Taking time to heal by Ann Zimmerman LAc.

Depending on what needs to heal, we have differing capacities to be patient and allow the healing process to take place. Occasionally, life gives us no choice but to lay in bed with a head cold. Sometimes there is almost a relief in feeling the permission to totally give in to healing. However, most of us choose to power through at the first inkling of being OK: quickly testing the waters with how much we can get away with without setting back our progress.

Giving your body and heart enough time to heal from trauma or illness is truly a very individual and tricky act to balance. Depending on our age, cultural upbringing, work, and family pressures, most of us feel a kind of internal pressure to heal quickly and get on with it. After all who wants to be in any type of pain?

We have very little patience for achy joints, finicky digestion, fertility troubles, sleep issues, chronic fatigue, etc. We are told to just take a pill and get on with it. We find ourselves getting used to living in a kind of mediocre state of wellness, accepting our ankle will always hurt, or that insomnia, constipation, and joint pain are just part of life.

Then there are those waves of inspiration, renaissance, when we hear of a success story from a friend. Someone we know losing 20 lbs, changing their miserable job, having less pain, sleeping through the night and “presto”……the chance to heal seems open to us again.

Now to seize the moment and ask for help. Many of us will call upon a referral from a trusted person. The hope here is that you are then treated with respect and given a clear plan of action for making healing progress. Then the real work begins, trusting the provider, following thru on recommendations and avoiding certain exercise, food, unhealthy thought patterns, etc. This is where many people do not take the time to heal.

Falling back into old patterns of being ok with mediocre, because to change is too much work, too much time, too expensive, etc. We are brilliant at making excuses. And thus, we are faced again with the decision to heal or not to heal. This is an easy place to abort the mission. To give up on your treatment plan and to sadly decide nothing will help. At this pivot point in healing, having adequate support for making changes is as important as what you’re changing. Taking the time to ask for extra help, to spend more of your time on healing, to spend your money on your health is what is required. You are important and to start over is much harder than to persevere.

Whatever stage of healing you might be in, please ask for support, ask for help from your provider or family and know you have the courage to change…..and then the patience will follow.