🌿 Healing Through Story and Self
Finding Safety in Self-Compassion
When trauma has been part of your story, self-compassion can feel… foreign.
Sometimes, it can even feel unsafe.
If you’ve learned to survive by staying guarded, hyper-aware, or self-critical, the idea of softening toward yourself may feel like letting your guard down in the middle of a storm.
But here’s the truth: self-compassion is not a weakness.
It is a boundary, a home, and a shelter you carry inside you.
Self-compassion says:
“I believe you.”
“I’m here for you.”
“You matter, even when you’re hurting.”
It’s not about excusing harmful behavior—yours or anyone else’s. It’s about refusing to turn that harm inward.
It’s the quiet act of becoming your own safest person.
💡 Example of Self-Compassion in Action:
You might catch yourself thinking:
“I messed up again. I’m hopeless.”
Instead, the rewrite sounds like:
“I made a mistake. That’s part of being human. I can choose differently next time.”
The first voice closes the door.
The second one leaves the light on.
✍🏼 Reflection Prompt:
What’s one moment this week when you could have spoken to yourself with kindness but didn’t?
What might it have sounded like if you had?
Self-compassion is not about sugarcoating reality; it’s about facing reality without abandoning yourself in the process.
Whenever you speak to yourself like someone worth protecting, you rebuild trust.
Whenever you choose gentleness over judgment, you create more safety inside.
And in that safety… healing grows.
With warmth,
Anique
© Anique Herbst, Sanctum & Soil, LLC
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