So you are about to embark on the healing journey. Or you’ve already started.

You don’t know where it’s going to take you.

You don’t know how long it’s going to take.

You don’t even know if you are on the right path or even if you are doing the right things.

I’ve been on my conscious, mindful, and intentional healing journey since 2016 and I still feel lost some days.

However, my healing journey started unconsciously since I was around 7 years old because that’s when eczema started affecting my entire life.

And since going through topical steroid withdrawal, my mind, body and soul has been a mess.

I’m doing much better than when I first started though.

But I wish I asked myself these three questions sooner or later.

Question 1: Why Do You Want to Heal?

This question might feel like a slap in the face.

When I first heard it, I rolled my eyes and thought, “No shit, I want to get back to normal, I want to feel better, I want to live my life.”

But this time around, your answer needs to be bigger than that.

Because, without realizing it, we may have contributed to our health issues in the first place due to our lack of knowledge and awareness.

In my case, not being aware of the long term implications of topical steroid use was lesson number one.

Lesson number 2, the type of food I was consuming.

From fast food to packaged foods from aisles 1-12 that have a 2-year expiry date.

Being subliminally conditioned by the media content I was consuming all my life, it seemed “safe” and “normal” to eat anything that was advertised.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) was slowly killing me.

If I didn’t at least try it, I felt like I was missing out on life. We all did and still do.

Lesson 3 was I needed to change my lifestyle.

The typical 9-5 life of stressing to catch the bus/train on time to get to work or not having enough time to get ready.

Eczema didn’t help at all with all the itching at night and all the anxiety I faced in the morning and throughout the day being self-conscious about my skin.

Not to mention the pain I was in from my sore, irritated, dry and cracked skin.

So at least for me, the healing journey was a crucial point in my life.

Dealing with both eczema and topical steroid withdrawal both buried me six feet under.

Most of my life, I felt like I was always getting by, barely floating above waters.

But I finally hit rock bottom.

This was a time to stop, reflect and throw out what society wanted out the window.

What was this healing journey trying to tell me?

All the while, I was still panicking and scrambling.

I wanted to get back to normal asap.

I was looking for quick fixes because I was in pain, from head to toe, inside and out, mentally, physically, spiritually, and whatever else you can think of.

So, in order to ground yourself throughout the healing journey, your answer to “Why do you want to heal?” needs to be bigger than going back to the life, habits, actions, mindset that got you here in the first place.

For me, it was to heal myself skin first and foremost, learn from my eczema and topical steroid withdrawal so I can go out there and guide people who need my help.

PS. this answer didn’t come to me in one sitting. I had to constantly think about it.

I wrote about it my journal.

Daydreamed about it.

Read about it.

I suggest you take the time as well ask yourself this question.

Question 2: What’s your time frame?

Depending on the level of changes you need to make to heal, this changes how long it will take you to heal.

Yes, we’d all love to heal yesterday.

But the reality of it is, it takes a long time.

It happens one step at a time. It happens one day at a time.

Then one day you look back, and you’ve realized how far you’ve come.

I was in the mindset of healing my skin asap.

I was in an unbearable amounts of pain so my mind was looking for ways to get out of it quick.

Every product, remedy, tip, trick and hack I tried, I looked at it like my saviour.

Only for it to fail me.

Because there is no one thing that could help my mind and body.

Healing requires a little bit of a longer time frame than we hope.

Because the daily actions and habits we take, need time to start taking in affect.

So wherever you are in your healing journey, give yourself a realistic time frame. 6 months at least. A year? Even better.

That way, you don’t wake up everyday hoping that magically everything is back to normal. You are just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Until I internalized that this was a long healing journey, but a worthwhile one, the anxiety, the scrambling, the panicking slowly started to settle.

I woke up every day knowing that, what mattered the most was what I was doing today to get better. Eating the right things, thinking the right things and giving myself time.

Question 3: How are you going to heal?

This is probably the most important question you need to figure out.

What’s your game plan?

What do you need to do to heal?

If you are healing from a health condition, do you need to go dairy free? Gluten-free? Reduce your meat consumption?

Have you identified which part of your lifestyle is causing the issue?

Maybe it’s something in the past that you are still holding on to?

Maybe you don’t know how to unpack it and process it? This is probably a sign to talk to a Therapist.

What are the daily habits and actions you need to follow to heal?

What are the steps you need to take so that in 6-12 months, you are closer to being mentally and physically healthier?

What are you going to do in these next 6-12 months so that these changes are lifelong?

Who do you need to consult with to help you along your journey? A fitness coach? A health coach? Therapist? Regular check-ups with your Doctor or a Naturopath?

Maybe you need to invest in your health and visit a  Physiotherapist/Registered Massage Therapist on a monthly basis.

All these questions might overwhelm you.

But if you take the time over the next few days and answer them intentionally, you’ll be well on your way to healing.

Because you know exactly what to do for the next little while, you’ll be less anxious and not be so reactive.

Sure, things are going to change once your plan is in motion.

You’ll have to check-in with yourself to see what is working and not.

The one thing I like about a plan is that, maybe physically you won’t see any progress soon, but just working through my plan, helps me realize that I am actually making progress.

And that’s the key to healing…progress. Making progress. Seeing progress. Realizing that you are progressing.

The new version of yourself starts today.