5 Reasons to Reinvent Yourself After a Crisis and How to Navigate It Healthily

Written by Rachel Tamilio, Soul Coach, Certified Herbalist and Writer

As a Soul Coach, Rachel Tamilio has a deep commitment to helping women realize and reclaim their power to live fulfilling, happy lives. She is a published writer, cancer survivor, and in 2022, launched the Off the Deep End Podcast, which features guests who share compelling stories of setbacks transformed into comebacks.

Every life event we experience provides us with a new perspective and raw material to shape our future selves. We may not realize how many new ways we will have for looking at our world after a crisis, and we certainly may not appreciate the raw material afforded to us because of it. Both insight and appreciation may not come until long after.

However, it is inevitable that, after a crisis, there will be a pull, a longing, and a drawing to reinvent yourself. No one else in your life may understand what this will look like for you. They may not understand that every relationship you enter into that crisis with will have to pass through a crucible of sorts as well. How much of your post-crisis self needs or wants what your pre-crisis self did? The truth is, you will not know at first.

How do you approach this crossroads of life with love and integrity?

What is the healthiest way to make sense of all this?

1. Give yourself permission

The urge or drive to reinvent yourself post-crisis is hard to ignore, but it can be done. You may choose to ignore the longings of your heart, but in the end, it is more harmful than beneficial to do so. Develop a healthy curiosity about how you feel and why. Observe your feelings as if you were a journalist gathering data. This will allow you to stay neutral, rather than emotionally react to every impulse you may feel at any given moment.

2. Explore your inner world

In a state of curiosity and wonder, begin tracking how you feel. It may be as simple as journaling a line or two whenever you feel conflict or resistance rise in any aspect of your post-crisis world. Here, it may be helpful to enlist the guidance of a therapist and/or coach, or mentor. If you are fortunate enough to have close friends who can offer you a safe space to explore this, that is wonderful; however, a neutral party will be able to speak into your life in a way that people who already know you cannot. Only you know that. When I was rebuilding, I had the guidance of a spiritual director, a mentor, a health coach, and a naturopathic doctor all at the same time, in addition to amazing friends and family. They all played integral roles in my new path forward.

3. Try new things

Looking back on your life and what it was prior to the pivotal moment that has you questioning who you are now and what kind of future to create is necessary, but do not remain stuck in the past. Discover who you are and what your new self will enjoy. Perhaps this will lead you to a career change or to starting your journey as an entrepreneur. It may be as simple as identifying new hobbies or subjects you would like to learn. Allow your post-crisis self to give you clues.

Before the crisis, I had a full-time job in the corporate world. It was what I knew. It paid the bills. Was it life-giving? Not at all. Post-crisis, I needed something different. First, there was a failed attempt to be certified as a medical assistant. In retrospect, I do not see that as a failure, but as an adventure that showed me that I did not want to go into conventional medicine. While I had respect for the care team that helped get me back on my feet, I wanted to focus on natural remedies, but I did not see that as an option at that phase of my life.

I continued exploring and eventually discovered that relational sales was a fantastic way for me to combine my leadership, speaking, and educational skills with one of my favorite things: storytelling! Ultimately, that is what inspired me to begin my digital agency business, helping business owners create and maintain an online presence, strategize their processes, and more. From there, I discovered that what I loved most was the coaching, consulting, and strategizing aspects, and I pivoted from providing the services to coaching and consulting only.

All of this started with curiosity and determination to follow it, and my intuition divinely led me to what was next.

4. Create boundaries

As you go through these steps, you may discover that you need to allow yourself more self-care, more solitude, or healthier boundaries around relationships that are not as life-giving as you once thought. Perhaps there are some that need to be gently ended for your mental health’s sake. This step may be the most challenging, depending on your social network and personality. Therefore, if you have not had coaches, mentors, or therapists until now, you may find it imperative to employ them.

5. Slowly integrate

There is no law saying that you need to move through these steps in five days, a week, or a month. Much like grief, which is also part of the process of healing from crisis or trauma, the timetable must be unique to you. Do not rush it or demand more of yourself than you have the capacity to do.

Be gentle with yourself. You have already been through enough. Take the time you need to implement the changes you feel you must make. If you rush anything, you will create a different type of crisis, where you end up overwhelmed, regretting, and confused.

In conclusion, the more you document your thoughts and reflect on what you need for your present and future self, the healthier your journey will be. Give yourself both the permission and time to enlist the support of as many people as you need during these pivotal moments of self-discovery and healing. There is no formula. Your unique personality and soul’s purpose are yours to love and share with the world. Take your time. It will all be worth it in the end.

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Rachel Tamilio, Soul Coach, Certified Herbalist and Writer

Rachel Tamilio has a track record of pushing through obstacles and turning them into trampolines that propel her forward to serve people ready to level up their lives, experience more freedom and fulfillment, and increase their energy. Helping people identify their unique purpose and unapologetically step into life aligned with their beliefs and values is what Tamilio has been doing since she survived her health crisis at the age of 30. She is a proud member of the American Writers and Artists Institute and launched a podcast and a blog to empower and inspire people to claim and experience their best health, abundance, and joy. One of her fundamental beliefs is that you have more power, promise, and potential than you can imagine.