#32 The Hidden Pattern That Makes You Doubt Your Healing Choices

If you feel pressure to follow the “normal” way of healing… this episode is for you.
Because the truth is, many women with chronic symptoms aren’t stuck because they’re doing the wrong protocol — they’re stuck because they don’t feel safe trusting themselves. And when you don’t trust yourself, your body doesn’t feel safe either.

In this episode, we’re talking about what it really means to become the Rebellious Healer — the woman who stops explaining, stops people-pleasing, and starts making healing decisions from power instead of fear.

You’ll walk away understanding:

• Why feeling judged, guilty, or pressured about your healing choices keeps your body in survival mode
• The subconscious patterns that make you second-guess yourself (and where they actually come from)
• How stepping into your power and setting boundaries sends a biological signal of safety to your body

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Thanks for listening! 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Rebellious Healer, where we ditch the beer, decode the symptoms, and take healing into our own hands. I'm Jenny Peterson, a former holistic practitioner, turn symptom-free, mind-body rebel. I help women break free from protocols and step into trust, confidence, and full body healing. If you're done with rules, restrictions, and outsourcing your power, you're in the right place. Today we're going deep into a topic that many of us in the healing community struggle with: setting boundaries around the path you've chosen for your healing. And I don't just mean the usual no thank you to unsolicited advice. I'm talking about the deeper work of breaking free from the pressures to follow the normal way of healing that everyone expects you to follow. Whether it's family, friends, or even well-meaning strangers, it can feel like a constant battle to go against the grain. But today I'm going to help you reflect on what's holding you back from stepping into the rebellious healer you were always meant to be. Because if you have chronic symptoms and you're here, you're meant to be a rebellious healer. We'll dive into the patterns that keep you from owning your choices while you feel guilty for saying no, and how to break free from the need to justify your decisions. This is all about reclaiming your power, setting strong boundaries, and learning to trust your intuition. Let's get into it. Let's start by talking about the pressure. The world loves a one-size-fits-all approach, right? But healing isn't one size fits all. If you've been on your healing journey for any length of time, you've probably encountered that unspoken belief that there's one right way to heal, usually involving supplements, diets, or therapies or some other promise that's a quick fix. And the problem with this is that it's all external solutions, none of which honor the internal wisdom that your body is trying to share with you. But here's where it gets tricky. The pressure to follow the normal path isn't just coming from the outside. It's internalized too. You may find yourself questioning your choices, doubting whether you're doing the right thing, or even feeling guilty when you don't follow what others suggest. And when you feel different or you feel judged, it becomes even harder to trust your own decisions. So why does this happen? Why do we feel this internal conflict? Let's take a moment to reflect on the patterns that keep us stuck here, because anytime there's a problem, there's a pattern. For many of us, it all starts with fear. The fear of judgment, the fear of being different, the fear of not fitting into the box that society has created for us. Maybe you were raised to believe that healing means following mainstream. Maybe you were taught that your choices should be justified by others, or that if you don't explain yourself, you're somehow being irresponsible or you're not getting the approval of somebody else. But here's an important question. Where did you learn to not trust yourself? Did your parents always step in and make decisions for you? Or when you made a choice, did they tell you why it wasn't the right one? Think about it. How did that shape how you respond today, especially when it comes to making health decisions for yourself? Because how you respond today is going to be based on patterns from the past, unless you've cleaned them up and somehow worked on all of them. The feeling of needing to explain yourself or the pressure to follow someone else's path for your healing is deeply tied to these patterns. These beliefs have been programmed into us over the years by well-meaning family members, healthcare providers, or society's narrow definition of what it means to be healthy. And let's be real, there have also been situations where you learned that being different meant facing judgment or that you weren't capable of making your own decisions. But here's the truth: these patterns are not serving you. In fact, they're keeping you stuck. They're stopping you from stepping into your power as the rebellious healer you're meant to be. I know from personal experience how hard it can be to push past these patterns. When I was sick, I felt the overwhelming need to explain myself to my family every time I did something outside the normal healing approach. I felt the overwhelming need to explain myself to my family every time I did something outside the normal healing approach. But here's the truth. I was justifying myself, trying to make sense of it to others. And in the process, I was losing my own power. The more I tried to explain, the more frustrated I felt. And the more frustrated I got, the worse my health seemed to get. I was responding this way because fear of judgment was a big part of my life ever since I was a kid. It was a very deep pattern in my subconscious. Now I want you to think about something. What if you could step into your power as a rebellious healer, someone who trusts their body, listens to their intuition, and refuses to conform to the outside pressures? What would that look like for you? Imagine letting go of the need to justify your decisions. Imagine feeling so confident in your health choices that you don't need anyone else's approval or validation. Imagine setting those boundaries firmly and without guilt. I'll be real with you, this was a process for me, but at some point I was just tired. Tired of explaining myself, tired of the constant backlash, tired of justifying my every move to people who weren't walking my path. So I just stopped. I stopped giving a shit about explaining myself, and you know what? It was one of the most empowering decisions I've ever made. Not only did I feel better emotionally, but my body felt safer because I wasn't giving away my power anymore. I wasn't letting others dictate my healing journey. I've always gone against the norm when it comes to health. Even as a teenager, I was always the odd duck when it came to addressing health issues. But once I opened my health and wellness center, that