I have been on my healing journey for about a year now. However, for most of us, myself included, we already have some knowledge about health and have likely tried various methods for self-healing and symptom management. About a year ago, I became aware of holistic wellness and started to learn more extensively about the body.
During this time, I have spent thousands of dollars, felt overwhelmed, confused, distraught, and have had to undergo some serious deep work. Through this, I’ve also learned many things—things I wish someone else would’ve been able to tell me when I first got started, as it would’ve saved me a lot of stress, anxiety, and the persistent feeling of never doing enough.
I’ll be dividing this into multiple parts, and each thing that I cover will most likely get its post at some point. But for now, I just want to share some key insights that I find extremely important when on a healing journey.
My Key Lessons in the Holistic Wellness Journey
Healing Takes Time
Healing is a process that unfolds gradually, much like the layers of an onion being peeled away. They say time heals all wounds, and while it might not be an exact science, the sentiment holds true when it comes to healing from within. The duration it takes to heal is often proportional to the time it took for you to reach the point of seeking healing. It’s a reminder that the roots of our struggles, in this case, acne, might have been planted many years ago.
However, the journey isn’t a linear one. As you enter the path to healing, your skin may go through many different changes—sometimes getting worse before getting better and then reverting to a challenging state again. This process is different for each individual; there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Some notice improvements swiftly, while others require more time before observing a positive difference.
In my personal experience, I began my health journey in October 2022, and it wasn’t until March 2023 that I started to see progress. The improvement was gradual, and even now, I’m still early in my healing journey, with my skin not yet entirely clear.
Holistic Healing on a Budget: Tips and Lessons from a $3000+ Investment
Holistic healing and maintaining good health can be expensive, particularly when considering working with a holistic practitioner. While this can speed up the healing process, it often comes with a hefty price tag. For those in their twenties or that are on a tight budget, working with a practitioner might not be financially appropriate. Personally, I worked with a practitioner for three months, investing over $3000 USD in her advice and additional supplements. Unfortunately, the experience was not as helpful as expected. This is a story for another time, but it reinforces my desire to offer this blog as a cost-free resource, helping you establish foundational elements without financial strain. Sometimes, all you need for clear skin are these foundations, but in other cases, additional steps may be necessary.
Individualized Approach
What works for someone else may not give you the same results. It’s important to understand your unique needs and responses. This is where testing comes in and can be game-changing. But if you’re just starting out, I wouldn’t recommend doing all of that just yet. But this is just important to keep in mind with all the information-overload on social media.
Mindful Supplementation
Less is usually more with supplements, especially when you’re just starting and don’t fully understand your body’s exact needs. Taking a supplement just because it worked for someone else is not a good idea. Before buying a whole bunch of supplements it’s more important to establish good foundational habits. In fact, before you have all your foundations in place you shouldn’t spend much money on supplements. There are some things I believe can be helpful like adrenal support, herbal teas, digestive enzymes etc. But once again, it also depends on your symptoms. I will make a guide later down the road for this. Supplements should complement a well-rounded approach to healing that is based on good habits and overall healthy lifestyle, otherwise it’ll just be another band-aid approach that doesn’t solve anything at its root.
The Importance of Daily Habits
As implied in the last point, the most significant impact on your healing journey lies in your daily habits. This doesn’t necessarily mean doing more throughout the day. Sometimes, it’s about doing less. Knowing yourself on this is key. If you recognize yourself as a high-performing, always-busy individual, doing less can be the best approach (I’ll also address this in a future post). On the other hand, if you tend to lean towards laziness or prefer the easy way out, it’s about swapping those less helpful habits for more constructive ones.
As a final note, if you have acne I want to add that washing your pillow case multiple times per week or hyper fixating on having a clean phone, never touching your face, etc. is most likely not the root of your skin issues.
Understanding your individual needs and tailoring your healing journey accordingly is key to achieving lasting results. Stay tuned for future posts diving deeper into specific aspects of this healing journey.