Options for your mental health and wellness

My journey to finding EMDR started when I was doing couple’s therapy with my wife. We were working through personal triggers and I kept finding I was still reacting to some of my wife’s behaviors, which I was taking personally. These behaviors had nothing to do with me, but I was finding myself getting intensely triggered by them. Our couple’s therapist recommended EMDR. As a therapist for nearly 15
years at this point, I had heard of how successful EMDR can be, but I didn’t know much about it. I agreed to give it a try to work through some childhood
abandonment issues that were being triggered in my present relationship. After only 2 sessions, I was no longer triggered by these same behaviors that had left me reeling with anxiety for nearly a decade. Since then I have done
extensive work on myself to heal other past negative events and programming that had me believing I wasn't good enough or safe. I struggled with medical anxiety for years, and found myself spiraling out when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer. I made it my goal to continue to heal my past so that I could feel better navigating this setback. I had to reprocess old memories and work toward installing a positive belief that I am safe, healthy and thriving. After some healing, I found myself slipping back to my old ways of putting others’ needs before my own and not investing in my well-being. Then I had a reoccurrence of breast cancer, and knew that this was part of my journey to further my healing at a soul level. This wake-up call gave me the push I needed to recommit to my healing. And that is when I discovered the power and potency of self- administered EMDR. I was able to walk through the most recent episode with a calmness and clarity that I never knew was possible. I share this because I know so many of you struggle with similar anxieties and fears, and I believe wholeheartedly that we can all reach an optimal level of well-being by healing our past.