If you’ve been through something emotionally jarring (no matter how big or small), then do these 9 things to heal yourself and get yourself back on the right path.
Healing is a very powerful word. Just thinking about it, reading about it, or writing it in your diary can make you feel strong.
Maybe you’re reading this post because something broke inside you. Maybe you’ve been carrying pain for so long you’ve forgotten what it feels like to be light.
Or maybe you’re just tired of pretending, pushing through, and being the strong one.
Whatever brought you here, I want you to know that wanting to heal is the first step (and a huge one, too).
I call you brave for choosing to be on this journey, and I want to help you along the way.
I’ll be walking you through 9 tips that will help you heal and recover from the things that have you feeling lost at the moment.
But first, pin this post to keep it for later.
Read on, dear reader. This one’s for your inner self, who deserves healing, comfort, and the best in life:
How To Heal Yourself – 9 Helpful Tips
1. Let yourself feel what you’re actually feeling
We spend so much energy trying not to feel things.
And I honestly do get it, because feeling the hard stuff is terrifying. It’s like opening a door when you’re not sure what’s behind it.
But those painful feelings don’t go away just because you ignore them. They wait, build up, and come out sideways in ways that confuse you.
You might randomly cry at commercials, snap at the people you love, and feel numb on occasions that actually call for joy.
Healing starts when you stop running from what’s inside you.
You don’t have to do anything with the feelings. You don’t have to solve them or make sense of them. Just let them exist.
Sit with sadness when it shows up, let anger move through you without pushing it down, and notice anxiety without trying to fix it immediately.
I just sit there and say out loud, ‘I feel sad right now’ or ‘I’m really angry about this.’
Naming it somehow makes it less overwhelming and reminds me that feelings are temporary visitors, not permanent residents.
They come, they peak, and then they pass. But only if you let them.
2. Talk to yourself like someone you love
Most of us have an inner voice that’s just mean. It says things we would never say to a friend.
It calls us stupid, weak, too much, and not enough. It replays every mistake on loop and tells us we deserved what hurt us.
But if you want to heal, you have to change that voice.
You have to learn to speak to yourself with the same gentleness you’d use with a scared child or a hurting friend.
I’ll admit that this can feel fake at first.
When you’ve spent years beating yourself up, self-love can feel like a lie. But it’s not. In fact, it may just be the most real thing you can experience.
You’re just telling yourself the truth for the first time.
The voice in your head shapes everything. So, please make it a kind one, even if you have to pretend at first.
Eventually, you’ll start to believe it and come to love being kind to yourself. Anything else from yourself will then feel wrong to you, and you won’t tolerate it.
3. Stop waiting to be ready and just start
There’s never going to be a perfect time to start healing.
You’re not going to wake up one day feeling completely ready to face everything that hurt you. That only happens in movies.
When it comes to healing, you just have to start where you are, with what you have.
And where you are might be really hard right now. You might be exhausted, confused, barely holding it together.
That’s okay, my friend, but start anyway. Ask yourself what you can do right now to take that first step.
Maybe you need to book a therapy session, or journal for five minutes, or just get out of bed and take a shower.
Maybe you need to unfollow people who make you feel bad about yourself, or set boundaries you’ve been too scared to set.
These small choices are what eventually lead to the completion of your healing. You just need to start walking first, and the rest aligns naturally.
4. Find people who let you be human
Healing is a deeply personal process, I know, but your life also involves people, which means they could be a part of your healing process too.
I know it feels safer to hide, do everything alone, and not burden anyone with your mess. But isolation just makes everything heavier.
Healing happens in connection.
It happens when someone sees you struggling and doesn’t look away, and when someone lets you cry without trying to fix you.
When someone says ‘me too,’ and you realize you’re not as alone as you thought.
It can be a friend, a family member, a therapist, a support group, or an online community of people who understand what you’re going through.
Just let them in, and actually tell them when you’re not feeling okay. It will only make you stronger.
5. Get out of your head and into your body
Healing isn’t just mental. It’s physical too, because your body holds all the things you’ve been through.
