You may not believe this but when you face your pain it gets less painful.
When you tell the story of your wounding, you start to heal.
When you talk about your secret fears and shame, they get smaller.
When you give yourself permission to feel and be different instead of constantly performing and striving to be enough you trade feeling trapped and numb for feeling free and alive.
When you pay attention to the anger or the grief playing out in your work or relationships, you can start to discover what your soul needs.
If you’re strong, work really hard, or have a lot of practice pretending you can develop a pretty high tolerance for emotional pain.
It’s what survivors do.
But if you’re tired.
If you want to live a different way.
If you want to be whole.
To experience peace and connection with others.
Find someone to start telling your story to.
#MentalHealthAwearenessMonth
I had the chance to be on a couple podcasts recently for Mental Health Awareness Month:
The Being A Dad…On Purpose Podcast with pastor Bobby Benavides.
We talked about what men, dads, and pastors struggle with, dealing with the narratives we get from the culture and growing up, why it’s hard to ask for help, how anxiety and depression isolate men, and some of the struggles we’ve been through as husbands and dads.
He has a Being A Dad On Purpose Facebook group for dads.
The Grip Games NW Podcast with host Bethany Houghton.
We talked about two things we love: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mental health. We talked about missing our gyms right now, the benefits of BJJ, training, mindset, mental health awareness, and being a part of the PNW BJJ community.