pressure and judgment only grew stronger. My 20-year-old self, inexperienced and full of passion, made the bold decision to open a health center in a small town where bars and churches took up most of the space. It wasn't uncommon to find nasty letters in my mailbox telling me that I was doing witchcraft and going to hell. At that young age, I didn't have the emotional maturity to not let the judgment affect me at that time, but it was definitely preparing me for what was to come in the future. And then when I got sick, the pressure got even more intense. I dove into the world of mind-body work, a world where no one in my family or community even has the slightest idea of what that meant. So the more I embraced that rebellious side of myself, the more my body began to feel safe. And the more confident I became in my choices. That's when my healing journey truly took a 180. By stepping into my power, my body then felt safe. Because here's the thing: when you're not in your power, when you're doing something to please other people, you're going against you. You're going against your soul. It sends a message of weakness to both your brain and body. And so from a survival perspective, which is a perspective we always have to have because it explains why we're biologically having symptoms. From a survival perspective, that's not a feeling of safety. So what happens when the body doesn't feel safe? It adapts. And how does it adapt? It creates symptoms. So it's no surprise that when people begin to step into their power, their symptoms start to fade. What many don't realize is that they might think it's the latest supplement or detox that help them, but the truth is, it's because they stepped into their power. They don't have the level of awareness to say, oh, I made this change in my life, or I did this and stepped into my power. I made this decision. No one sees that. All they're seeing is I did this external thing that must have been the thing that fixed this issue. But the truth is, is they stepped into their power or they made a move that sent a message of safety to their body. That shift, that reclaiming of your energy is what truly starts the healing process. So, how do you actually start stepping into that rebellious healer identity? How do you start setting those boundaries with the people around you and reclaim your power? Here are a couple things you can do. Number one, reflect on the patterns that are keeping you stuck. Take a moment to think about where the need to explain yourself comes from or whatever this feeling is that you have that's connected to you feeling this pressure from the outside world or when somebody confronts you about your health choices. Is it a fear of judgment? Is it a fear of being different? And where does it come from? It's going to come somewhere in childhood. It always does. And where did you learn to have this fear? Where did that fear present itself as a way that your subconscious says, we're holding on to that because that's something that didn't feel safe and we don't want to feel that again? Understanding the source of these patterns is the first step to breaking free from them. Number two, start small. Say no without guilt. It doesn't have to be big confrontation. Start by practicing saying no to just little things. Maybe someone offers a piece of advice to you and you just say, No, I'm not interested, and leave it at that, and maybe practice not having to explain yourself at the same time. Or maybe it's just a simple question of, hey, do you want to go do this next week? And you really don't want to. And in the past you would be feeling like, oh, I need to do this because this, this, and this, or I'm in fear of this person being disappointed in me. Stop, listen to yourself. And maybe if you truly don't want to do it, say no. And also practice at that time again another opportunity to not have to explain yourself. So you can practice saying no and probably not having to explain yourself on a lot of situations with just simple things. All you're doing is just practicing here. You're building that muscle. And then number three, own your choices with confidence. The more you own your decisions, the easier it becomes. We're adults now. We don't need other people's approval of the things that we do. And if your parents' voice is coming in and saying, Oh, remember when you that did that decision, it wasn't the smartest thing that you did. Okay, we can stop and say, I'm no longer a child. I do not need to get approval from my parents. I can make my own choices. And if my choice ends up being something that really didn't work out well, then it's a learning lesson. And I can pull from it what I've learned and move on. We have to own our choices with confidence. You don't need to justify it. You're not a bad person for not fouling the crowd. You're not a bad person for making a choice and have it go quote unquote wrong. In my opinion, there isn't a wrong choice. There's always learning. So by owning your choices with this confidence, you're going to step into the true essence of who you are. And the last thing here is reclaim your intuition. Just a reminder: this is your body and it's trying to tell you something. I don't know where everyone has got this idea that your health is their business, but it's not. Trust it and stop second-guessing yourself because someone is trying to invade your space. There are so many boundary issues out here that people have. And for some reason, we've made it okay to get involved in other people's healing journey. Like it's just normal conversation. It's not. And you have every right to set up a boundary and say, this is my choice. And I want you to listen to your intuition because it's your body. And the more you listen to your intuition, the more confident you'll become in your healing choices. And finally, give yourself permission to be different. Healing is not a one-size-fits-all journey, and you don't have to follow the rules that society or others tell you are the right way to heal. In fact, the most profound healing happens when you break free from the conventional, when you trust what feels right to you, even if it goes against the grain. You are not meant to fit inside of a box. You are meant to blaze your own trail, to honor your body's needs and signals, and to step into a version of yourself that is unapologetically true. Give yourself the freedom to explore, to trust your intuition, to let go of any shame or guilt that may come from choosing your own path. You don't need anyone's approval but your own. That's where your power lies. In your willingness to be different, to reject the norm, and to fully embrace the healing that is meant for you. So the next time you feel pressured to follow a certain approach or worry what others are going to think about your choices, pause, notice what comes up for you, and choose to step into the rebellious healer that you are. Thanks for listening to the Rebellious Healer. If today's episode spoke to you, send it to a friend, share it to your stories, or come say hi on Instagram.