In this episode, we will be unpacking Why Time May Not Be Enough to Heal Emotional Wounds because if we rely on time alone, we may be prolonging our recovery journey.
Before we dive into this month’s topic, you may have noticed that I have been missing in this space for a little while and have not released any new episodes. I needed to practice what I teach and create margin as life got extremely busy. I am happy to share that I am back and look forward to sharing more episodes with you.
What is new on your end? I have started working on my herb garden as it was looking a little sad and neglected. My latest addition is chives. I tried a new pasta recipe that needed some chives. I thought, why get a bunch when you can get a plant? Each to their own. I’ll share some pictures of my herb garden on my social platforms soon. My little garden serves as a reminder that we all need some TLC often.
So back to Why Time May Not Be Enough to Heal Emotional Wounds. As a counsellor, I have the privilege of coming alongside others as they work through their emotional wounds. I understand first-hand that this is not an easy but worthwhile process.
Relying on time alone can prolong our healing process, causing us to feel stuck and frustrated. I don’t know about you; there have been times when I have had psychical wounds that needed tending to that only got worse over time as I needed to seek medical advice. By putting this off, the healing process took longer. Like physical wounds, emotional wounds can fester and impact other areas of our lives.
Emotional wounds can look like feeling rejected, abandoned, betrayed, grief and a broken heart, just to name a few. Whether experienced as a child or as an adult, these emotionally painful experiences can start to cause fears, limiting beliefs, triggers, and behaviours and even impact how we see ourselves and others.
Now that we have identified possible emotional wounds now what? Here are a few ways that we can tend to emotional wounds.
#1 Healing is a journey. You’ve heard me say it before, and I will keep saying it, it’s about progress over perfection. When taking on emotional healing, it’s best to avoid an all-or-nothing mindset, as this can be overwhelming and discouraging. Healing takes time. Taking it one step at a time can encourage small improvements in our mood, relationships, and self-esteem. We can create awareness around our triggers and choose how we might like to respond.
#2 Bite-sized steps. Making too many changes at the same time can be overwhelming and counterproductive, leaving us feeling deflated. The idea is to make sustainable, manageable and micro changes that can promote a sense of hope and build momentum.
#3 Being patient with ourselves. As the saying goes, patience is a virtue. We must offer ourselves patience and grace, treating ourselves as someone we care deeply about. Sometimes it can feel like we are taking one step forward and two steps back. You got to love the process of change. Processing emotional pain can be difficult, and we need to offer ourselves the time to do so along with self-compassion.
#4 Practice self-care. Take the time to listen to our bodies and what it needs. Self-care is an important component of emotional healing and is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. It’s about caring for ourselves and tending to our physical, phycological, social and spiritual well-being. I have a heap of resources on self-care on my website that you might like to check out.
#5 Asking for support. Healing isn’t meant to be done alone, and I get it asking for help is not always easy. Asking for support can have benefits and take many forms depending on one’s needs. If counselling is something that you have been thinking about, let’s chat and see how we can work together.
During our time together, we have unpacked that Time May Not Be Enough to Heal Emotional Wounds. We looked at a handful of ways to position ourselves to heal from understanding that healing is a journey. It’s about taking one step In front of the other, offering ourselves patience and self-compassion, practising self-care and asking for support.
So that’s it for today’s episode, and as always, I am grateful for the opportunity to come alongside you. If you know someone who might benefit from hearing this episode, why not share it with them?
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Podcast so you don’t miss an episode. For more self-care content or to learn about the counselling services I provide, you can head over to carmendebono.com.au. I look forward to coming alongside you again on the first Wednesday of the month.
