When you go through something traumatic it can change the way you think, act, and feel. You most likely will not feel the same way as you did before the incident. It may have even been so bad that you are unable to recognize the person looking back at you in the mirror. After enduring any variation of trauma, in some way you will be forced to recover from it. Healing is the way you can fully recover, thrive, and find peace after enduring a traumatic experience.

I felt completely altered after enduring emotional abuse. Once I had finally put an end to the pattern of abuse, I was relieved, but I was not who I was before it began. I was anxious, depressed, constantly worried, had little control over my thoughts, and I felt broken. I had felt as if I wasn’t a complete person anymore and I struggled to get through each day. To try to claw at feeling better or at least numb some of the pain, I would over eat and watch too much TV. Not only could I not sustain living like that, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to feel calm, peaceful, and happy. I wanted to enjoy my life. The only way I could get to where I wanted to be was to heal.

Healing is not easy. Healing takes hard work, time, determination, grit, and perseverance. Yet, healing is so completely worth it all. The more that you heal, the more that you come back to yourself. It has been over six months since I began healing and I have come so far. I finally feel like me again. I am so proud of myself for pushing through all of my hard moments, for not giving up, and for sticking to my healing goals. I knew that healing was the only way I could get back to myself and live the life that I want.

I believe that healing cannot be skipped. Sure, you can slap a band aid over the hurt and lean into unhealthy vices to try to forget the pain. That may work even for awhile, yet, the ghost of the trauma will linger in the background. I think that to truly rid yourself of the demons, you have to look them head on and fight them. You need to do this for yourself, for your life, and for those in your life.

Others Depend On You

You absolutely should not skip healing if you have others that depend on you. If you have kids, healing yourself is so important for them, too. It can be really tough to be a parent when you are dealing with trauma. You may get triggered easily, struggle to be truly present, and have low energy. That is not the parent that any of us want to be. We want to be the best for our kids because they deserve the world. If you are struggling to find it within you to heal yourself, look at your kids. Heal for them, too.

Typically in the past, I would eat pints of Ben and Jerry’s, binge watch Netflix, and go out looking for adventures to distract myself. Now, I have a child. Not only do I not have the time to do those things, but it is not fair to my baby for me to live unhealed. To be the best mom I can be, I have to be the healthiest mom I can be. Healing has never been more important.

Avoid Turning Out Like Those Who Hurt You

People who tend to hurt others typically are fighting their own inner demons. Skipping healing leaves you more vulnerable to turning out like those who hurt you. Or at least susceptible to not being the best version of yourself that you can be. Without healing, you are still fighting inner battles whether you consciously notice them or not. You are not your healthiest self when you have lingering unprocessed trauma. That is why healing is so important, so that you are able to grow and recover from what hurt you rather than letting it slowly consume you.

I was terrified at the thought of being anything like the person that emotionally abused me. I knew that I would do anything to avoid being like that. What I went through made me self-reflect to an unhealthy point. I was constantly overthinking, questioning, and criticizing myself. Yet, this obsessive overanalyzing helped push me to start healing right away. I would not say that this obsession was necessarily a good thing, except that I was steadfast on healing. Now that I am in a better headspace, I will continue to work on myself and check myself to a healthy degree.

Take Your Life Back

Healing is necessary to completely take your life back. The experience or the person still hold some power over you when you let the trauma affect your life. Of course, it is hard not to let it have an impact on you, but when you heal you are taking your power back. When you heal, you are not letting it affect you any longer. Healing may also elevate your quality of life. You will not only be able to once more enjoy your life, but you will be able to deeply appreciate it much more. You may be more grateful, and less likely to take things for granted.

There is nothing in the world that is worth losing your peace over. We only get this one chance at life. We should do everything we can to embrace this gift. Bad things will happen to all of us and at some point we may find ourselves lost. What is important is how we pick ourselves back up and find our way again. Take your life back because you deserve it.

Feel True Happiness and Peace Again

You must heal to feel true pure happiness and peace again. Healing yourself will lead you to a beautiful existence. Once you get your life and yourself back, you are able to feel positive emotions that maybe you haven’t felt in awhile. Your heart beats softly, your mind is calm, and you can feel safe in your body. You have finally stopped living in a constant state of survival mode. It feels really incredible to get to this point.

Healing has changed my life after the emotional abuse forever altered me. Before I began healing, I was a wreck. Even once I started focusing on healing, I did not feel better immediately. I still struggled a lot. It actually took months for me to notice what then suddenly seemed to be drastic changes. It took months of consistent healing practices before I felt peace and calmness return to me. It was all worth it. I am able to enjoy my life now without the affects of the emotional abuse weighing me down. That is everything to me.

I would highly recommend putting in the hard work to heal. Do not skip healing. You may think that you can just get through whatever you went through and you will be okay. While that may be true, healing will give you certainty that you will return to yourself and your life. It will take less time to fix the pain rather than just pushing it to the side and waiting for it to diminish on its own. Healing may even elevate your life higher than it was before your trauma. I have learned a lot from what I went through, but I wouldn’t say that my trauma was positive in any way. I did not deserve to be treated the way I was or to go through something like that. I am proud of myself for healing and for all of the positives I have myself created from what I went through.

Heal for yourself. You deserve it.