How to Avoid Self Sabotage on Your Healing Journey
When I started my healing journey, I thought the most challenging part would be finding the right supplements. The reality was, the hardest part was learning how to consistently make the right choices. Every time something started to work out, I would subconsciously sabotage myself, and then pay the price. Over time, I realized I could become well if I made all the right decisions. This was always difficult for me, but once I finally manned up in all areas of my health, the seas parted.
In this article, I will cover the top methods for self-sabotage while healing. I’ll also cover several pointers to help you win the battle within. Lastly, I will answer several common questions relating to the topic. The information I’m about to share with you made a major difference in my life. Hopefully, it can do the same for you. Scroll down to get started!
Top Methods of Self-Sabotage
Rushing the Healing Process
To be able to heal, you must have patience and faith. Unfortunately, most people who are chronically ill are challenged in both areas. Since they are sick, they are in a constant state of fight or flight. Rather than look at what they can change themselves, they seek answers from outside themselves. For example, instead of making various dietary changes, they will try various supplements. The reason is, they have been conditioned to find their answers in a bottle.
This is exactly what I did for nearly 15 years. In addition, I made another common mistake: I added too many supplements too quickly. I thought that more was better, when, in fact, it was the opposite.
The reality is that any time you try to rush the healing process, you will have a setback. The goal is to make gradual progress and gently influence the body back to health, all while remaining balanced. If you rush the process, you will shock the body, which will send it back into a state of stress.
Giving In to Your Food Cravings
There may be certain foods that call your name during times of stress or exhaustion. These foods are often the ones that are causing your symptoms. The secret is, anything you crave is actually bad for you. In my experience, the craving is a warning that your body is starting to create an immune reaction to this thing.
With this in mind, pay close attention to everything you eat. If you notice that you are consuming something much faster or craving it before you’re even in its presence, this is a red flag. Whenever this happens, give the food a break in the penalty box for a couple of weeks. Then, you can try to re-introduce the food and see if you can control the thoughts around it. If it becomes something you crave again, then it is likely to not be a good fit for you.
Living Life at Uncomfortable Pace
People with chronic illnesses often get there by living life at a pace faster than their bodies can handle. They tell themselves, “I’m tough; I’ll push through it.” Though this works at first, eventually, the body gives out. Whether this is because of overdoing things or some other stress, eventually, it wears them out.
While healing from a chronic health issue, you must remain balanced. Remember, the body is still traumatized by all of the inflammatory responses in the past. To win the battle, you must recondition the immune system one decision at a time. Also, once you are pretty much healed, it’s important that you continue to do things that got you there. As I will discuss later, this is a common pitfall most fall into.
Taking Risks Right After Progress
When you make a lot of progress, shortly after, you will often desire to do something that risks it. Be very aware of this pattern because I’ve seen it in myself and plenty of clients. Just when you feel better, you have a memory of what you used to do. This is a risky proposition when you are early in the recovery process.
Rationalizing Poor Decisions
Once you start to rationalize the wrong decisions, eventually, you get good at it. To win the battle against chronic illness, you must be entirely honest with yourself. You cannot be the salesman and the buyer all in one. Remember, your actions have to be on the same page as your priorities. If they aren’t, you will not feel good inside. This will then lead you to self-sabotage in your life or routine.
Claiming You Healed Yourself
The point of claiming you are healed is often to give yourself some leeway. This then puts you at risk to make the wrong decision. You must remember the things that got you to where you are. Keep in mind, it is better to be safe than sorry. Yes, it is fun to step outside the lines sometimes, but you don’t want to make it a pattern. This is what you did in the past, which led to the development of your chronic illness. Anytime you start to see this occurring, you must intercept it before the momentum gets too strong.
Ignoring Signs from Your Body
Your body will show you signs when it doesn’t agree with something. The hard part is paying attention to it when you really like the thing causing problems. This is why creating a dietary/symptom journal is so important. This reduces the likelihood that your bias will cloud your observation of what is worsening your symptoms. Learn more about creating a diary/symptom log using the link provided.
Wanting to “Be Normal Again”
This was one of the biggest mistakes I made while healing. I thought that normal was defined by what I used to do before I was sick. So, with this in mind, I would make all the wrong decisions once I got some relief. This would lead me to not feel well again, and the cycle would repeat.
To beat this state of mind, you must realize that what is normal in society is typically unhealthy. Your goal is not to be normal again; it is to remain symptom-free. Do your best to involve yourself in social events, but make the right decisions. You can fit in AND make the right choices in tough situations. I know this was extremely difficult for me, but at one point, I was finally able to get it.
