Your Worst Day

Feeling like you have experienced your worst day?
Even though you may not have experienced this exact day before, there is a good chance you have experienced hardship or pain to some degree.
I am sure you can recall how your body felt, how your thoughts consumed you or how you couldn’t seem to put one foot in front of the other on some days. 
You may recall how the experience changed the way you acted and moved you further away from the version you once were.
Yet somehow, you managed to do just that, put one foot in front of the other.  At some point you would have acknowledged your pain, your struggle and what circumstance you were in and either you sought support or you supported yourself in the best way you could and perhaps are still doing that.
Alongside any trauma, is also a story that is full of hope and strength.  Have you ever stopped to also acknowledge your incredible ability to overcome those circumstances, to keep going, to claim back so to speak, a part of what you feel was taken from you.   
 
How?  How did you manage to get through hardship, pain or struggle before?  There is a world of resources, connections, organisations and professionals that perhaps you connected with previously.
There is also a great strength within you that you may have used before in different circumstances and somehow you managed to continue living your life.  Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.
Perhaps you used some of these coping strategies:
You noticed what was going on with your body and how it was reacting to what has happened.   You noticed your breathing was racing and that you had the ability to slow it down.  Perhaps you noticed how tense your jaw or your wrists were, so you started by slowly relaxing the different parts of your body over and over until you felt calmer and more relaxed.
You may have continued to eat, rest, move your body because you knew that by doing so, it would not only give you that bit of energy you needed for the day, but also it would help to keep the balance, the familiarity and consistency of functioning day to day during a time when you may not feel like you are coping.
Perhaps you sought out connection because you knew that struggling on your own could feel very isolating and lead to further distress and disconnection.   So, you sought out to share your feelings with those close to you that you trusted, like family members, friends or a trusted professional who were able to listen in a non-judgmental, accepting and loving way. 

You noticed how this helped you to express all your feelings and learnt how to embrace them in a self compassionate way.   You found that talking things out and praying was perfect for you and you were open to trying creative and mindful outlets, like journalling, drawing, dancing and walking in nature. You noticed that by doing these things, you began to realise your strengths and amazing coping skills, further reinforcing your ability to recover, heal and rebuild in a way that is the best outcome for this chapter of life.   

By doing this you saw glimmers of the version of yourself you wanted to be and so this new path was created by you.

 "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become" (Carl Jung)