Amanda Wojtas Ketikidis – How to Heal and Live at Home

 In a world that often pushes us to keep moving, keep producing, and keep pretending we’re fine — healing can feel like a radical act. Amanda Wojtas Ketikidis, a wellness advocate, travel storyteller, and mental health voice, understands this deeply. Through her own journey of recovery from emotional exhaustion and life’s heavy moments, she has come to believe one essential truth: you don’t have to escape your life to heal — you can do it right at home.

In this heartfelt guide, Amanda shares her insights and practices for how to heal and truly live while staying rooted in your everyday environment. Whether you're dealing with burnout, heartbreak, anxiety, or simply feeling lost, healing doesn't require a retreat in the mountains or a plane ticket. It starts right where you are — with your breath, your space, and your intention.

1. Reclaim Your Space as a Healing Ground

Amanda believes that healing begins with your environment. Not just visually, but emotionally.

“Your home should feel like a sanctuary, not a stress zone,” she says.

Start with these small but powerful steps:

• Declutter with compassion: Remove what no longer serves your peace. That includes objects, noise, and even toxic reminders.
• Create intentional spaces: A reading corner, a meditation nook, or even just a cozy chair by the window can become your daily escape.
• Bring in elements of nature: Plants, natural light, fresh air, and calming scents like lavender or eucalyptus can shift your nervous system toward calm.

When your surroundings support your peace, your body feels safe enough to start letting go of tension.

2. Slow Down — You’re Not Falling Behind

Healing isn’t linear. It doesn’t happen on a schedule. And it certainly doesn't happen when you’re rushing from one thing to the next.

Amanda suggests:

• Removing urgency from your vocabulary. “You are not behind. You are allowed to pause.”
• Saying no to commitments that drain you.
• Scheduling slow time as seriously as meetings. Quiet coffee breaks. Warm showers. Doing nothing at all.

“Stillness is not laziness — it’s medicine,” Amanda reminds us.

Give yourself permission to rest without needing to “earn it.”

3. Build Healing Rituals Into Your Day

Rituals give structure to healing. They’re small, repeated acts that tell your mind and body: I’m safe. I’m taking care of myself.

Amanda's favorite at-home rituals include:

• Morning tea in silence — no phone, no news, just you.
• Gratitude journaling before bed (even just 3 things).
• Digital sunsets — turning off devices after 8 p.m. to signal rest.
• Music and movement — dancing in your kitchen, walking barefoot in your yard, or flowing through a few yoga poses.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be yours.

4. Let Your Emotions Move Through You

One of Amanda’s most powerful healing insights is that emotions are not enemies. They are messengers. When you allow yourself to feel fully — even the heavy things — you start to free yourself.

Ways to safely release emotion at home:

• Crying without apology — in the shower, under a blanket, in your car. Let it flow.
• Journaling unfiltered thoughts — write what you’re scared to say out loud.
• Breathwork — try 4-7-8 breathing (inhale 4 sec, hold 7, exhale 8) to calm the body.
• Speaking out loud to yourself — affirmations, venting, or just naming what you feel.

“Healing doesn’t mean you don’t cry,” Amanda says. “It means you learn to cry without shame.”

5. Nourish Your Body Like It’s an Act of Love

Your body is carrying so much — emotionally and physically. Amanda views eating, drinking, and resting not as chores, but as ways to say thank you to her body.

Her gentle reminders:

• Eat to feel better, not just to be full. Choose warm, whole, comforting foods.
• Stay hydrated, especially during emotional release.
• Honor your sleep, even if it means canceling plans or logging off early.
• Rest when you’re tired, not just when you’re exhausted.

Every time you feed yourself well, you reinforce the belief: I’m worthy of care.

6. Surround Yourself with Healing Inputs

We often underestimate how much what we consume — mentally and emotionally — affects our well-being. Amanda encourages a “healing media diet” while at home:

• Unfollow accounts that make you feel inadequate.
• Fill your space with sound that soothes — nature sounds, soft music, affirmations.
• Watch shows or read books that inspire softness and resilience.
• Limit the news — you can stay informed without being overwhelmed.

“Healing is also about protecting your peace from unnecessary noise,” Amanda says.

7. Practice Self-Compassion Daily

This is perhaps Amanda’s most important tip: treat yourself like someone you love.

Self-healing is not about becoming a new person. It’s about coming home to yourself — with tenderness.

How to show yourself compassion at home:

• Speak kindly to yourself in the mirror, especially on bad days.
• Forgive yourself for not being “productive.”
• Let go of the pressure to heal quickly.
• Celebrate small victories — getting out of bed, washing your face, making your bed.

“If all you did today was survive, that’s still something to be proud of,” Amanda says.

8. Remember: You’re Not Alone

Healing at home doesn’t mean healing in isolation. Amanda emphasizes the importance of connection, even in quiet seasons:

• Reach out to someone who makes you feel safe.
• Join a virtual support group or forum.
• Let people know when you’re struggling — you don’t have to do it all alone.

“Healing is personal, but it’s also communal,” Amanda reminds us. “Let people hold space for you.”

Final Words from Amanda

Healing at home isn’t glamorous. It’s not always lit with candles or bathed in soft music. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it’s boring. But it’s real. And it’s where your truest transformation happens.

“You don’t have to change your location to change your life,” Amanda Wojtas Ketikidis says. “You just have to meet yourself where you are — with softness, with presence, and with trust that every moment is enough.”

So if you’re reading this in your bedroom, at your kitchen table, or lying on your couch wondering when things will feel better — take a breath.

• You are already healing.
• You are already living.
• And home is the perfect place to begin again.