The Ribs Won’t Kill You Like That Relationship Will

Exploring the Link Between Mental Health and Physical Outcomes

We laugh and tease each other about the ribs, the mac and cheese, the sweet tea that flows like joy at the family cookout. We should be mindful and intentional about how we care for our bodies, but just as valuable is what we allow into our spirits.

The most dangerous weight we carry doesn’t always come from what was on our plates. Sometimes, it comes from the people we allow into our lives—disguised as love, loyalty, or hope. What unsettles the spirit, clouds the mind, and wears down the body often shows up in the form of a friendship or relationship we’ve stayed in too long, believing things would shift with just a little more patience, prayer, or sacrifice. The ribs aren’t breaking your spirit—its unhealthy relationships draining your peace and triggering anxiety.

Our Bodies Hold the Weight of Our Silence

Sisters, pain often rests in the body long before we find words for it. We’ve been raised to press through, to carry more, to love hard—even when the cost is high. But emotional pressure rarely dissolves quietly. It gathers in the body—in the stiffness of our shoulders and backs, the pounding in our chests, the ache in our stomachs, and the fatigue that lingers long after a full night’s sleep.

I’ve seen it in my work. Women arrive in therapy exhausted and overwhelmed, struggling with migraines, insomnia, and anxiety—but when we begin to trace the thread, it often leads right back to a relationship that has slowly chipped away at their sense of self. Toxic relationships are slowly breaking our spirits and killing our souls.

These symptoms speak to more than stress. They reveal the wisdom of the body—a knowing that stretches beyond intellect and deep into spirit. When we begin to listen, we recognize that healing is not just emotional… It is physical, spiritual, and ancestral.

Letting Go with Grace

Every healing journey has a moment of clarity—a quiet turning point where you realize your heart has been giving voice to the same truth over and over: you’ve reached the edge of what endurance can offer. You’ve given, waited, stretched, prayed. And now, it’s time to breathe again.

Grace enters here, without fanfare or perfection. Grace meets you in the middle of your questions. It softens the harshness of guilt. It reminds you that choosing yourself is a sacred act, one that honors your life as something worth preserving. Grace makes space for your needs to rise without apology. It holds the door open when you’re ready to walk away from people, patterns, and promises that have emptied your spirit.

Letting go doesn’t require a dramatic exit. It begins in stillness—with a decision to move toward peace. It begins with the truth that your joy deserves room to stretch. That your body needs gentleness. That your breath longs to deepen again. And that life moves in the direction of forward… And grace carries you there.

Returning to Yourself: The Pathway of Healing

Healing becomes possible when we stop carrying what was never ours to hold. As you begin to choose your peace, your breath becomes steadier, your shoulders soften, and your spirit begins to rise in ways it hasn’t in years.

Nourish your body as an act of devotion. Feed it with care, move it with love, speak to it with patience. This is the body that has carried you through sorrow and survival. It deserves your tenderness.

Reclaim your voice as sacred. Speak what lives inside you. Honor your truth in conversation, in prayer, in silence. Your story holds medicine—for you and for those who come after.

Root your healing in spirit. Return to what steadies you—ritual, prayer, music, movement, nature. Let your kitchen become a place of worship. Let your mornings be lit by candlelight and the hum of soul-filled music. Let your spirit lead. Let your healing be spiritual work.

Remind yourself “I don’t just dance to the beat of another drum—it’s the only beat I hear”. When your rhythm is guided by Spirit, you don’t have to explain your path. You simply follow it.

A Healing Reflection

Sisters, you were never created to carry pain as proof of strength. You were born to live fully, love deeply, rest without guilt, and rise with wisdom. We are the ones we are waiting for. Your healing becomes a light for those still trying to find the path. Your joy teaches others how to bloom after devastation. Your peace becomes a legacy.

So, the next time someone jokes about your plate, smile even if it’s just on the inside, and speak this truth to yourself:

I am releasing what no longer feeds my life.
I am protecting my joy without needing permission.
I am choosing to feel whole—body, spirit, and soul.

And with every breath, every prayer, every step—I am rising with grace.