Overdoing Things Until Burnout
Overdoing things is a great way to avoid trauma and difficult emotions. The problem is, eventually, the party is over. Once your body burns out from overdoing these things, it is thrown out of balance. Then, you are forced to recover for several days.
To heal, you must remain constantly in balance. As soon as you notice yourself becoming triggered somehow, you must recenter with a slow deep breath. If you don’t, your thought stream may take you in a direction that does not make you feel well. This will lead you to overdo things as a distraction, or you will seek other unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Using Unhealthy Things to Cope
Most of the time, people use unhealthy things to cope with difficult emotions. This has been going on since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, people with chronic illnesses feel unwell so often that they must have coping mechanisms in place. If they don’t, they go into a panic about the current situation they’re in. Once again, if anyone knows this, it’s me. This was my life story.
If you want to escape this scenario, you must learn how to address your emotions head-on. To be able to do so, you must deconstruct stressful situations, so they lose some of their intensity. Remember, you will tend to interpret stressful events based on your past experiences. Don’t allow yourself to do it. This can lead you to uncomfortable emotions which are likely to cause impulsive decisions.
Making Impulsive Decisions
To remain on the path to healing, you must define your plan and stick with it. If you are distracted by the nearest shiny object, you will make impulsive decisions. These decisions will put you at risk of going backward.
Instead of making impulsive decisions, create a plan and then follow your intuition. If you have the urge to suddenly change everything you’re doing, take a deep breath and refocus. Even though it may feel like the greatest idea in the world, more often than not, it is self-sabotage on the horizon. I have experienced this plenty of times and have seen the same pattern in many clients.
Prioritizing Things Over Health
When you start to get better, everything besides health will appear so important. In most cases, you will try to overextend yourself in those areas like before you got sick. For example, getting back in the gym and working out, or returning to work and doing your best! You must approach all activities with your health as the number one priority. If you don’t, you are likely to experience a setback at some point.
If you start prioritizing other things, remember how hard it was to get better. This should help you keep your priorities straight. Keep in mind, nothing should be more important to you than your own health. If you are not feeling well, there is very little you can offer to the world anyway.
Seeking Approval from Others
Often, people make unhealthy decisions because of the influence of others. I was one of those people when I was sick. If someone offered to go out to eat, and I didn’t want to make things awkward, I would do it. Afterward, I would regret eating out because I didn’t feel well.
Also, at family events and other social situations, I made decisions that did not align with my health goals. To recover from chronic illness, you must make decisions for yourself. In addition, you must be consistent with everything you do so you can escape the cycle of rationalization, indulgence, and guilt. If you don’t, you will be permanently stuck in your healing journey.
Ignoring the Root Cause of Issues
Most people don’t want to know the root cause because it requires them to make changes. If they were told that they couldn’t eat their favorite foods and had to move from where they were living, would they really do it? In most cases, people look for the answer in a bottle. They want to get the most relief with the least amount of effort. After all, how can you blame them? It’s human nature.
To overcome chronic illness, you must escape the traditional medical paradigm. This paradigm teaches you that you need to use something outside of yourself to improve your condition. The reality is, you can observe everything you are doing and identify the correlations. Once you know which things are making you feel worse, then you face your demons and make tough decisions consistently.
Eventually, you will gain full control of your own health and be no longer dependent on something in a bottle. Even though supplements can be helpful, they are counterproductive if they are used before creating a safe diet. Before starting supplements, investigate what you are eating, inhaling, and thinking. This is what I help my clients do because it is the path to true healing.
Beating Yourself Up About Things
You cannot be overly critical about everything you do. This is a major setup for disaster when you have a chronic illness. In most cases, people with chronic illnesses feel they’re not doing good enough. This wears on them over time, which nudges them towards counterproductive decisions.
To escape the criticism within, you must define clear goals and courses of action. You then do your best and let God handle the rest. The most important part is that you take the time to create a plan, and then you follow it 100%. This will at least make you know that you can do what you tell yourself you are going to. If you lose trust in yourself, you will never escape the illness. You will make one desperate decision after another.
Ignoring the Underlying Trauma
If you don’t address the underlying trauma, you will be triggered subconsciously by things in your environment. This often leads you to make counterproductive decisions that put your progress at risk. Trust me, if anyone knows about this cycle, it’s me.
To win the war against trauma, you must escape the victim role in your head. Once you do so, you can create a more positive perspective about the event. This will allow you to respond differently when triggered by things in your environment. If you fail to acknowledge that trauma has something to do with your illness, your future is likely to resemble your past.
