My physical therapist shared something with me that I wanted to pass along...
Dec 11, 2022
Yes, I know that this is not a physical therapy blog. But I continue to see more and more links between physical and mental health. This thing she said opened my eyes to something I hadn't really thought of before...at least not like this.
I see Katherine, an AMAZING physical therapist, once a week right now. We're unwinding the issues that caused the pain in my back a few weeks ago. As she was talking about this process, I eagerly asked about when I can go back to a yoga class. "Not yet", she said. She said the process for healing was this: 1-release, 2-stretch, 3-strengthen.
It was a lightbulb moment, or as Oprah says, "an a-ha! moment".
Trauma and past hurts seem to heal in a similar way.
First, Release.
Second, Stretch (or grow).
Third, Strengthen.
It made perfect sense. Often, we try to skip steps and that causes more pain. In the case with my back, when I noticed the issue coming on, I likely worsened it because I tried to "fix" it with stretching and strengthening.
With our mental health, we often try to "fix" our past hurts and traumas by focusing on stretching and strengthening but we skip over the release step, causing more pain.
We try to stretch and grow through our pain with personal growth or self-help. "If only I could be a better person, this wouldn't hurt so bad".
Or we try to overpower our hurts by building up walls and strengthening our internal fortress of willpower and mental toughness. "I'll fight through this".
Personal growth, mental toughness, willpower, fortitude, self-reflection....those are ALL really great. I LOVE them all and we DO need these.
But when we are dealing with a past hurt or trauma, we don't want to skip that first step.
RELEASE. FORGIVE. LET GO. ACCEPT.
Starting there will make your growth and strengthening FAR more powerful and productive.
Sometimes we skip the first step because it seems impossible, difficult, or we don't think we need to do this. But truly, to look deeply and directly at our pain...allow the release that it needs will set us up for future success.
So, what do you think? Does this resonate? Have you ever tried to heal but found it hard? Is it possible that you tried to
skip over that first step, like me?