Awakening Doesn’t Always Feel Good

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Why growth sometimes feels like falling apart—and what it really means.

There are moments when the life you built no longer feels like it belongs to you.

Not because something catastrophic happened.
But because something inside you quietly outgrew the space you used to fit in.

At first, you try to push it down.
You rationalize. You tell yourself, “I should be grateful.”
But one day, the discomfort becomes undeniable:

• Conversations that once energized you now leave you drained.
  
  

• Beliefs you held onto for safety start to feel suffocating.
  
  

• The version of you that knew how to perform… starts to fade.
  
  

That’s what awakening feels like.
And spoiler alert?
It doesn’t always feel good.

💔 The Truth Most People Don’t Tell You About Growth

When I started this journey over a decade ago, I genuinely thought personal growth would feel like rising.
Like clarity.
Like confidence.

Instead, it felt like unraveling.

I couldn’t relate to the people around me anymore.
I didn’t want the things I used to chase.
And yet—I had no idea what I did want.

I was in what I now call the sacred in-between.
Not who I used to be.
Not yet who I was becoming.

Just… suspended.
Wobbly.
Raw.

And that in-between? It can feel like grief.
But that doesn’t mean you’re broken.
It means you’re brave enough to leave behind what no longer fits.

🧠 Why Awakening Feels So Hard (Psychology + Science)

There’s a name for what you’re experiencing.
Psychologists call it identity disequilibrium—a period when your old self no longer feels authentic, but your new identity hasn’t fully formed yet.

It’s deeply uncomfortable.
And often mistaken for depression, anxiety, or burnout.

But in many cases, it’s actually an emotional or spiritual rewiring:

• Your nervous system is adjusting to a new way of being.
  
  

• Your brain is pruning old thought patterns.
  
  

• Your soul is surfacing truths that can’t stay buried anymore.
  
  

Dr. Lisa Miller, author of The Awakened Brain, calls this a “sacred invitation into transformation.”
And once I understood that…
I stopped asking “What’s wrong with me?”
And started asking “What’s waking up in me?”

🌿 From Performance to Presence

It took years of reflection, journaling, and giving myself permission to rest for me to feel at home in my own life again.

But here’s the shift I want to share with you:

Awakening isn’t about becoming someone different.
It’s about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

It’s the most tender kind of return.

📝 Want to Go Deeper?

If you’re in the in-between—between who you were and who you’re meant to be—I made something for you.

🎙️ Listen to Episode 11 of the LTS Daily Podcast:
[Awakening Doesn’t Always Feel Good]
I walk you through my own story, the science behind identity shifts, and the soft tools that helped me feel safe in the chaos.

🖊️ Journal Prompt:

What part of me am I outgrowing… but still clinging to because it feels familiar?

📓 Journal with Me:
The [LTS Journal: Know] is your sacred space to write through the messy middle.
This is where I started. It might be where you return to yourself, too.

📲 Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

Come find me on Instagram → [@lovethyselfies]
Tell me your cocoon story. Or just say hi.
Because the truth is:

You’re not behind.
You’re not falling apart.
You’re becoming.

And it’s okay if that doesn’t feel good yet.
It just means it’s real.

With you in the in-between,
xo
Melissa