Our first love and last love is self-love

Yesterday I had to postpone the information session for my upcoming Growth Beyond Trauma therapeutic coaching group.

I had thought I was going to be ok but my body had other ideas!

The truth was that I had a car accident two Thursday's ago and thought I would have been ok for tonight. Unfortunatley my body had others ideas!

I hadn't really talked about it much publicly because I honestly just felt overwhlemed with all I had to process, organise, all the people I had to speak to and the recounting of the story over and over.

Even the thought of someone asking "are you ok?" or "what do you need?" was too much to handle!

Reflecting on this experience I noted how I talk to people about trauma and have done for the large part of 10 years so when it happens to me, you'd think I would be a pro right?

Well, even though I recognised the symptoms, it is certainly a different story experiencing them and going through the motions and waves it can bring...

• The first day I was in shock so didn't notice much.
• The second day I had a niggle in my back but didn't want to make a fuss.
• The third and fourth days, my body thought it knew what it needed to do to protect me and the muscle in my back seized up and my energy levels dipped.
• The fifth day, I thought it would be best to get some medical intervention , even though I try to avoid medication when I can - compassionate action!
• The sixth and seventh days were all about understanding why I felt so unsafe taking medication that made me feel drowsy
• The eighth day brought the realisation that the sensation reminded me of my past experience of being spiked and SA and was all about showing these parts of myself compassionate acceptance.
• The ninth day brought more compassionate awareness and acceptance that my situation wasn't going to change as quickly as I would like.
• Then day ten - today has been about leaning into a compassionate community to bring more healing and love to my situation.

This whole situation has reminded me that above all else we need to look after ourselves because our first love and last love needs to be self-love.

I hope this is useful for you too, reading this wherever you find yourself in life at the moment and perhaps a time when it may be helpful to reflect on these questions...

?What do you need right now?

?What is your body calling you to do for it?

?What are you maybe ignoring that you know needs some attention?

If you are feeling the call to work with me and lean into your compassionate awareness, acceptance, community and action, then you can still register for the info evening on 19th March via the same link.

And if you were ready for tonight, as way of apology, here is a link to my Brain Breaks booklet

If you haven't already downloaded it, here is what's included:

• Basic understanding of what happens to our mind when we feel overwhelmed
• 5 exercises you can use right now to feel more grounded
• Lifelines to support your mind to feel safe, allowing you to feel more at ease and calm, moving you past feeling stuck and towards feeling empowered

I'd love for you to join me next Tuesday evening, so if you are feeling the pull, you now have more time to register :)

Looking forward to meeting you then!

PS. Remember if you register but can't make it, you will still be sent a recording...

PPS. The cover image is from an article I wrote for planet mindful. You can read it here.