Don't forget healers are humans, not heroes

So about this week.

I realize as healers that so many of us have been trained to be skeptical of calm and actually find more comfort in the chaos that exists in our workplaces. We don’t just normalize being busy, we value it. We have been taught that this is the right way, there are so many things happening in the world and our job is to save it all. 

We would be ridiculed or judged if we shared that inner voice that wants to protest a life of constant struggle, sacrifice & stress.

It is too frightening to think about using our voices to advocate for our boundaries, in place of our exhaustion.

It is unreal to imagine that we could actually be better healers if we asked that people see us as human beings not just human doers. Or if they just see us as humans at all.

For me, this has been a busy year with lots of twists and turns. Yet is it just the circumstances of our lives or do we help fan the flames of complexity.  Real talk, do we crave complexity, because it makes us feel smarter, stronger or successful that we have persevered, instead of just simply living?

I am trying to ask myself how we can bring in simplicity in our homes, workplaces and even our minds. It’s hard because I don’t think simplicity has ever been welcome in my mind, in my relationships or in my work.

I am slowly discovering 4 things that are helping me cultivate this unfamiliar way of being.

The first is voice.

So, what am I learning about - I am realizing that so many of us have not heard our own voices for quite some time.

We take on so much and are trained to be the silent and stoic heroes- never complaining, judging, questioning, or cautioning. As a Black woman, I was conditioned to recognize that being silent was the easiest way to experience a drama-free life but not the way to live a free life. Honestly, the research says holding everything in is a fast track to shortening my life.