Healing Beyond the Wound

Blog series - Beyond the labels, Who am I

We spend so much time healing wounds the trauma, the illness, the heartbreak but often we forget another part of the healing journey: the identity that grew around the wound.

It’s easy to become defined by what we’ve endured. The strong one. The fighter. The one who holds it all together. These labels can feel like armor, but they can also become chains. They tell the world, “I survived,” but sometimes they whisper, “I am only this.”

Healing beyond the wound means stepping back and asking: Who am I when I’m not defined by pain?

Reflection Exercise: Separate Yourself From the Story

1. Identify the “wound identities”: Write down the roles you took on as a result of trauma, illness, or hardship.

2. Notice the cost: How has carrying these identities limited you, shaped your choices, or hidden your true self

3. Imagine freedom: Close your eyes and picture yourself without these roles. What feels different? Lighter? Possible?

Rediscovery

Beneath the survival story is the essence of you. The parts of you that laugh easily, that get lost in nature, that create without expectation. The parts of you that don’t need to justify their existence. Healing beyond the wound isn’t about forgetting it’s about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

Mantra

"I am more than the story I survived."

Take a deep breath. Feel the space around you. In this space, you are not just a survivoryou are a woman rediscovering herself, piece by piece, moment by moment.