This post contains an affiliate link and I may earn a small commission when you click on the link at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn for qualifying purchases. You can read my full disclaimer here.
What I Wish Someone Told Me When I Was Starting Out On My Emotional and Spiritual Healing Journey
I created Journaling is Self-Care LLC with the goal of helping you ignite your healing journey, cultivate self-love, and feel empowered to sleigh your demons while using journaling as a tool.
I've got plenty of blog posts here with journaling tips and prompts to help you accomplish those goals and more.
But today, I want to share some interesting things that might come up for you during your path to emotional and spiritual healing using my healing journey as an example.
5 Interesting Side Effects of My Healing Journey
Before I made my emotional and spiritual healing a priority, I honestly thought that I loved myself, but I had actually grown accustomed to patterns of self-harm and keeping toxic beliefs alive.
I knew that there were better ways to live, but I didn't know how to escape the depression I had known since childhood. And on top of that, my heart was freshly broken.
I started my healing journey in 2018 by journaling, a coping skill I hadn't used in over ten years at that point. But hey, you've gotta try something new if you want a new result and I was starving for something new.
I got more newness than I could have ever expected and you will find five of those things below!
1. I realized I was on a lifelong journey.
When I first started doing emotional and spiritual healing work, my goal was to mend my broken heart to find love again.
I had become sick of being depressed after every breakup. And seeing myself as the common denominator, I realized there was some work to do if I ever wanted to have a healthy relationship.
But it didn’t take long before the journey became so much bigger.
Yes, I healed my relationship wounds and I’ve been in a happy, loving relationship for a year now. But before I ever met him, my healing journey led me to discover my life’s purpose, become a loving friend and caregiver to myself, develop new passions, drop loads of baggage and limiting beliefs…and well, the list goes on.
The bottom line, the rock bottom moment that sparks a spiritual awakening or healing journey is just an introduction. I plan to continue growing and discovering new aspects of myself until the day I die.
It’s too rewarding to stop.
2. I learned that getting what you want doesn’t always feel as good as you expect it to.
The inner work I’ve done during my emotional and spiritual healing journey has given me the courage to set goals bigger than anything I ever imagined before. This definitely comes from having more faith in my own strength and abilities as well as the spirit guides who love and protect me.
But even with all of that faith and empowerment, seeing your desires manifest in the physical world isn’t always a walk in the park. They can challenge you and reveal additional areas where you haven’t healed.
Imposter syndrome came up for me big time when I started my business.
No matter how much tangible proof I had sitting in my face, it was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was smart and creative enough to collab with a web designer to create my website, design the journals in my store on my own, or that I really had the knowledge to trademark my business name and register it as an LLC.
I did all of those things though (And a gazillion more!) I didn’t have any experience, but I researched, took risks, and approached my business with an “I'm going to learn as I go” mentality.
Still, it took a really long time for me to own my actions in this regard and to actually celebrate myself and understand that I was doing something special.
I also felt like I wasn’t qualified to be happy or successful. These experiences made seeing my dream come true feel like a nightmare at times and I’m glad to say “I’ve let them go!”
3. All of my bodies got involved.
I know that sounds weird. I just had to make sure you were still paying attention!
When you are on a healing journey, you aren’t just working with your mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual self. You are working with all of them as a team.
There have been times when I’ve done shadow work to release trauma and I would feel pressure and then lightness in the chakra that related to the type of trauma I was working with.
I can literally feel concentrated bursts of energy exiting energy centers (especially my heart chakra) based on the mental and emotional work I was doing to heal limiting beliefs and toxic behavior patterns.
I also learned that dancing is one of the activities that connects all of my bodies and allows them to release the energies that aren’t serving me as well.
If you want to learn how holding trapped negative energy in our bodies affects our chakras and can manifest as physical illnesses or injuries, read "Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing" by Caroline Myss, I love the way she breaks it all down.
Let me warn you though, it isn’t a light easy read. Grab a highlighter, a pen, and your favorite journal to help you digest it.
4. I had intense healing dreams.
I’ve always been a very vivid dreamer, but my dreams have become a lot more intense since I started healing. It isn’t this way every single night, but I noticed it after a big breakthrough, usually from intense shadow work.
I will have a dream where I'm reliving past the traumatic experience, except I have my current knowledge and skillset.
In the dream, I am either able to change the outcome as a result or I allow the trauma to play out and I'm able to give my inner child the love and nurturing she didn't receive when it first happened.
Then, I wake up feeling all of the emotions, sometimes I'm even crying. The energy takes over my body and releases it, and I finish the night sleeping like a rock.
I'm usually groggy, quiet, and extremely gentle with myself the next day.
5. I'm a lot more sensitive now.
A healing journey caused by a spiritual awakening is a beautiful life-changing experience that will give you true freedom and purpose. And because you are making so many big changes, it's common for you to feel extremely different.
I have become a lot more sensitive to people and their energies, so I spend more time alone than I ever have. I've become my own best friend during this journey because I've cultivated so much self-love and inner peace.
But also, I just can't handle as much socializing as I used to because I feel extremely sensitive. I'm picking up on other people's energy a lot more.
As a result, when I have periods where I'm super social, like now during this lovely holiday season, I make sure I give myself adequate time to rest and recharge. I just tell my people that I'm going off the grid so they don't think I've been kidnapped.
You should expect yourself to have mood swings in general. It's normal to mourn your old self and to feel out of sorts, lost, and sad while you're growing so much.
Committing to an emotional and spiritual healing journey is one of the biggest acts of self-love that you can make. And while your healing journey is guaranteed to be beautifully rewarding, it will also be full of surprises that can be difficult and confusing to navigate.
During times like these, it is easy to isolate and feel alone and discouraged, but you don't have to. The Journaling is Self-Care Journal blog is here to help you along the way!
Enjoy your healing journey, love. You deserve it!