Embodied Health

These, potentially severe, symptoms cause many people to give up on the process entirely.

Withdrawal symptoms occur while your body learns to recalibrate to a new normal of less (or no) available medication. They can range from mood changes like sadness, anxiousness and panic, to sleep trouble, dizziness, nausea and brain zaps, to more serious concerns like akathisia and increased risk of suicide. 

The good news is that we can take steps to mitigate these withdrawal symptoms. Reducing the dose slowly (more slowly than conventional taper practices) and incorporating supportive holistic strategies to increase your resilience can make a world of a difference in helping you come off the medication in a safe, feasible way🙌

Want to learn more? Book a free Intro Call where we can chat about your particular situation or read my post on antidepressant tapering through the link in bio🌻

With more and more people coping with challenges to their mental and emotional wellbeing through the use of antidepressant medication, an important question starts to surface:

🌻When is it time to come off of the medication?

Current Canadian guidelines recommend treatment with antidepressants for 6-9 months after symptoms improve and for 2 years for those with higher risk factors for recurrence. In general, improvement of symptoms should occur between 6-12 weeks of optimal treatment, which sometimes requires changes to the medication.

🌿It’s estimated that 2/3 of people are on antidepressant medication longer than the recommended guidelines.
 
There are many reasons people might want to stop their antidepressant. They may have learned healthy coping mechanisms and incorporated supportive lifestyle habits, and they want to experience who they are without the antidepressant. The original event that prompted its initiation may be resolved. They may be concerned about long-term effects. They may want to become pregnant without worrying about the antidepressant’s effects on the pregnancy. They may experience unwanted side effects of the antidepressant, like weight gain, sexual dysfunction or emotional numbness. They may feel they no longer need the antidepressant or that it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
 
But when they’re exploring what it might be like to come off the medication, questions may start to arise: Is this possible? Will I relapse? Is it safe? 

These are all normal questions, and I’ve put together a post that goes over things to consider when thinking about coming off of your antidepressant medication. Available through the link in my bio💛

If you want to talk about now I can support you through the process, book a free Intro Call through the same link.

🌟I’m so excited to introduce my new workbook!

🌸She Who Knows🌸

🌹It’s an exploration of eight fundamentals of femininity that are foundational on the path toward embracing the fullness of our power as women.

📝It’s a space where lessons, activities, and journaling prompts intertwine, igniting the path toward deeper connection both within ourselves and with the life we are intricately part of.

🎁For a limited time, I'm offering this workbook as a gift. Click the link in my bio and use the promo code “RECLAIM” at checkout. Or DM me your email, and I’ll send it right to your inbox.

❤️I’d love to hear from you. Tell me your thoughts and share about your own journey into your femininity👇

One way to feel phenomenal as a woman? Receive🌹
 
Receiving was often hard for me, as for many women. And the layers behind it are multifold – am I worthy? Will it make me look incompetent or less self-sufficient? Is the gifter in a place to responsibly give this?
 
There’s layer after layer and it’s easy to get caught in the weeds🌱
 
And while I love looking at root causes and engaging in the deeper work with myself, sometimes it feels great to just let go of all of it. To not overthink it. And to just…be a little more open…a little more receptive✨
 
To allow the gifts to come my way and to enjoy receiving them. To BASK in them. And when I let go of all the rest and bask in the receiving – it feels incredible. And free🍃
 
And it’s changing not only me, but my relationship with those around me—those I know and those I don’t. It’s opening the door of connection, the flow of energy between us. It’s allowing someone else to experience the same joy I get from giving (and sparing them from the letdown I feel when someone doesn’t accept or brushes past my gift😔)
 
So, if you’re looking for me, I’ll be over here opening my heart and allowing myself to receive. Loving the softness of it, the honour it is to receive and the honour it is to honour myself💐

How journaling helps me get past the story and into clarity✍️

Many times we find ourselves in situations that rile us up, seemingly out of proportion to the situation. We get consumed by the emotion of it and cycle deeper into its story.

And often, the current situation is not the root of the emotion. It’s triggering something deeper (perhaps a core belief or unmet need). And when we react so strongly to the situation, it’s really a reaction to the root issue rather than to the current situation.

