That event can make you feel extremely vulnerable and lead you to search for quick-fix solutions just to hold yourself together so you can still earn a living.

The first step I took was…

Seek medical help

If you can afford it, the first step after a traumatic event is to seek medical help. Like in any field, there are good and not-so-good doctors. In my experience, if you have endured trauma, you should look for specialized trauma professionals who can act as emotional crutches while you regain stability.

Admit, plainly and simply, that you are vulnerable — for very valid reasons — and be careful about whom you open up to. Vulnerability is powerful, and in the society we have collectively created, it can sometimes attract toxic behavior.

Journal your thoughts, observe, and gather data

I am not claiming this is the miracle solution, but journaling daily — writing down how you felt after meeting X, Y, or Z — can help you reconnect with yourself.

Pain flows. It starts in the heart and spreads to your vital organs, especially if you are highly emotional.

From my own experience, antidepressants helped me endure the pain and the burnouts. But they also impaired my ability to feel and think clearly; they numbed my emotions. Meanwhile, I gained about 15 kilos and felt physical pain everywhere.

That was when I read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and began to understand how anxiety and stress can affect the body.

So I decided to gradually stop the medication to end the vicious cycle. I had no idea how my body and thoughts would react, so I isolated myself. I didn’t want to risk hurting others while I was emotionally unstable. I also sought alternative natural medicine to support the transition.

It didn’t go as expected. Once I could feel again, instead of being patient, all my emotions rushed back at once — and I made a fool of myself. I’ll spare you (and myself) the details.

Did it kill anyone? No.

Did it break the trust some may have had in me? Maybe, however the trust was broken way before my foolishness.

The person I wounded the most was probably myself — though that may also be my tendency to overthink.

Be patient with yourself and do not compare yourself to anyone

After making a fool of myself, my healing path started with food. I stopped eating everything I loved — pasta, bread, pizza, burgers, tomatoes, anything with sugar — and stuck to simple, healthy, home-cooked meals.

Green vegetables, kiwi, eggs, lemon, Greek olive oil, meat or fish twice a week — and that’s it. It made grocery shopping super easy. It also helped financially, as my income had decreased drastically.

Believe it or not, at night, just before falling asleep, I would imagine the taste of pizza — the smell of a quattro formaggi, the shape of a calzone baked in a wood-fired oven. I could almost see French fries French kiss, and tagliatelle dancing in my head.

The result? One kilo lost per week. Not drastic. Not miraculous. But sustainable.

The first month was the hardest. After two months, it became easy — my body adapted. And I could finally do 20 minutes of Pilates every single day.

Again, nothing extreme — just consistent.

Isolation is both an asset and a liability. It is an asset because you are not tempted by distractions. It is a liability because it is just you.

However, it may allow you to stop comparing yourself to others. After a breakdown and multiple burnouts, your self-esteem is very low — not to mention the trauma. Since I strongly believe in our capacity as human beings to adapt to the worst, isolation becomes a habit. It is not that you do not miss your so-called friends or your social life, it is that you do not want to take the risk of falling down again because without antidepressants, you are back to your self only more wounded, fragile and self-aware.

Never hesitate to seek help, that is the first conclusion of this post. We are all unique, that is the second conclusion of this post. And it is through embracing our uniqueness, understanding oneself, that we can eventually become whole — together. How to become whole together? That is a question I do not know the answer… yet. If you do, feel free to comment.