Who Am I Outside of My Anxiety?
Recently I was reflecting with an individual client on how so many of us go into this healing work expecting big, massive moments of change. Huge life-changing epiphanies, giant shifts, incredible “ah-ha!” moments.
But what my client and I were noticing was that healing is actually kind of the opposite of this.
For my client, her healing didn’t look like tiny things becoming huge things - it actually looked like huge things becoming little tiny things.
As we were processing an experience she’d had recently of holding a boundary with her mom, she said “a few months ago this would’ve been such a huge thing for me.” It would’ve taken so much energy, so much focus, so much emotional space. It would’ve taken her a really long time to feel safe and grounded again after something like this.
But now, it was a brief discussion with her mom, she spent a few moments afterward noticing and tending to some discomfort in her body, and then she was able to go on with the rest of her day.
As she has done the inner work of healing, the interactions and emotions that used to be so heavy and all-consuming for her have become small moments in her life.
And what she noticed is that this has opened up so much more space in her life. She has more energy, more aliveness, more emotional reserve. She has more room to breathe, to move, to cultivate, to explore.
The space that used to be filled with anxiety, rumination, and overthinking, now gets to be filled with LIFE.
Something I hear from clients a lot is “I don’t know who I am beyond my anxiety…I’ve felt anxious for so long, this just feels like me.”
But it’s NOT you. You are not your thoughts. You are not your fear. You are not your shame.
This is a part of you, but it’s not the WHOLE of who you are.
At your core, you are deeply loving. Compassionate. Caring. Fun. Sensual. Playful. Funny. Powerful.
And so, so much more. That is who you are. That is who you get to be when you aren’t stuck in your head all the time. That is what you have access to when you heal. That is what’s possible when anxiety isn’t running the show anymore.
……….And no……….You’re NOT the exception to healing ;)
If you want help accessing this part of you, so you can start to LIVE again, check out our signature group program - Trust in Love. This is possible for you, and we want to support you in this journey.