When the Global pandemic began back in 2020, there has recently been much more of a focus upon how important it is to look after one’s mental health. Many years ago, I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, it was pretty mild and I could carry on living my life, however it got worse in 2021 due to the stress of my US visa problems and the sudden drastic change that occurred in my life. This experience brought up some issues from my childhood that I wasn’t aware of that needed healing. As I type, the panic attacks I’ve been experiencing got worse and I’m now working to get them under control and heal the wounds.
The therapist I’ve been working with got me thinking about the topic of mental health and how important it is to prioritize it. The stress of my visa problems and my reaction to the situation is what flagged up the fact that I needed to take more care of my body & my mental health as I didn’t do this when I was younger. I’ve recently noticed that there are certain triggers within the Film Festival world that can flag up to filmmakers that they need to take more care of their mental, physical and emotional health.
There are a lot of different methods and techniques that can help you look after your mental health such as meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). The latter is what I’ll be focusing upon today.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It’s also referred to as ‘tapping’. Therapists who use this technique believe tapping the body can create a balance in your energy system and treat pain. EFT style tapping has been used to treat anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. EFT focuses on the meridian points – or energy hot spots — to restore balance to your body’s energy. The therapist told me to ‘tap’ my shoulders once or twice a day as this was where there was an imbalance and the energy was severely blocked. She also told me to repeat the following affirmation ‘’I am undefeated’’. By stimulating this area of my body, it helped me to significantly reduce the stress or negative emotion I was feeling from the experience. After one month, it helped me to restore balance to the disrupted energy in my body.
With regards to using EFT to help you navigate the festival circuit, this technique can come in handy when you are coping with festival rejection letters and/or not getting the results that you were expecting. You can use the above tapping technique and replace “I am undefeated” with for example “I am a talented filmmaker” “I have made an incredible film” “My film is having a abundant and successful festival run” and “I am proud of my film and the huge amount of selections and wins it is getting on the festival circuit”
It was also at this point when I noticed how well the EFT was working that I had forgiven the people involved. I also managed to find a new immigration lawyer who got my visa issues resolved. Clearly, as the therapist said, the tapping worked! And it can work for you too in this situation as you’ll soon start to feel more positive and excited about the festival circuit and that’s when more selections will come in.
Find out more – https://www.healthline.com/health/eft-tapping
