Are You SELF-AWARE?

Self-awareness is a #majorkey to any healing journey. Whether it is physical, emotional or mental, you must become aware of what is going on in your own body, heart, or mind before you can work out your healing. 

A journey of mental health healing requires much self-awareness. You must get to know yourself on a deeper level to heal fully. There is beauty in becoming aware of the thoughts flooding your mind, the triggers for those thoughts and the emotions attached. Since I believe in a holistic approach for healing, that requires awareness of my sleeping patterns, eating, social, and spiritual habits. 

There is SO much to be aware of it can totally be overwhelming. For my healing journey, it helped to focus on one thing at a time and build my habits off each other. Initially, there were three major areas I had to become more aware of that were vital to getting myself healthy and functioning well in my daily life. These areas were my thought life, personal hygiene and my health. 

Thought LIfe

To start, I became more aware of my thoughts. This was with the help of my therapist as she asked me questions and challenged me to check in with my thoughts every 15 minutes. I set alarms on my phone and apple watch to check in with what I was thinking about and take some deep breaths. It didn’t take long to realize my thoughts were all over the place and filled with anxiety. Slowly but surely, I learned how to fill my brain with things other than my fearful thoughts. I found refuge in reading and listening to books, learning to play music, making art and playing sports. 

Personal Hygiene

A second piece to recovering from mental trauma was my personal hygiene. In the pinnacle of my crisis, I would go days without showering, even more days without washing my hair. My room and my car were a disaster, I wore dirty clothes and things like taking care of my skin and flossing my teeth went out the window. My leg hair was LONG. And it was the summer time. I would wear weird outfits and throw a hat on my greasy head and be on my way. Talk about a hot mess. One shower at a time, I began to realize the importance of keeping myself and my living space clean. Full transparency, my room still gets messy, I have things all over the place. The Lord is still sanctifying me in this area, okayyyy. But I no longer let bowls and half filled glasses live in my room for days on end. In the words of my girl Bianca Olthoff, “Shower, shave, sparkle.” 

Physical Health

Physical health is another vital piece to be aware of. At my worst, I wasn’t sleeping, I didn’t get up and move my body, and I was only eating avocado toast and drinking coffee. I dropped over 12 pounds in just one week from my poor habits that were developing. Because I was the skinniest I had ever been, I convinced myself I was healthy and whatever I was doing was “working” for my body. In the recovery phase of my journey, I gained 30 pounds. A lot of it had to do with the medications I was on and what was going on with the chemicals in my brain. During the time when I was severely depressed, I didn’t even want to make myself workout and I ate ALL the carbs I wanted whenever I wanted. As a former (washed up) athlete who played at the college level, this relationship with my body has always been tough to navigate. It took so much self-awareness in this area as I began to learn more about my body: what kind of nourishment it needs and the best ways to workout for me. I am still learning, and there is still progress to be made. I have dropped some of my recovery weight and had to fight against some harsh thoughts about my body. More to come on this journey later. 

Thought life, personal hygiene and physical health are three ways you can begin to become more self aware. They have the potential to change a lot about the way you perceive yourself and your place in the world. The self-awareness journey truly never ends as you grow and shift into the person you are becoming. I wish you well on your journey!

xx,

Hailey