Healing Inside and Out: Part One

Life is really, really crazy. Sometimes it can chew you up and spit you out. Let’s band together and heal ourselves through 2019.

Hi friends, Madisyn here.

I took a break these past six months from all things creative because of some personal challenges. 2018 was a rollercoaster — a very, very bumpy one, that is. I spent six months being a caretaker in a cancer treatment hospital, watching my boyfriend fight for his life (he won!). It’s kind of crazy how life completely changes when someone you love gets sick. You instantly drop everything. The silly things in life finally become unimportant. My work got pushed aside, and I focused all of my energy into helping him heal and staying positive through chemotherapy. I chopped off all of my hair when he began losing his, (I’m a sucker for a pixie cut). My boyfriend grew healthier in the summer, and then I lost a dear friend in the fall. That’s when my body just decided that it had enough. I kind of shut down. I grieved. I hid my anxiety from friends and family. I ate terribly. I didn’t sleep. I procrastinated. I talked poorly about myself. But I did all of that with a smile, trying to stay strong for the people surrounding me. I felt completely drained by December 31st.

Fast forward to February. I’m here. I feel a bit brighter. I took the last month to reflect on what the heck just happened in the last year and really began working through things. Last year was chaos. This year I hope to heal, from the inside out.

This series will be a little different than my others, but hopefully relatable to my cyber friends out there. Life is really, really crazy. It can chew you up and spit you out. It can be a light breeze or a dark place. It’s really easy to slip in between the two. Let’s band together and heal ourselves through 2019.

Each month I am going to make a list of three ways to heal my physical strength, mental wellness, and lifestyle balance. Let’s dive in:

Physical Healing: Water Intake.

Easy enough, right? More water! Let’s get in the habit of sipping more H20 through out the month. To help this process run a bit smoother, I recently bought a reusable water bottle to bring everywhere with me. I opted for a glass bottle so that I could scribble lines on it with dry-erase markers; that way, I can create daily intake goals. Earlier I mentioned not eating well and not taking care of my body. When times get a little rushed, it’s easy for me to toss simple things aside like drinking enough water. Can anyone else relate? By the end of the day, sometimes I find myself completely dehydrated and realize I have barely had any. This year, I’m working on that. My body NEEDS it. Let’s work on hydrating ourselves and creating a fresh habit with H20. Our skin will be hydrated, and our body will be cheering us on a little more. Time to flush out the bad and sip the good.

Mental Healing: Mood Journal.

Each day I am going to jot down some feelings about my mood. I think this could help me better process and reflect how I’m feeling. Sometimes when I’m in a funk, I just let it sink and stew inside instead of getting it out. Last year it seems that I would have greatly benefitted from journaling. There were days that I didn’t want to talk to anyone, but still should’ve “vented” somehow. So starting this month, I’m going to mood journal — as little as one word and up to a full paragraph. Date each entry so that you can revisit how you were feeling at the time, and monitor the time in which you experienced your up’s and downs. Let’s turn to pen and paper and get these thoughts somewhere else besides your head. 

Lifestyle Healing: Routine.

Gosh, it’s so hard. After a year of complete madness, my routine went out the window. I turned off alarms, forgot to write in my planner, and procrastinated on just about everything. Time to start small and reclaim it. I’m going to slowly introduce my routine back into this month by setting my alarm an hour earlier to give myself some time to sip on tea and make daily goals. I’m going to cut my phone time off at 10PM each night to the avoid late night scrolling that wrecks my energy the next day. Light meal prep Monday-Friday will also help my eating routine get back on track as well. Last year I just floated through, waiting for something negative to happen or a blast of worry to hit. By working my way back into a routine, hopefully I can wake up feeling prepared and motivated to move forward instead of staying put.

So that’s it for this month. I plan on being completely raw and honest, using these posts as an open journal. I curled up into a ball last year with my problems and didn’t take time for myself to heal. That’s what inspired me to create this series, and I hope this helps anyone who is feeling overwhelmed like I was.

Sometimes it’s hard to put yourself first. It takes courage. I know I used to feel selfish working on myself. But little self-care goes a long way. We’ve got this!

Say hello in the comments and tell me one thing you love about yourself! I hope you have a great month and follow along.

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