Life has a way of feeling like one endless rollercoaster of upheaval sometimes, doesn’t it? Just when you think you’ve caught your breath from the last loop-de-loop, you’re plunging into the next terrifying drop, hands white-knuckled on the safety bar. For those grappling with mental health struggles or the challenges that come with being neurodivergent in a world not designed for us, these dramatic cycles can feel even more relentless.
But what if there was a way off this dizzying ride? What if, instead of being at the mercy of our struggles, we could find solid ground to stand on – a place from which to engage with life’s challenges without being consumed by them? At the core of this shift is how we see ourselves and interpret our experiences.
Heeding the Wisdom of Our Struggles
When life feels like an onslaught of crises, it’s understandable to want to shut down, numb out, or rage against the pain of it all. But what if, instead of seeing our challenges as senseless chaos, we approached them as an invitation – a call to know ourselves more deeply?
What if your feelings aren’t just chaos to be escaped but signals asking for care and attention?
Our struggles often point to the tender, unmet needs buried beneath our armored exteriors. Those explosions at home as a child, the dramatic quitting of jobs and tantrums as an adult – they’re all expressions of some part of us crying out to be heard. If we can find the courage to listen, our challenges become a map guiding us back to wholeness.
Seeing Ourselves Through Kind Eyes
So much of our suffering comes not from our actual circumstances, but from the way we relate to ourselves in the midst of struggle. A ruthless inner critic, quick to dismiss our pain or berate us for our difficulties, can make hard times feel truly unbearable.
Suicidal thoughts don’t emerge from nowhere. They can often be the voice of a brutal inner critic squashing the vulnerable, unheard part of you that deserves to be treated with compassion and care.
Learning to extend genuine kindness, understanding, and acceptance to ourselves, even (especially) in our lowest moments, is a radical act of healing. When we commit to being on our own side, weathering life’s storms becomes a little more possible.
Embracing Our Inherent Worth
Beneath the tumultuous surface of a life in crisis often lies a deeper pain – a sense of being somehow fundamentally wrong, broken, or unworthy. What would it be like to question that assumption?
- You are infinitely more than your struggles. No diagnosis, no hardship can negate your essential humanity and potential.
- Your feelings matter. Taking yourself seriously means honoring your needs and experiences, however messy or inconvenient they may be.
- You deserve to treat yourself with dignity. Even in life’s most mundane moments, you can choose to act in ways that affirm your inherent worth.
Building a sense of steadiness and self-worth is a daily practice of tuning in to that quiet inner voice that knows your struggles are not the sum of who you are. It’s continuing to show up, with all your humanness, and allowing yourself to be seen – because you matter.
Daring to Imagine a New Way
When our lives feel like a jumble of false starts, dead ends, and train wrecks, it’s hard to believe meaningful change is possible. We brace ourselves for the next crisis lurking around the corner. But this anticipation of disaster can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, blinding us to opportunities for growth and joy.
When you feel the urge to withdraw or undo your progress, try something different: simply acknowledge that impulse, rather than act on it.
Breaking free of our destructive cycles begins with daring to envision a different way of being. It’s giving ourselves permission to take up space, pursue our dreams, and find meaning in the messiness of being alive. With each small act of self-honoring, we open up new possibilities and shift our life’s trajectory.
So when that familiar surge of overwhelm creeps in, when the voice of defeat grows loud, remember – this is not the end of your story. You have everything you need to begin again, as many times as it takes. The challenges you’ve faced can become sources of resilience, wisdom, and empathy if you let them. And know that you don’t have to navigate this path alone.
Reshaping our lives is a gradual, nonlinear journey of recommitting to ourselves day after day. There will be relapses and reversals, and that’s okay. What matters is that we keep turning back toward that inner spark that knows we’re worthy of a life infused with purpose and vitality, even when it’s hard to glimpse.
Ultimately, this is the invitation life keeps extending to us, through every dark night and devastating loss – to fully inhabit our humanness, in all its beauty and brokenness. To honor our needs, embrace our struggles, and treat ourselves with fierce, unwavering compassion. And in doing so, to discover reservoirs of healing, meaning and wholeness we never knew possible.
