When You’re Tired, and Your Healing Feels “Stuck!”
“I’ve seen multiple doctors, spent significant time and energy seeking answers for my health issues, and yet have little results to show for it. What am I doing wrong?” Sound familiar?!
Have you ever felt that despite your best efforts to get well, nothing seemed to move the needle forward? And in fact, as you begin to make changes to your lifestyle, with the intention of providing your body with more support in the healing process, entirely new challenges arise out of nowhere. This leads you down the rabbit hole of scouring the internet for supplements, diets, and treatments in search of your “cure,” only to end up overwhelmed by the endless array of information and opinions about what’s “wrong” with you, how you got here, and what you need to recover. I’ve been there, and understand how frustrating, exhausting, and hopeless it can feel. But friend, hear me when I say, there is nothing “wrong” with you!
We all experience periods (long and short) of internal imbalance, dysregulation, over activation of the stress response in the body, and even compromised functioning of crucial biological systems. In other words, we’ve all known pain of some variety that has impacted our daily lives, and caused suffering- emotionally, spiritually, and/or physically. AND it says nothing of your worth. Period.
Pain is all information. Pain is data and communication, never a value statement. Depression, loneliness, disillusionment, the fear of not being, doing, or having enough, these are proof of the body’s desire to communicate with you, and sacred opportunities to deepen your relationship with it.
That being said, if you believed deep in your bones, that your worth doesn’t depend on the elimination of unwanted symptoms, would anything change in your approach to healing? Would it change your response to the feedback your body sends you? How would it inform your search for the “root” cause, of whatever health difficulty you’re navigating, right now?
In “root cause” medicine, the goal is to uncover the origin of undesirable symptoms, but the “root” itself is neutral. The root isn’t something to be blamed. Demonizing the root does not move your healing forward faster! We honor the root system of a plant, because it is responsible for the plant’s ability to grow. And discovering the source of what’s manifesting for you as a health “issue,” is critical to your evolution. Let the discovery of your root serve as a lantern to illuminate your healing path, a way paved with love and gentleness.
Commit to honoring whatever roots manifest, by maintaining an open mind and heart, along the unearthing journey. Remember, you’re not a healing “project,” you’re a human being with complex emotions, history, and experiences. This perspective is key to avoiding healing plateaus- that sense I alluded to earlier, when you feel that you’ve tried EVERYTHING, and are still not seeing the physical results you desire.
“So, if a healing “stall” isn’t about something I’m doing ‘wrong,’ what is causing a pause in my progress?”
I’m glad you asked! In my own experience, when it feels like someone slammed the brakes on my healing, it’s often a sign I'm clinging too tightly to the expectation that doing “better” will appear in the form of an outward reduction of symptoms. I’ve found, time and time again, this is the belief responsible for interrupting transformation: the notion that only physical evidence of healing is valid.
But what if healing is more flexible than that? What if everything counts as progress? Truly everything. What other markers of growth could you start tracking, today, to challenge the belief that you’re “stalled,” in your healing? For example, have you observed:
More flexible thinking?
More confidence speaking your truth?
More connection in your relationships?
A better understanding of your body?
Felt empowered to make decisions that honor your intuition?
EVERY drop of love, care, and time spent nourishing your body is valuable. No investment in yourself is a wasted one, even when the “result” seems too small to count. What’s more, by all means you can keep exploring your options, and glean what you can from other healers who have traveled a road similar to yours. But remember, whether your progress is big or small is subjective, and honestly not the point.
The “point” and most valuable skill acquired in the healing process, is the ability to understand the language of your body, and get comfortable with receiving the messages it sends to you. Healing your relationship with your body is the foundation of ALL transformation.
So when the healing going gets tough, stay the path of connection with your body. Stay the path of listening and loving, even when it feels insignificant. Look for relationship over answers. Because no “answer” will suddenly unlock your worth. Your worth doesn’t lie in a supplement bottle, blood test, or diagnosis. You are already lovable, complete, and powerful.
My friend, I’ll leave you with this secret. The breakthrough doesn’t live within the answers, but rather in the offering of love for your body, in the “right here.” Want a strong and continuous flow of healing? Drop the agenda, expand your view of progress to anything that deepens your understanding of, and connection to, your body. Honor the “roots” that surface, and allow them to serve as a lighthouse to guide you home to the fullest, grounded, most empowered version of yourself. Heal to get to know the power that lives within you, roaring wild and free as the ocean. If your body is still talking, there is more abundance to be accessed in your inner and external worlds, and if within you lies capacity for expansion, you simply cannot be broken, dear one.
Erika XOXO
