Healing vs. Refreshing: Different Journeys to Well-being
For several years now, I have often come across the word ‘healing’ used in someone’s social media posts, whether it’s posted with photos, videos, or just a text post. Somehow, it become a trend in Indonesia, and sometime it’s written with the slang word ‘hiling’.
Based on that post, I feel like the understanding of the word ‘healing’ has shifted from its original meaning. It doesn’t mean that whoever uses the word ‘healing’ is wrong, it’s just based on my experience when I see some people misunderstand this word.
The word ‘healing’ is often misused when someone associate it with going on a vacation, going somewhere by train, taking a staycation with friends, attending concert, etc. That’s more likely ‘refreshing’ than ‘healing’.
The word ‘refreshing’ refer to making you feel less hot or tired; pleasantly different and interesting; bringing new energy and strength in a pleasant and often unexpected way (online Cambridge dictionary).
Refreshing is a way to make you feel re-energized both physically and mentally after you have felt drained for a period of time. It’s an activity that can be done anytime, and it provides temporary relief.
‘Healing’ is beyond that; it’s not just about doing things that make you happy. Healing (in the context of psychological healing) is a holistic, transformative process of repair and recovery in mind, body, and spirit resulting in positive change, finding meaning, and movement toward self-realization of wholeness, regardless of the presence or absence of disease (Firth, et.al., 2015). Healing is a process aimed at facing the discomforts that occur; It’s about confronting the discomforts, not avoiding them.
Even though the outcome of ‘healing’ is positive changes, it doesn’t mean that we will always feel comfortable while going through the process. During the process of healing, sometimes we have to be brave enough to face the stress and find the right way to respond to it. Healing can provide comfort, but on the other hand, it can also be uncomfortable when accepting the fact that we should take the responsibility for the burdens we carry.
Healing is not about no longer feeling sad, scared, worried, stress, or disappointed. It’s about how our mind and body can accept those feelings so we can be adaptive when they appear.
One of the way that we can do to heal is mastering self-regulation. In therapeutic engagements, teaching self-regulation skills for the person distressed can immediately be helpful, e.g., teaching a relaxation exercise such as deep breathing, to calm one down in the moment (Kohrt, et.al., 2020).
Both ‘healing’ and ‘refreshing’ are important. Refreshing can give us time to recharge ourselves. It is very beneficial when we only have a short time for a break. We can do our hobby, do sports, meet up with friends, take a brief nap, etc.
This writing aims to avoid the possibility of people underestimating the healing process. We should break this misunderstanding so that people who are truly undergoing the healing process are not underestimated with suggestions like, “just go for a holiday to heal, it’s cheaper”. Holiday is a form of refreshing and it just temporary, so it can’t be the process of healing because it doesn’t solve your core problem.
Healing could be done by medical intervention, counseling, or self-care routines. If you feel like you can’t handle it on your own anymore, it’s better for you to seek help from professionals.
Everyone can and should do the ‘healing’ process to release the weight they carry. However, in other cases, I prompt everyone to use the word ‘refreshing’ rather than ‘healing’ to describe your fun activities — a break time from your hectic lives. Choose bravely which word you should use😊
Hi, I still need to learn a broader range of knowledges, topics, and issues. I’m open to any advice, and please remind me if there are any misunderstandings in this writing.
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