Life After Abuse: Becoming Balanced is the Key to Wholeness
When we experience trauma, it's natural for our lives to get out of balance. We lose the rhythm of our lives because our emotions become unraveled and our minds get weighed down with the problems of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This can lead to anxiety, which will ultimately impair the way you handle situations. Things that used to be a "walk in the park" suddenly become a race in a crowded jungle. This can of course make you feel frustrated and helpless, which breeds hopelessness.
Give Yourself Time to Decompress
One of the keys to regaining balance in life after abuse is to first allow your mind to decompress by finding something constructive to help you relax. If you're already feeling overwhelmed and like you don't know what to do, it will be more difficult to make a sound and practical decision with a mind that's racing with thoughts and filled with worry. Also, you need to be able to quiet your mind to hear the still small voice of the Father speaking to you.
There's a saying that has recently come about in pop culture called "Netflix and chill". This is a way of saying watch a good movie and relax; take it easy. Sometimes doing an activity like this can help take your mind off things for a while, so you can feel more calm and able to do the real work that it takes to get your life back in order.
The real work of finding balance in your life after abuse is to work on healing your inner man. And living a life of consistent prayer, praise and worship is the ultimate key to bringing your life back into alignment. But as much as you’re a spiritual being, you’re also a natural person made out of flesh living in a natural world. So sometimes when you feel mentally fatigued because your mind is overwhelmed with thoughts of pain and disappointment, what you need to do to break up the monotony is just have some fun and relax.
Don’t Get Stuck in a Perpetual State of Coping
Of course, the key to this is balance. You want to do things to decompress your mind, but not be stuck in a perpetual state of finding a coping mechanism or using escapism where you're constantly doing things to distract your thoughts from the tough issues you're facing. I think oftentimes, we can sense within ourselves when we're doing something just to be doing it even though we know it's not helping. So when that feeling is present, that's when you can say to yourself, "Okay, I've had enough "Netflix and chill". I need to press into the spirit realm, so the Holy Spirit can work on my broken soul." Or, "I need to find a good counselor who can help me through my healing journey to regain balance in my life." Or, "I need to stop isolating myself from the people who truly love and care about me, so I can have a support network and a shoulder to lean on."
You know you. You know when you've had enough downtime and are beginning to wallow in your pain. You know when it's time to say to yourself, "I've had enough of my life being out of whack. It's time reach outside of myself to get the tools and assistance I need to overcome the traumatic abuse and get my life back in balance." But the problem is not in the knowing; the problem is in the doing. It's the actual motivation to get up and make a change that can be a struggle.
Seek Help From Others But Don’t Use People as a Crutch
Sometimes, we're fortunate to have great people in our lives who can hold our hands, so we can take baby steps to a place of healing. But even if you have such people in your life, you can't use them as a crutch. Again, it's all about balance. Ultimately, you have to take accountability for your own healing and breakthrough. Even though someone else did the abusing and did the hurting, which caused your life to become topsy-turvy, you're responsible for bringing your life back in order. You can't sit and wait for the one who hurt you to come and fix you.
If it happens that the Father has put it on your heart to reconcile with the one who caused you much pain, and he is willing to make things right, then he may be able to help with restoring some balance to your life. But yet and still, he isn't God. So he can't make everything that has become unbalanced in your mind, soul, body and spirit become balanced again.
Become More Balance So You Can Live at Your Fullest Potential
You have to take the first step, even if it's a small one. Becoming balanced brings you closer to becoming whole. The more whole you become the more the light of the Holy Spirit can shine through you. The more the glory of the Father will draw people to you. Learning how to find yourself again in life after abuse is not just for you — it's also for the people who need to hear your story, so they can in turn get their lives in balance. Those people will then empower more people and thousands will become healed and set free. So you see, you're literally needed to help make the world a better place. The world can't make it without you. That is why you're here. You're here to impact the world in a mighty way for the glory of God, and becoming balanced is the key to functioning as a whole person at your fullest potential.
