The Other Side of Awareness
Includes Journal Prompts, Practices & Printable Map to Guide You
By Kristin Francis
⚠️ Trauma-Informed Reminder
Some of what’s shared here might bring up strong emotions or old memories. Please go at your own pace.
✔️ Pause or step away if you feel overwhelmed — that awareness is part of healing.
✔️ Use grounding tools if your body feels tense (a few deep breaths, stretching, or orienting can help).
✔️ Skip this entirely if it doesn’t feel safe for you today. Your emotional safety comes first — always.
In this week’s free post, I shared how awareness in healing can feel overwhelming at first, and offered a few simple ways to steady yourself when those feelings come up.
In today’s paid post, we’re going deeper: why awareness brings heavy feelings, my own personal story of regret, and the practices I use to work with those feelings instead of against them, including:
🌿 Gentle daily practices to soften heavy emotions
✍️ Journaling prompts with relatable real-life examples
📄 Awareness & Compassion Map you can use again and again
🧠 Why Awareness Can Be Overwhelming at First
When we begin to heal, it often brings both relief and heaviness.
We may notice small victories - moments of calm, clearer thinking, the ability to pause before reacting. These are powerful signs of progress.
But healing also has another side.
As the nervous system feels safer, memories, truths, and feelings that were once hidden begin to surface.
Along with clarity can come regret, grief, or even shame.
This isn’t a setback - it’s a natural part of healing. Your brain is finally able to process what it once had to push aside.
Awareness is a bit like driving through fog.
When the fog is thick (survival mode), you can only see what’s right in front of you. As your nervous system begins to feel safer, the fog lifts - and more of the road, more of your story, comes into view.
As the fog lifts, you start to see more clearly - and may notice things like:
Realizing that being “the strong one” meant you weren’t allowed to fall apart.
Noticing you avoid asking for help - because in the past, it wasn’t safe to need anyone.
Seeing that keeping yourself busy wasn’t passion - it was distraction from the pain.
Remembering that silence in your home wasn’t peace - it was everyone walking on eggshells.
Catching yourself laughing while telling painful stories - because it once felt safer than crying.
Feeling your chest tighten every time you want to say “no.”
Realizing you stayed too long in a relationship or job because leaving felt unsafe.
Pushing your body past exhaustion - because rest makes you feel guilty.
Noticing you pull away in conflict - because speaking up used to bring punishment.
Realizing you rushed through tender moments with loved ones because survival mode had you braced and distant.
These realizations rarely come all at once. They tend to surface in ordinary moments - while driving, folding laundry, or lying awake at night.
This stage can feel deeply uncomfortable. But it’s also a huge sign of progress - your system is opening the door to healing. The tools and practices in this post were created to support you gently as you move through it.
💛 Why We Confuse Awareness With Failure
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