Challenges You Might Experience During a Spiritual Awakening

It is important to understand that while a spiritual awakening is completely life-changing 
and transformative, all transformation comes with challenges. This is not an easy 
journey by any means, and you will face many difficulties before you reach your true 
awakening. 

Here are some challenges you may experience when you are on this path:


Emotional Turmoil

The emotional turmoil during a spiritual awakening is like nothing you have ever 
experienced before, but understand that it is completely normal. When you go through 
this journey, you are face-to-face with all of your emotions, unresolved feelings, and 
traumas you have not dealt with. 

This can bring you an overwhelming feeling of despair, sadness, depression, fear, and 
even anger. This is all part of processing these emotions, but you must bring them all to 
the surface and acknowledge everything you have been hiding from for years, if not 
decades. 

What can help you with the emotional turmoil is journaling, staying grounded, 
meditating, and reaching out to people you know and trust.


Existential Crisis

Don’t be surprised if you go through an existential crisis during a spiritual awakening, 
which causes you to question the meaning of life and existence, and try to find your true 
purpose. This is often tied to the ego death and dark night of the soul. It can be a little 
disorienting at first, when you begin to feel disconnected from yourself and your current 
life.


Disconnection From Your Ego

As we mentioned, the ego death is one of the most difficult parts of the spiritual 
awakening. Everyone has an ego, as it is simply what represents your identity. 
Detaching and disconnecting from your ego is like losing a sense of self, and it can be 
very unsettling. You are also illuminating the illusions of who you thought you were and 
what you wanted out of this life, so that can also be a little overwhelming. The best thing 
you can do is embrace this part of the journey.



Social Challenges

Another challenge with a spiritual awakening is suddenly feeling disconnected from the 
people in your life. As your true self emerges and you shed layers of your old 
perspective, you will suddenly not relate as much to the people you are closest to. While 
you don’t have to completely let everyone go, you may feel isolated from friends and 
family because they just don’t really align with your true self anymore. 

During this time, it is good to find other spiritual people going down a similar path as 
you. They will understand you and you build deep bonds because of the shared 
experience. 


Physical Discomfort

You may also experience some physical changes and discomfort during this process. 
This might include a change in your energy levels, poor sleep habits, a change in eating 
habits and appetite, and body pains like headaches or muscle soreness. 

Be gentle with yourself and try to continue moving your body in a calm and joyful way, 
such as going on walks, doing yoga or tai chi, and having a daily stretching routine. 
Make sure you are getting enough rest, hydrating often, and getting plenty of sunshine 
as well.


While a spiritual awakening can feel very isolating and lonely, that doesn’t mean you 
have to do all of it alone. This is a great time to find support from people who are going 
through a similar experience – and highly recommended during the more challenging 
stages.


