The Only Way Out Is Through

Feel like you've been getting dragged through a pile of dog shit lately?

If so, you're not alone.⁠

Collectively, we're going through an upheaval. An initiation.

The world as we know it is crumbling, making space for new ways of being and doing.⁠

...eventually 🙃

On an individual level, the shit we've been avoiding is being thrown in our faces. Where we were once able to numb and resist, we're now experiencing more discomfort than ever before as we attempt to feed into old habits and patterns.⁠

Old traumas resurface, manifesting in a number of ways from heightened triggers to physical pain to an even bigger desire to revert back to the old ways.⁠

But there's no going back.⁠

We're here, we're in the mud, and the only way out is through.⁠

How do we get through? Here are some simple, no-cost ways.

1. Fall back on support systems.

Don’t have one? First, ask yourself if that really is true. If it is, give yourself permission to find one. Reconnect with old friends. Find support groups. Post anonymously in forums (that last one got me through my first six months of sobriety). Your people are out there…find them and allow yourself to be supported.

2. Look for the good.

Our brains are hard-wired to look for the “negative”. Find something—ANYTHING—to be grateful for. Look for the positive things that have happened, no matter how big or small. This isn’t about spiritual bypassing and sugar-coating the shit. It’s about recognizing the light can co-exist with the dark.

3. Resource yourself.

There are ways to turn down the intensity of your experience, and you can do this without completely avoiding whatever’s coming up for you. Spend time in nature. Put your hands in some dirt. Put the phone down for a few minutes. Breathe. Meditate. Do what feels accessible to you.

4. Sit with it.

Steep in the discomfort. Trust that it won’t kill you and that it will eventually end. Buffalo medicine teaches us to embrace this. When there’s a storm, the cows run away. But Buffalo runs into the storm, knowing that by facing it head on, it will end faster.

Simple? Yes. Easy? …not always.