The Echo Effect- Issue 05: What your body has been trying to tell you...
Published 6 days agoย โขย 1 min read
Ms. Echo Chantel
SELF-LOVE ADVOCATE & COACH
Hey Reader
August is a significant month for me.
It holds some of the most meaningful moments of my life and some of the hardest ones too.
Years ago, my grandmother, the woman who raised me passed away on my brother's birthday (8/5). And then years later, on my birthday (8/24) I lost my brother to gun violence. He was murdered.
In that same season and month, my family lost our childhood home. My mother moved in with me while she navigated the grief of losing her son, her home and her job all within weeks of each other. And I held it together the way I always had by staying strong, staying busy, and keeping going.
The B stands for every Black woman who has been somebody's superhero quietly carrying more than anyone knew. The cape has always been there. This newsletter is about finally taking care of the woman underneath it.
What I didn't realize was what that stress was doing to my body underneath the surface.
Months later I was diagnosed with fibroids. And looking back I can see clearly how the weight of everything I had absorbed and refused to acknowledge, made everything so much worse. My body had been trying to tell me something long before I was willing to listen.
We are remarkably good at carrying things.
Loss. Grief. Trauma. Responsibility. We absorb it, keep moving, show up for everyone who needs us and tell ourselves we're fine.
But sometimes our bodies are keeping score when our minds have decided to move on.
That season as devastating as it was became the beginning of my self-love journey. Not because I had it all figured out. But because I finally had no choice but to choose myself.
So this is my gentle reminder to you today:
Don't wait for your body to force the conversation.
Check in with yourself. Really check in. Not just physically , but emotionally and mentally too. The stress you're carrying has a weight. The grief you haven't processed has a home somewhere in your body. The rest you keep postponing has a cost.
You are worth the same attention you give everyone else.
Start there.
If you're not sure where to begin, the free Self-Love Assessment is a good first step.
And if something in you is ready for more the EmpowerHER Soul Retreat in Cartagena is built for this exact woman. The one who has been carrying too much for too long and is finally ready to put it down.
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