If you are struggling in some way mentally or physically, you know all too well how challenging getting up out of bed in the morning, and doing your best to carry on as though nothing is wrong can be. You have to get up and go to work, or take care of the kids, and tend to your never ending to-do list, when all you want to do is stay in bed, and be left alone.
As someone who has experienced the challenges that life can bring while living with my own health issues, as well as years of depression and anxiety, I know how difficult it can be to live life while struggling to just get through the day.
Everything loses it’s joy. The world looks gray, and we can’t see the beauty that lies right in front of us. Numb, flat, checked out and disconnected. This is no way to live our one shot at this life. And my intention is to help as many people as possible through my blog, and services to be inspired that there is hope!
Fortunately for me, I have always been a growth oriented person, and have always been proactive about getting support, and learning new ways of coping during difficult times. I have also been determined to use my struggles to become stronger, and better, and to continue to learn from what is placed in front of me.
I can now see the magic in the littlest things, the breathtaking beauty of nature, feel those moments of pure joy and rapture when I am among the trees or at the beach. Gratitude for my life that brings me to tears, and fills my heart so full it could burst.
But, I too still have times when that darkness wants to take over. The difference now is that I allow it to be what it is, and know the depression has a message for me. It is an opportunity for me to heal another layer, and come back to myself. Now it just pops by for a visit, and doesn’t stay around long enough to wear out it’s welcome.
I have done a lot of work on myself to heal and overcome the challenges I have faced in my life. The thing that stands out most to me though, is that no matter what counseling or group therapy treatment I was in, there was something vitally important missing for me. I knew this on a soul level, and wanted and needed more – but had no idea what that was exactly.
My experiences in support group settings in the past often left me feeling worse, instead of empowered or inspired. I felt like the experience was confirming the feeling that I was broken, and needed fixing. They were focused on the “illness” not wellness and wholeness. Perhaps these types of programs are effective for some people, but they weren’t cutting it for me. I wanted more. But there wasn’t anything out there at the time that sounded appealing.
I now see that I was feeding the problem, because these groups were primarily focused on the “label” and diagnosis. Rather than focusing on empowerment, wellness, developing new ways of being, healing our relationship to self, connecting spiritually, and finding the deeper meaning in our “diagnosis” the focus is on the illness.
It wasn’t until I took ownership for my life, and started to become deeply aware that my soul and emotions were being completely ignored, that things really started to shift. I had lost connection with myself and this was the first place I began. Connecting with how I feel emotionally, and my spiritual beliefs and practices are ways that I empower myself to staying well and connected within.
Most mental health approaches miss entirely the important aspect of how our emotional state effects what we are experiencing mentally, and physically. They also miss that many people who experience depression and anxiety are also empaths who suck up surrounding energies like a sponge, and are effected by lower energies very deeply. A group focused on the participants sharing their suicide attempt last week, or how they can’t stop cutting themselves, can leave and empathic person on the floor energetically and emotionally.
The problem is that when we seek help from a mental health worker or our family doctor they completely bypass the essential aspect of our mind – body connection!
While there is no substitute for doing the deep inner work and introspection, and having a 1:1 therapeutic relationship with a therapist, personal development oriented groups are powerful medicine, and having a supportive community of like-minded people is so important on this path.
Many women tell me how they long for community, and to belong to a suppportive and growth oriented group of other women. I also hear from them the same feedback about their experiences in past counselling therapy. They tell me that they were looking for something more, even though they weren’t sure of what that was at the time. Until working with me to develop the skills that I teach, they had no idea what they were missing.
Most of the Ministry based and funded Mental Health focused programs, and services out there today are missing huge gaps when it comes to offering a more holistic based treatment. In most communities, there are limited resources available for holistically based depression and anxiety therapy. Unfortunately many never get the help they need to truly get well.
I am on a mission to change this, and I’d love it if you will support me in this movement by spreading the word to others who may be struggling and looking for a new way.
I will be running programs regularily as a way to fill in the gaps, and will cover topics that often go missed with psychotherapy treatment alone.
Remember that mental illness is not a reflection of who you are, and you can get better when you focus on healing your entire being. You are not your diagnosis or label you have been given!
So many suffer silently in isolation feeling alone and hopeless, so lets all come together for wellness, wholeness, healing, and balance, instead of dis- ease and labels.
Please share this with others to help me reach as many people as possible who are struggling in silence.
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