You have full authorship of your story and depression, anxiety, dissociation, stress, burnout, and trauma happen to be  characters that take up a lot of space in this chapter, and what sounds like the past few chapters also. Remember that as the author of your story, you also have the wonderful ability to introduce new characters in your narrative.

Some that I introduce in my own story include curiosity, gratitude, pace, release, mindfulness, patience with myself, self-love, expression, forgiveness, laughter, permission, and unconditional self-acceptance, even in moments of distress. Sometimes characters might enter your story that feel unfamiliar, unwelcome, and cause a reaction to perhaps ignore, run from them, or fight them until you feel worn out, and even if you fight them, the engagement with these unwanted characters causes strain on you still, interrupting your flow and the story you’ve worked so hard to keep writing, perhaps even causing you to feel “out of character.”

I want to gently remind you that you are so strong and have all the tools to not just fight the characters, but to also befriend them. When you befriend them, you have the opportunity to learn about and from them, where they came from, how they got to this chapter in your story, and what they might be trying to protect; that way you can better learn how to address these characters, healing them and the parts of your life that have been impacted. 

-Mia Turner, MA., RYT, LMFT, ASDCS

she/her

Person, Healer, Psychotherapist, Founder