Communicating our emotions with our partner is a practice that many of us struggle with daily. There are so many reasons why we might hesitate to express our feelings: fear of being abandoned, judged, or misunderstood, to name a few. If we grew up with parents or caregivers who were emotionally volatile or unavailable, we probably felt safer keeping our emotions to ourselves and pretending everything was okay. We feared rocking the boat with our “inconvenient” feelings that revolted adults—or worse—went completely unnoticed.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (also known as ACT) is a type of therapy that focuses on changing the relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings. It teaches skills to end the fight with ruminating thought patterns, and instead guides the person to reflect on, choose, and live their values. The idea is that you don’t have to get rid of your anxiety, trauma, or depression to start living more fully and meaningfully.

Why can’t I just let it go? This is a question I find myself pondering recently. I look back on the last seven years, and can see clearly how I lived in an endless loop of triggers, flashbacks, and challenging emotions that I had no idea how to process. I had to find a way to make sense of things that most people won’t even talk about. It was a day-by-day struggle to get to where I am. Now that I feel so much better, I look back and struggle to find the words to describe this healing journey I’ve been on.

In the last several years, I’ve prioritized growth and healing. I’ve been through a lot. I was so far from who I really am, stuck playing the roles other people in my life wanted me to play. I made decisions based on everyone else’s opinions and direction, never my own.

Healing from betrayal is hard. It has physical and emotional fallouts and is likely to bring previously undealt with traumas to the surface. The healing journey will be tough, but it will be so worth it in the end.

These are 25 self love affirmations. You can pick one to work with, you can work with them all, or if none of these resonate, begin to think about what you do want to affirm about yourself and write your own!

These are 25 affirmations to assist you with body image acceptance and healing. You can pick one to work with, you can work with them all, or if none of these resonate, begin to think about what you do want to affirm about yourself and write your own!