
Not because I read about healing.
But because I lived it.
A Final Note for Anyone Reading This
If you feel lost, overwhelmed, burnt out, or disconnected…
please know this:
You can rise.
You can change your life.
You can hear your soul again.
You can rewrite your story — no matter how deep the exhaustion goes.
My breakdown became my breakthrough.
My awakening.
My calling.
And if you’re ready to begin your own, I’m here to walk that path with you.
