This Is How Emotional Invalidation Can Lead to Chronic Pain — And How To Heal

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

When our emotional wounds aren’t acknowledged and tended to with care so that they can heal, our nervous system produces armor to protect us from further harm.

Armor can look like…

Emotional suppression to protect us from feeling hurt.
Avoidance behaviors to protect us from getting hurt.
People-pleasing behaviors to prevent other people from hurting us.
etc., etc., etc.

The armor is designed to protect us from harm. And in the short term, it can do just that. But armor doesn’t heal our emotional wounds. And the longer our emotional wounds go untreated, the tighter our armor gets.

Over time, armor can become uncomfortable and burdensome. It can weigh on us heavily. It can pinch and constrict. The weight and constriction of our emotional armor can drain our energy, dampen our joy and produce real, physical pain and other symptoms — like headaches, back pain, digestive issues, dizziness, fatigue, tinnitus, etc etc etc

But there is good news!

When we become aware of how our armor is impacting us, we can decide to finally address our underlying, untreated emotional wounds. With the proper love and care, they can heal! And you will be able to gently, gently release your armor.

Looking for a place to start?

There are many different tools you can use to begin the emotional wound-healing and de-armoring process. The one that absolutely changed my life was this one:

👉 Self-Compassion Journaling [download the worksheet here] 💗

Change doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve had a lifetime of growing our armor. The process of healing and de-armoring takes time, consistency (but not relentlessness!), trial-and-error, gentleness and allowing yourself to pick up and start again…

Sending you loads of support, encouragement and love for wherever you are on the journey. You’re exactly where you need to be. Keep going…

💖 Anna