My favourite way to get to the root of why I’m feeling triggered is through journaling. I’ll write about the story then reflect on what feelings that story is bringing up for me. And from there, I’ll get to the root.

So for example, if I’m anxious about a meeting, I’ll write about my feelings and fears related to the meeting, go through the what ifs and what they mean (if I do this, and they think that, this means ____ about me). And in this way I’ll get to the wound.

In this scenario it may be a feeling of inadequacy. So now what?

I can incorporate practices to fill this part of me. I can bring light and compassion to this feeling of inadequacy. I can give space to this feeling and by doing so, allow space for its opposing emotion of competence and inner knowing to come in. I can refer to previous situations that counteract this. In the longer term, I can bring healing to this wound on a deeper level (my favourites being through meditation and inner child healing).

The voice of anxiety is often louder than the voice of inner knowing, but if I listen for it by reflecting on situations where I aligned with a higher vibration, I can feel more confident in it **another part of your journal can be dedicated to accomplishments to refer back to when you need to**

Don’t have always have your journal on hand? It can be just as helpful writing in the notes on your phone or laptop💛🧑‍💻

Many of us have a hard time accepting help from others. Whether we feel bad for imposing on others, feel like we should be able to hand it ourselves, or want the satisfaction of saying we did it on our own.

Both asking for and accepting help can be tough. But not being open to help has repercussions that affect ourselves, our relationships and our overall view of the world.

When we don’t accept support, we have trouble giving support. We may give it sparingly or with conditions and limits. We are not free and open to share our gifts with others. Condensing that: we are not free and open.

By not accepting help, we cut ourselves off from others. We are all intrinsically connected and by closing ourselves off to others, we are consciously or unconsciously creating a kink in that connection.

Relationships thrive on a constant flow of energy. Giving and receiving. It must go both ways. It can be obvious that if we only take and don’t give, it will create a rift. But not as obvious is that giving without receiving also creates a rift.

When we allow ourselves to accept freely, we can then give freely. We are open rather than constricted.

And that energy flows and spirals around us. If I’m open to people about needing support on a health concern, for example, I will feel full and supported in that area. And if I then meet someone else with a similar health concern, I will be enthused to share the support I had received.

In this way, we nurture the connection with those we are already close with, as well as expand our circle of impact further around us.

In what area can you open yourself to more support from others?

Sometimes we think we have to feel only positive emotions and s***f out the negative ones.

Maybe we have the courage to try a new experience but our heart is pounding and palms are sweating the whole time.

We feel like we’re failing. Like we’re being controlled by the fear. But in actuality - this is normal. This is the way it works.

If we stayed in our comfort zones we’d feel safe and comfortable but that’s when we’d be controlled by fear.

Fear is often louder than courage bc it’s uncomfortable. But if you’re out there doing the thing - you’re being fed by the courage.

Next time you’re being overwhelmed by the fear, try telling it “I hear you - thanks for trying to protect me. But now I want to hear what the courage has to say.”

And imagine it. Literally. Give a physical shape to both the fear and the courage. When you talk to the fear, imagine talking to that shape. And when you open yourself to the courage, bring your attention to its shape.

Allow space for both. They are both there to serve you in some way. And then you get to decide which one you want to give more attention to❤️

✨WRITE. Put into words what you’re feeling. Include the ugliness, the pettiness, the judgement. Write it all out. Don’t hold back. It’s when we can express the full extent of our thoughts, including those we might feel shame about, that we’re able to see the bigger picture. Where we can find the deeper reasons or larger perspectives behind these thoughts.

✨BE LOUD. Express yourself as loudly as you can. Roar with power, scream in frustration, wail the grief. The raw power of our emotions can be scary, primal. We like to contain and control it. But the emotions are real. They are as much us as the other socially accepted parts of ourselves. Honour it. Allow it to come out, to release.

✨MOVE. Dance like no one’s watching. Run, box, downward dog. Whatever it is you’re drawn to - do it. Move and shift the energy in a physical way.

