What Your Symptoms Are Actually Telling You
Your body is always communicating with you
As originally published in Change Your Mind Change Your Life on Medium.com.
Image: Carolina Heza on Unsplash
Six years ago, I found myself at my lowest point. I was in a deeply toxic relationship, constantly drained by my work, and on the verge of physical and emotional collapse. The symptoms were loud and clear: chronic fatigue, relentless brain fog, deteriorating eyesight, and debilitating back pain that eventually led to surgery. I was deteriorating in every way.
Despite numerous medical appointments, tests, and treatments, no one could give me a clear answer. The doctors were confused. The test results looked fine. But I didn’t feel fine. In fact, I felt like I was falling apart.
What I discovered throughout my healing journey was this: your body doesn’t lie. It speaks the truth even when you can’t.
The Body as Messenger, Not EnemyWe are conditioned to treat symptoms as enemies. When something hurts or malfunctions, we rush to silence it. We pop pills, undergo surgeries, distract ourselves, or try to “tough it out.”
But what if symptoms aren’t the problem? What if they’re the message?
When I was at my lowest, my body wasn’t betraying me. It was trying to get my attention. Each physical ailment was connected to something emotional, something unprocessed.
My back pain reflected how unsupported I felt in my life.
My blurry vision mirrored what I was refusing to see in my relationship.
My exhaustion wasn’t laziness; it was my body begging for rest and truth.
Our subconscious communicates through the body. When our conscious mind refuses to acknowledge stress, trauma, or emotional pain, the body steps in to speak for us. Think of your symptoms as warning lights on a dashboard. They don’t exist to annoy you. They exist to alert you that something under the hood needs attention.
When the Mind Leads, the Body FollowsWhat most people don’t realise is that the mind and body are not separate. They are deeply intertwined.
Every thought you think creates an emotional response and a physical reaction. Stressful thoughts trigger the release of cortisol and adrenaline, putting your body into fight-or-flight mode. Over time, this state becomes chronic, leading to real, diagnosable conditions like high blood pressure, digestive disorders, hormonal imbalances, or autoimmune disease.
But it also works in reverse. Healing thoughts — thoughts of safety, self-love, and worthiness — can calm the nervous system, reduce inflammation, and promote physical healing. Our beliefs are the architects of our biology.
This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s neuroscience. The field of epigenetics shows that gene expression is affected by emotional and environmental factors. In other words, your body reacts to what you believe, think, and feel, not just what you eat or how much you exercise.
The Root Cause Is Often EmotionalAs I trained to become a Rapid Transformation Therapy Practitioner and Hypnotherapist, I learned more about and worked with the subconscious mind. Through this work, I uncovered the emotional roots of my symptoms. I discovered a belief I didn’t even know I was carrying — a deep sense of unworthiness.
This belief affected every part of my life. It kept me in unhealthy relationships, drove me to overwork, and forced me to prove my value at every turn. My body, exhausted by the performance, finally shut down.
Once I began addressing that belief — not just intellectually, but emotionally and somatically — my healing accelerated. My vision began to clear. My energy slowly returned. My body started to trust me again.
True healing doesn’t happen by masking symptoms. It happens when we listen to them, feel into them, and trace them back to their origin.
Practical Steps to Reconnect With Your BodyIf you’re struggling with chronic symptoms, here are some steps to begin listening to your body:
Get Still: Create a daily practice of quiet. This could be meditation, journaling, or simply sitting with your hand on your heart. Your body responds best when it feels safe.
Ask Questions: When pain arises, ask: What is my body trying to tell me? What am I not seeing or acknowledging?
Feel Your Feelings: Don’t rush to fix or numb the sensation. Let yourself feel it fully. Emotions that are felt can be released. Unfelt emotions, on the other hand, get stored.
Track Patterns: Notice when symptoms flare up. Is it after certain conversations? Around specific people? In moments of self-doubt? The body keeps score.
Seek Support: A therapist, coach, or somatic healer can help you explore the emotional roots of your symptoms safely. Healing is personal, but it doesn’t have to be solitary.
The TakeawayYour body is wise. It is not broken. It is not against you. It is your greatest ally in uncovering what’s true and what needs healing.
When you stop fighting your symptoms and start listening to them, everything changes. You realise that healing isn’t about fixing what’s wrong with you, but remembering what’s right with you instead.
Because your body is not the enemy. It is the messenger. And it will keep speaking until you finally listen.
Healing starts in the mind. But it is completed in the heart, through the body.
Wherever you are in your journey, always remember that YOU ARE ENOUGH.
