There are a variety of things to be healing from including loss and grief, physical illness, mental abuse, ectara. The hard thing with healing is it always seems to be a slow process including a few steps forward and even more back for any given accomplishment or milestone. I think accepting and recognizing that healing is a process and can take some time helps with the frustration of the slowness of the process sometimes.
I think we all go through hard things and then when we are on the other side we tend to want all the pain to be gone and everything to be back to how it was before. Unfortunately we are usually changed (mostly for the better) after going through hard things and everything can’t go back into the neat little box it was in before.
I personally have experienced grieving the loss of how my life was before being diagnosed with a Mental Illness (Bipolar I), but eventually being grateful for the growth I endured healing through that process of acceptance with my diagnosis and the life changes I needed to make to stay well. Everything in my life has been harder since being diagnosed and dealing with the severe up and down swings of the disease, but I have also gained some positives including more confidence in myself and my abilities and perseverance.
The thing that has been hardest and makes me the most sad that it is personally harder for me than others is motherhood. All I have wanted to be my whole life is the best mother ever and that is harder to achieve when I am dealing with the side effects of my illness all the time. Pair that with a difficult ex-husband who makes normal co-parenting nearly impossible and both of these factors make me feel like I have an uphill battle in front of me that I will never get to the top of and it can be discouraging at times. But I just have to get up everyday and do my best and know that I have a support system with my parents that won’t let me fail and I am very grateful for that.
Some great self-care for healing include spa days with manicures, pedicures, massages, and facials. Daily bubble baths help me wind down after a long tiring day. Getting regular exercise and eating healthy, especially eating gluten free for me now that I have celiac disease. Good sleep hygiene practices including going to bed early and listening to music or reading to wind down. I personally love yoga and daily stretching even if I don’t do it regularly.
Here’s to all of us processing our own unique healing journeys and getting through it in one piece!
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