✨CREATE. Oftentimes when we restrain or hold back or hide our emotions, we close the creative parts of ourselves. Emotions and creativity are linked and come from a similar space within us. When we allow ourselves to create, we are opening that portal within us. Opening the portal that stores all the emotions, pain, hurt, joy. It’s another way of opening and allowing movement into that space of emotions.

✨LISTEN. Next time you feel the urge to distract yourself, try sitting still for a few moments. Sitting with the discomfort. Accepting it without trying to change it. What is it trying to tell you? Are you taking on too much? Are you making decisions for others instead of yourself? Giving it room to grow and expand. When we give it more space, we allow it to move. Which then welcomes other traits and feelings and energies into that space.

Many of us have been taught to use restraint when it comes to self-expression. Don’t be too loud. Be polite. Crying is weakness. Hide your power.
 
It’s this expectation that we need to control ourselves. Instead of listening to our bodies and our feelings, we try to control them. We dissociate ourselves from the messages that are most beneficial to our wellbeing. We bury and bury, and end up feeling more and more dissatisfied, irritable, anxious, sad. Distracting ourselves to get away from these feelings.
 
But what if instead of controlling, we listen?
 
When we don’t express, don’t release, the energy has no choice but to remain in the body. It becomes stuck, stagnant. And it brings up these uncomfortable feelings because there’s something in us that doesn’t belong, that is ready to be released.

What are the messages your body is trying to convey right now? What energy wants to be released?

In the next few days, I’ll share a few ways I love to express and release💛

There’s this idea to stop caring what others think of you. To just be you with all your quirks and opinions, and to not think about how others might view or judge you.

And I tried this for ages. “Let go” “It doesn’t matter what they think”

But I never quite got the hang of it. I couldn’t stop replaying memories with alternate endings. Or fantasizing scenarios where I came out as perfect, clever and charming. I couldn’t stop thinking about what others thought.

And in doing this, I was giving others power. My power.

So much energy was focused on what other people thought that I didn’t give much attention to what I actually thought. I was living my life for other people with my self worth shattering when it didn’t get validation or an intended response from someone. I couldn’t find the line between what I did for myself or for others; between my values and theirs.

Then I decided to take my energy back.

To do something for me that was against the expectations of others. I started small. I always felt expected to dress well at family functions, regardless of whether it was Christmas dinner or a casual lunch. My image and worth to others was tied in this. So I rebelled. I purposely dressed down. Old clothes, no makeup. I prioritized how I wanted to dress, how I wanted to feel, over how others wanted to see me. It’s not that I blocked out their opinions, but I figured out what my own option was and decided to live according to that one.

✨I prioritized myself.

And I realized my world did not crumble. I did not crumble. I could do something contrary to what others expected and I would still be ok.

This simple, simple decision was so powerful for me. It gave me the courage to start prioritizing myself in other areas of life.

So what can you do today - and this week - that prioritizes yourself?❤️

Instead of letting go, try to focus on expanding the space around that pain or discomfort. I like to imagine a bubble. Expanding and letting more light and energy in. Till the pain only occupies a small portion of that bubble. When we do this, we don’t get rid of the pain, rather, it becomes smaller and less consuming. It’s pulls in other emotions, namely love, and is balanced by this.

There’s a time to let go and a time to expand. I find if it’s an emotion, to focus on expansion. But if it’s a thought cycle or past memory running through our heads, to work toward letting that go (namely, letting go of the part of our identities that are dependent on that). These two scenarios often occur simultaneously. We have the thought that causes the emotion. And so we practice letting go of that thought or experience (as Eckhart Tolle says “die to the past every moment”) and then expanding the bubble around the emotion to allow space for other emotions and feelings to come in.

Often times, especially around painful situations, we contract and close ourselves off. We don’t want to risk being open. We don’t feel we can handle any more pain. But when we contract, there’s no space for healing. Healing comes through love, softness, trust.

✨It’s not to rid ourselves of the pain. It’s to allow for an expanded space that holds a balance of emotions, ultimately leading to fuller, deeper way of being.

Sometimes it is too much to do on our own and we need someone to hold the space and walk us through it. Though I believe the strength to move mountains exists within each of us, sometimes we don’t feel it or know how to access and trust it. And that’s ok too. We’re on this journey together we’re here to hold and help each other through it.