Celebrating with Something Unhealthy
Typically, people with chronic illnesses like to celebrate positive events with foods that trigger them. I am no stranger to this! For a decade, I tried to rationalize any opportunity to consume foods I enjoyed. Do yourself a favor, and learn how to celebrate your accomplishments in a way that doesn’t jeopardize your health. Even if that means just having a small amount of these risky foods. Remember, these celebrations are moments where you are proud of yourself, so the last thing you want to do is feel bad about yourself afterward.
FAQ – Ignoring Impulses while Healing
Why is it so hard to heal from chronic illness?
Chronic illness is not simply about overcoming the physical. It was first a spiritual and emotional condition, which later manifested into physical symptoms. You cannot simply mask the physical symptoms and ignore the other two components. This will lead you back to making many of the same choices that led you to become sick.
To heal from chronic illness, you must be willing to look your trauma right in the eye. In addition, you must seek reconnection with your higher power. By doing both of these things, you will have a much greater chance of success. The reason is, your intuition will lead you back towards healing rather than back to something that helps you cope with the void inside you.
Why is my intuition leading me to bad decisions?
If you haven’t dealt with the underlying trauma, you will fall into old patterns. Once something reminds you of the trauma, you will do whatever you can to ignore the unresolved pain. Whether this is distracting yourself temporarily or just consuming something you enjoy, the reality is that you are failing to address your trauma in the moment.
To make the right decisions, you must first be willing to see what you are doing wrong. Once you get to this stage in your healing journey, you are closer than ever. Now, you must observe your diet, environment, and stress triggers to see what aggravates your symptoms. From there, you can make changes to your routines, which will lead to expedited healing. No longer will you need to find the answer outside of yourself, now your guidance will be clear from within.
What is the best way to overcome mental roadblocks?
My favorite method is to define a time you will follow a set of rules, NO MATTER WHAT! For example, when my daughter was on the verge of getting better, I committed to a certain diet, meditation routine, and perspective over 111 days. I told myself that if we ate the right things every day and meditated, God would help us heal over that time. Sure enough, within 111 days, she was symptom-free for the first time in seven years.
To heal from a long-lasting illness, you must be willing to make any necessary change. Once you identify your safe foods with the elimination diet and confirm that your environment is free of mycotoxins, now you have a chance to heal. All you need to do is ask for strength to make the right choices, create time for breathwork/meditation, follow the plan, and count down the days until you’re healed.
Why is it so hard to make all of the right decisions?
In our society, people are conditioned to seek immediate gratification rather than balance. If you pay close enough attention, you will realize that you are most likely to make unhealthy decisions when uncomfortable. These things act as coping mechanisms to help you deal with the discomfort of the situation.
For example, you may eat something sweet when you are under a lot of stress. Another example, you may choose to go out drinking with your friends after breaking up with your girlfriend. The point is that there is typically an underlying emotional imbalance that leads you to seek relief from something outside yourself. Though it may feel right in the moment, the reality is, it isn’t good for you in the long run.
Is hidden trauma causing me to sabotage myself?
In most cases, hidden trauma subconsciously influences our actions. For example, I felt alone for most of my life because my dad left when I was very young. Even though I thought I was over it, I was reminded of it subconsciously in various situations. When I was uncomfortable, I would attempt to distract myself by something I was doing or consuming. Eventually, this pain built up, and a chronic illness developed. I was blind to this self-sabotage in my life until I chose to address my trauma head-on. Rather than running away from it, for the first time, I was running towards it.
Do yourself a favor and dive into the uncomfortable moments in your past. When you feel strong, look at the moment and try to rectify the discontent surrounding the situation. If you can change your perspective about the story, you can stop it from triggering you in the present moment. I know this sounds hard, but trust me, it is possible. The easiest way is to find the blessing in the situation. Learn more about how to turn your chronic illness into a blessing in disguise via the link provided.
Do you have any more information on this topic?
Yes, I produced a video detailing my struggles during the healing journey. Keep in mind, this article was made two years after the video, so the information has some similarities but many differences. In addition, take a look at my top 33 mistakes made while healing. You will love this article! It covers every mistake you can make while on the healing journey.
Conclusion- You Heal One Decision At a Time
Whatever you are battling was not created out of thin air. It resulted from a lifetime of decisions that culminated in to this current moment. To be able to escape your chronic illness, you can no longer be a victim of your decisions. By paying more attention to how your choices impact how you feel, you can learn how to make the right decisions. After that, all you need to do is ask for strength from above and follow your intuition. This is the recipe for true healing.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. I am willing to help, and blessed to have the opportunity.
Happy healing everyone!
Matt Nedin
Certified Holistic Nutritionist
EndSickness, Founder
Phone: (734) 846-8619
Email: endsickness@gmail.com
WhatsApp/Telegram: +17348468619
