Healing Is Acknowledging Your Pain Without Letting It Own You
This is where the true magic happens
When it comes to pain, it’s very tempting to swing between two extremes.
On one side, there’s the avoidance trap. We try to outrun our emotions, suppressing them, pretending they’re not there. This avoidance can manifest in a myriad of ways, from toxic positivity to doomscrolling to substance issues. Whatever our personal tendency is, the pattern is the same: we’re avoiding our emotions. Avoiding our pain.
On the other side of the spectrum, there’s the victim trap. This is when we focus on our pain so much that it feels like the only thing that’s real. It consumes us, defines us, and blurs out everything else. We become so attached to our wounds that we can’t see beyond them—and we end up reliving them over and over again.
These extremes are common for a reason. Avoiding our emotions offers a temporary sense of safety—it’s a quick fix that allows us to escape what we’re really feeling. And attaching to our pain? Well, it may feel like we’re honoring it… But the truth is, we’re keeping ourselves stuck in the past, unable to move forward or heal.
But what if there’s a way to break free from this cycle? A path that allows us to feel our pain without avoiding it or letting it control us?
As with most things in life, the answers lie somewhere in the middle. That middle ground isn’t always easy to find, but it’s where true healing begins.