Slowing Down is Healing

One month of space.
One month of slowing down.
One month of barely creating, barely posting.

It’s been one month since I made the decision to close a large program that I’d outgrown, and clear my calendar of everything except my five 1:1 clients and sessions with my certification program, Emotional Leadership.

All the voices in my head have kicked up in this process.

You’re being lazy.
You’re wasting time.
You’re being irresponsible.
People need you.
Your bank account needs you.
Create something.
Move quicker.
There’s so much to do.
It’s time to do *something* - you’ve let this go on long enough.

It’s been confronting to watch.

1,000 layers of the overachieving productive do-it-all stay busy go-go-go hustler have already been stripped away over the years, and yet… this move has shown me clearly that there are at least 1,000 more layers to go.

So I keep slowing down.
I keep breathing.
I’m reading a lot.
Watching more tv than is healthy, yes.
But I’m also listening to music again.
Talking walks in the sunshine.
Remembering why I do what I do,
And what I want my life to look like in the quiet moments.

Last night, I walked to a local restaurant, and sat on the patio talking to a friend, sipping wine and enjoying every bite.

Then I walked home, put on music, and finished the next steps of decorating my dining room.

I sat at the table with my daughter while she read her book, soaking it all in, and after she went back upstairs, I found myself dancing alone in my kitchen at 1am.

Soaking in the moment.
Soaking in this home that I’ve dreamt of for so long.
Soaking up this life.
Breathing it all in.

And in that moment, it was real, and safe, and so beautiful, this life that I’ve built. This life I chose and continue to choose each day.

And I remembered… I have not been doing nothing for this last month.

I have in fact been doing so much of the most important thing there is to do - healing.

On your own journey, remember — slowing down is a healing practice.

Resting is a healing practice.

Remembering how to just be is a healing practice.

Trauma resolves slowly within one million moments of practice.

Healing comes in one million moments of choosing to lean into peace, joy, hope, possibility, connection, and presence, and lean away from any evidence from the past that these things aren’t yours to have, and safe to hold.