Create a Healing Hibernation, with Alex Elle

(mouse clicks) (mellow music) Headspace Studio. (celestial music) Hello, everyone. This is Alex L., your guest host for the week. Welcome to "Radio Headspace," and to Wednesday. As you know, this week is all about healing. And as someone who's been doing self-healing work for a while now, there have been times when I've had to distance myself from people, places, and situations that are no longer in alignment with who I'm growing into. This can often lead to seasons of isolation. And while we know people thrive in community, sometimes being alone is also necessary to our healing. So today, let's talk about how to be intentional in these seasons of solitude, and why we don't have to be afraid of stillness. (serene music) I like to call intentional isolation my healing hibernation. There will be a moment in our healing when we need to be by ourselves. When we need to only have our voice being the say. And so, intentional isolation can sometimes look like loving distance, loving space. It can also be really important for us to say to those that we love and trust, "Hey, I'm in a season right now where I might be a little bit quiet. Feel free to check in. But if I'm not reaching out, it's not because of anything you did. It's because I'm having a moment of healing hibernation." I started my healing journey about 12 years ago. I was 22, and I knew that my life had to change. I was unhappy with who I was spending time with. I was unhappy with myself. I was overstimulated. I was burnt out emotionally, and I knew that I wanted to find out who I was without external influences. But in order to do that, I had to be alone. I lost all the friends I was with. I changed my diet. I changed how I was moving my body, so I started going to yoga. And it was an intense change overnight, and it was lonely. But I knew that I wanted a good group of friends. I knew that I wanted a life partner in love. And I knew that it had to start with me. When I came out of my healing hibernation, it was like the world was brighter. I found myself settling less. I found myself prioritizing my wellbeing. And so, I think a lot of us are terrified of being alone because we think that that's gonna be the end all, be all of our life. But it's not. When I gave myself permission to be by myself, I got to know who I was. I got to know what I wanted. I found a beautiful group of friends. I connected with my now husband. It was a challenging season, I'm not gonna lie, but it was so beautiful. We need moments of reset. And if we are continuing to do things that do not serve or align with our growth, we will...