What are some signs it's getting better?

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We often are worried about what mental health signs look like, but we don't usually think about the flip side of that, for either ourselves or another person. 

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What are some of the signs that mental health is getting better?  

​One of the first very often is the acceptance of what has happened.  This could be the acceptance of a diagnosis or a breakdown, a breakthrough. But it can also be the acceptance of something traumatic that happened.  This can include something that happened to you, or that you witnessed, or that happened that strongly affected you.  It's realizing that there will be a new normal, and you aren't going back to the "before" normal.  Knowing that this won't last forever, and healing is happening, and you are charting a new course on your journey, one that includes safe, happy, and healthy. 

Another big sign can be that smile has occasionally, or frequently, returned to you, both the smile you see and the sparkle in your eye.  Another way to say that might be when the smile is genuine and reaches the eyes. That time that loving yourself, and seeing what you deserve, has started to twinkle you back into living in a forward motion and love. ​

The next couple of signs would be not ignoring your feelings, and listening to your body and what it really needs.  Not the numbing out of shock, or the numbing out of behavior (that can look like a lot of sleep, or the way you are eating or drinking, and even addiction).  There is a return to knowing when you are tired and resting, or knowing that your body wants a salad and ordering that instead of ice cream, or even just slowing down with some quiet and tea on the patio. Finding your own needs, your rhythm, and putting yourself first, with the confidence that you deserve to be in your body and be happy.

There is a calmer feeling now, that you can breathe, you can work through and forward, and that you will be alright in this new normal you are creating.  You might not be fully clear yet on what that will look like, but you have a knowing now, it will happen, and it is coming.  

And lastly, there is the noticing.  Perhaps it is the birds singing, or the smaller wins, the positives that are happening around you, and that have been happening.  Very often, when we are in a numb state, we just aren't seeing, hearing, or processing that information.  Once we are on the other side, however, moving into and past acceptance, and into the healing and healed, we start collecting the simple things that are the building block wins, we will use to build our new normal.  ​

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