The New Year is a perfect time for reflection, renewal, and recalibration. For those who have experienced the transformative journey of recovering from chronic pain, New Year’s resolutions carry a unique weight and focused purpose. They’re not just about personal growth; they are about honoring the resilience and hard-won victories over pain, addiction, and the burdens of intergenerational trauma.
Here are the resolutions inspired by my journey of healing from over 40 years of chronic pain and my work helping others find freedom from suffering. These resolutions aren’t just promises—they are tools for cultivating a life rooted in intentionality, joy, and connection.
Embrace the Present Moment
Chronic pain traps you in cycles of fear and regret, disconnecting you from the here and now. A key aspect of recovery is learning to live fully in the present moment. This year, I invite you to resolve to practice mindfulness daily. Whether it’s through meditation, mindful breathing, or simply pausing to savor your surroundings, grounding yourself in the present is a powerful act of healing. Remember—healing only happens in the present. When we are focused on the past or the future, we miss the present altogether and so miss out on our potential for healing.
Action Step: Begin your day with three deep breaths and a gratitude statement to center yourself. Practice staying present.
Prioritize Nervous System Regulation
Your regulated nervous system is foundational for your healing and building resilience. Recovery requires addressing the dysregulated nervous system often caused by the stress response, which gets stuck in the “on” position because of chronic pain. Tools like breathwork and other trauma-informed yoga practices can help calm the body’s fight-or-flight response and foster a sense of safety within.
Action Step: Dedicate a time each day to practices that regulate your nervous system, such as breathwork, meditation, or other mindfulness practices.
Redefine Self-Worth
Chronic pain changes the brain. One of these changes is an increased negative mind. This negativity distorts your self-image, making you feel like a burden or inadequate. The work you do to recover helps heal the changes in the brain, including decreasing negativity. You can rediscover your worth, which isn’t defined by productivity or perfection but by our intrinsic humanity.
Action Step: Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small. Track them in a journal to remind yourself of your progress.
Cultivate Compassion
Compassion is a gentle path to take as you explore the deeper roots of any suffering you are experiencing. You can find compassion and forgiveness hidden in the sound of silence. Silence is a fertile ground for deepening into your ability to release old patterns, past unfulfilled wishes, and things you have attached yourself to long ago. Compassion is woven into the field of silence. It is here where you can deepen and widen your capacity for forgiveness and compassion—for others and yourself.
Action Step: Sit quietly and commit to being curious about your thoughts and emotions rather than judgmental. Ask yourself, “What might this feeling be trying to teach me?”
Reclaim Your Power Through Community
Isolation can be one of the most challenging aspects of chronic pain. We are traumatized in unsafe relationships. We heal in safe relationships. Finding a supportive community where you feel seen and understood is essential. We are traumatized in unsafe relationships. We heal in safe relationships.
Action Step: Join a group or online community of like-minded individuals where you can find a safe space to heal, such as with a trauma-informed therapist, a recovery group, a stress management class, or a mindfulness workshop.
Align Your Daily Actions with Your Intentions
Intentional living is about ensuring your actions reflect your core values. In recovery, this means asking, “Does this serve my healing?”
Action Step: Set one intention daily, such as “Today, I will prioritize rest,” and commit to it.
Celebrate Your Sobriety and Wellness Journey
If you’ve overcome addiction, your recovery is a testament to your strength. Celebrate your milestones and share your story to inspire others.
Action Step: Create a “sobriety toolkit” for challenging moments—include grounding exercises, affirmations, and contact information for your support system.
Honor the Healing Power of Gratitude
Gratitude transforms your mindset, shifting focus from what’s lacking to what’s abundant.
Action Step: Each day, write down three things you’re grateful for and one thing you love about yourself. Allow this to be a powerful affirmation of the beauty in you and your journey.
Expand Your Understanding of Pain
Recovery involves recognizing that pain isn’t just physical; it’s emotional, mental, and spiritual. The brain cannot tell the difference between one kind of pain and the other. It all sends the same signal to the brain, “It hurts.” Addressing all these dimensions is critical to your healing.
Action Step: Seek holistic healing modalities that address these layers—explore yoga, acupuncture, energy medicine, or any other integrative therapies.
Be Gentle with Yourself
Healing isn’t linear. Some days will be harder than others, and that’s okay.
Action Step: Allow yourself plenty of rest, care, and patience.
Final Thoughts: Your Year of Transformation
New Year’s resolutions aren’t about perfection—they’re about intentional steps toward a life of freedom, empowerment, and connection. As someone who’s walked this path, I encourage you to approach each resolution with curiosity and compassion. Remember, every small step is a victory.
This year, I encourage you to embrace your healing journey. May 2024 be your year of growth, joy, and possibility.
Connect with Elizabeth on The Wellness Universe and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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Elizabeth is a Health Facilitator, Empowerment Coach, EFT/Tapping and Ancestral Clearing Practitioner, and Kundalini Yoga Teacher, helping people to step into the power of their own healing. She has turned her attention as a patient advocate and health facilitator in service to the alarmingly high population of people who suffer from stress, chronic pain, and the quest for a life free from suffering.
I loved your reminder to stay in the present moment, Elizabeth and the invitation to steep in gratitude as a healing tool in this beautiful article. Thank you so much.