With Justice Collective on Mental Health
“It is okay to allow ourselves to cocoon during times of transformation.”
I thought about this quote while talking to the mom of one my clients this weekend. I marveled at this mom’s resilience. She has experienced unimaginable trauma, abuse, and betrayal, and still has managed to get herself and her daughter to a place of safety; and is now starting on a transformative, healing journey. She can let herself grieve and unravel. She is seeing her daughter’s spirit come alive. I told her it is okay to be in a season of “cocooning”. Often, that is when we can transform.
In my therapy work with children, I know they cannot heal and flourish until they feel safe, loved, and secure. Adults are not different; we experience rejection, betrayal, and trauma simply as part of being alive, and with trauma comes fear, an unloving spirit, and a labyrinth of mental health issues. We feel more suspicious and uncertain. We don’t know whom we can trust. Sometimes, when working with children, I simply offer them a safe space to play and process. When they feel at rest, is when they can begin healing. Just like children, adults need seasons of safety, rest, and “cocooning” to heal and allow transformation. It is okay to be gentle with ourselves when we’re going through change, stress, and grief. It is okay to allow ourselves to hide away for a season, and allow new creative things to form within us. When we rest, we find peace within ourselves, that we can then offer to those suffering around us. We can we offer something different. A place of safety. A place of rest. A place of peace that transforms.