Trauma, stress, and grief don’t just live in your mind. They live in your tight shoulders, your clenched jaw, your shallow breathing, and your constant tension.
Moving your body helps release what’s stuck inside. And I don’t mean you have to go to the gym or run marathons. That can be too much when you’re not feeling good.
But small movements are in your hand, and they’ll get you out of your head and back into your body.
Dance in your kitchen, go for a walk, do yoga in your bedroom.
Stretch your body, shake your hands and arms like you’re shaking something off (because you are), or put on a song and move however your body wants to move.
And if none of that sounds appealing, then just stand up and take slow, deep breaths in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Simple, effective, and it works every time.
6. Create space from what hurts you
If you’re trying to get better while surrounded by the same people, places, habits, or situations that hurt you, it won’t work.
You can’t heal in the same environment that made you sick.
Healing requires distance, boundaries, and maybe saying no to things that used to be normal.
It might mean limiting contact with people who drain you, even if they’re family. It might be leaving a relationship that’s destroying you.
It might mean quitting the job that’s crushing your soul. It might mean changing your entire life!
I’m not saying any of this is easy. Some of these decisions are brutal, I know.
But you deserve to exist in spaces where you can breathe and rest for a while.
So, whatever this step may look like for you, see if you can take it, and give yourself the reprieve you so desperately need.
7. Do small things that feel good
When you’re in the thick of healing, it’s easy to forget that life can still have good moments.
You get so focused on the pain and the work that you forget to find little pockets of light.
But to heal, you need to slowly remember how to feel joy again, even if for a few minutes at a time.
Do small things that make you feel alive, like:
- Watch the sunrise
- Listen to music that moves you
- Eat food that tastes good
- Light a candle
- Take a long shower
- Have a cup of tea with biscuits
- Read something that makes you think, laugh, or even cry
- Spend time with animals
- Create something
- Stand in sunlight with your eyes closed
These small pleasures are a part of healing because they remind you that you’re not just your pain.
You’re also the person who loves rain, who laughs at stupid jokes, and who finds magic in ordinary moments.
So, remind yourself of the joy of simple things, and pick yourself up with help from all that’s around you.
8. Accept that healing isn’t linear
This is where some people go wrong in their healing journey. The moment they feel better, they think it’s all good, but then the pain comes back, and they get hopeless again.
But healing and pain both come and go in waves. It does not work in a straight line, but more in a spiral.
Sometimes you move forward, sometimes you circle back to the same things, and sometimes you feel completely lost.
You’ll have good days where you feel very good, and then you’ll have a day where you’re right back in the darkness, and it feels like you’ve made no progress at all.
But no, this does not mean you’re failing. This is just what healing looks like.
Be patient with yourself on the bad days, and don’t convince yourself that you’re broken forever or that you’ll never get better.
You’re not going backward, but just processing something new, or feeling something that needs to be felt.
It’s all part of the process, and it’s meant to be this way.
9. Remember why you’re doing this
On the hardest days, you need to remember why you started your healing journey. Like, why are you choosing to do the work instead of just surviving?
You’re doing this because you deserve more than just getting through the day. You deserve actually to live, to feel peace in your body.
You deserve relationships that don’t hurt you, and you deserve to like the person you are. You deserve a future that isn’t controlled by your past.
You’re doing this because there’s a version of you on the other side of this pain who’s softer, stronger, and freer.
That person is worth fighting for. You are worth fighting for.
Write down why you want to heal and put it somewhere you’ll see it when things get hard.
Come back to your reminders when you forget, and let it be your anchor when everything feels pointless.
One Final Note For You
The fact that you’re reading this post is healing in itself. You’ve already begun the process, my friend.
You’re going to be okay. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually. Little by little, moment by moment, choice by choice.
You’re going to find your way back to yourself. And that person you’re becoming, they’re going to be incredible.
Just keep going, because trust me, you’re doing better than you think.
Read next: 5 Best Things I Did To Improve My Mental Health
Can you think of one healing affirmation for yourself? Drop it in the comment box before you leave. Let’s put it out into the universe and make it even more real.
Leave a Reply