It starts with you. And it ends with you. Always and forever.  With the image casted upon us from Storybooks & Fairytales of the Damsel in Distress & the Knight in Shining Armor, we often feel in the depths of our pain and confusion, that we are to wait to be rescued by an unknown savior on horseback to break us out of the dungeon of affliction and into freedom. But this is an illusion. For that Knight In Shining Armor, who frees you from all of the stagnant anguish - has always been + will forever be: You.  If you wait for someone or something to come rushing in and break you out of captivity, you will be waiting forever. No one will ever know you, like you know you. No one has ever woken up with you every single day and gone to sleep with you every night, other than you. No one else, and nothing else, has access to your mind or your memories. The loving people in our lives can only guide us, support us, and give us what we need - when we know what it is  we need and can ask for it. You don’t have to heal, you get to heal. You don’t have to rewrite your story, you get to pick up at any point and decide with love that it is your story to write.  And while it can feel heavy, it is the most profound privilege, honor, and responsibility that you have in this life.  Your ability to create the life you want starts with your ability to accept your life and yourself now, to accept your responsibility in every step you take, and lovingly redirect into what you get to define.  xx In this episode, I cover:  Becoming the artist of your own life. Using confusion as a launching point for self-responsibility.How to overcome absorbing other people's energies+feelings.EMDR therapy - my experience, what it is, & how it’s helping to heal long-held conditioned beliefs rooted in trauma and survivalUnlearning survival instincts, rescuing your inner child, reparenting yourself.Seeing self-care & healing as a privilege. The dissonance between who you are and who you want to be: "Manifestation” without necessary shadow-work. How your commitment to healing & self-worth will guide you to create the life you want. Looking at loved ones who help us through hard times as guide-posts, but taking the credit and responsibility in your own healing.A note on my own realizations with this + the empowerment that’s come from it. Journal Prompts: If your younger self could tell you what they needed, what would they say? How can you give that to them?Do you have a tendency to resent others for not being there for you? If so, how may you be abandoning yourself?How can you give some credit to yourself for getting through hard times, instead of others?xx IF YOU LIKED THIS EPISODE, PLS LEAVE A REVIEW x TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS TikTok: butterflyfountain Podcast Instagram: @figuringshiiitout Personal Instagram: @222vgf Youtube:  @figuringshitout (Vanessa Fontana / Butterfly Fountain)  Support the show