Healing is a journey that often begins in the depths of pain, and few understand this better than Emily Maroutian. As an acclaimed author, philosopher, and advocate for mental health, Maroutian has made it her mission to help individuals transform their pain into power.
Maroutian is an Armenian-American writer and poet known for her insightful and thought-provoking works. Born in 1984 during the Soviet occupation of her native Armenia, she migrated with her family to the states when she was just five years old. She developed a passion for writing at a young age and has since made a powerful impact in the self-development world.
Through her profound insights and compassionate guidance, Maroutian illuminates a path towards healing that is both empowering and transformative. She recognizes that healing begins with acknowledging and honoring our pain, instead of dismissing or suppressing it. She believes that by healing our wounds, we can begin to unravel the layers of emotional patterns that hold us back.
In an intimate exploration of life’s inevitable challenges, Maroutian shared her profound journey through loss, grief, and the arduous lesson of letting go. Her experiences, marked by a series of deep personal losses, offer a window into the universal struggle of detaching from deeply held desires, relationships, and self-concepts.
In our interview with the author and modern sage, Maroutian identified “letting go” as the most difficult lesson she has had to learn to date. This process, she explained, is complicated by the intense feelings of loss and grief that accompany the departure of loved ones, the abandonment of a perceived self, and the dissolution of one’s envisioned life path. “Whether it’s letting go of people I thought would become life partners, good friends, career goals, or ideas of how I wanted my life to unfold, letting go is the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn. Mostly because there’s a sense of loss and grief attached to it,” Maroutian reflected. “Grief is hard to release because it’s just empty space. Until you figure out what you’re going to fill within that space, it’s going to hurt and feel uncomfortable. And some things are unfillable. You just have to learn to live within that space.”
Through her work, Maroutian encourages individuals to lean into discomfort, fostering a safe space for vulnerability and self-reflection. “If you can’t sit in the discomfort, you can’t do anything in life,” she explained. “Whether you want to make a life change, get a new job, move cities, end a relationship, whatever it is, it’s going to feel uncomfortable at first. That’s a given. You have to learn to move through that discomfort if you’re going to heal, if you’re going to change anything. If you let the discomfort stop you, you won’t do anything. Anything worth doing is going to feel uncomfortable at first.”
She also delved deeper into the nature of grief, highlighting that it encompasses not only the sorrow for what was lost but also for what might have been. “You grieve for the very real things you lose, but also you grieve for the things that could have been. You grieve for the possibilities that will never be. You grieve for a life you didn’t get to live,” she shares, offering a poignant insight into the multifaceted nature of mourning. “Grief is, for the most part, the pain of imaging a future without that person or thing. You’re mourning for a future you’re never going to have. What do you do with that? You feel it completely, then you release it so you can create a new one.”
Maroutian’s acquaintance with loss began early. She recounted the ripple effects of grief within her family starting from the tender age of three, with the deaths of close relatives, a cousin and an uncle. This early exposure to loss was compounded by numerous relocations and changes in her social environment, including moving to New York and later to Los Angeles. Each move brought new challenges, including making and losing friends and the eventual abandonment by her father at the age of eleven. These events eventually led to her struggles with depression and anxiety in her teen years.
Adulthood brought its own set of trials. At 22, Maroutian faced significant health issues that led to a cascade of losses: her income, girlfriend, friends, rock band, car, and her sense of identity. “I went through a period of loss for a while where everything I thought defined me or brought me joy was ripped away from me,” she recounted. The years that followed were tumultuous, rivaled only by the year 2020 with the deaths of her grandmother, her dog, and several friends—a year that also saw her grappling with a profound loss of self. “At one point I didn’t even want to write anymore,” she confessed. “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted from my life. I lost myself.”
Despite these challenges, Maroutian perceives her journey as one marked by personal cycles of death and rebirth. Through each phase of loss and recovery, she has learned to navigate the complexities of letting go and moving forward. “Letting go is the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn and I’m still learning it,” she explained. “My life has been mired by losses, with people coming into my life then leaving it. Some I really wanted to hold onto, but circumstances left me with no choice. I had to let go, even when I wished I could hold on. Maybe I’ll talk more in depth about them in a few decades when I write a memoir. For now, they’re just more lessons learned in the painful art of letting go.”
Her story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of relentless change and loss. At the heart of Maroutian’s teachings lies the belief that pain can be transformed into personal power. She emphasizes the importance of emotional awareness and intelligence in the healing process. She encourages individuals to develop a deeper understanding of their emotions, fostering self-awareness and self-compassion. Through her guidance, she helps individuals navigate their emotional landscapes, enabling them to cultivate healthier relationships with themselves and others.
As an accomplished writer, Maroutian understands the power of words as a form of catharsis. She encourages individuals to explore their pain through writing, using it as a medium for self-expression and healing. Through journaling exercises and creative writing prompts, she helps individuals tap into their innermost thoughts and emotions, unlocking a sense of liberation and release. Many of these prompts can be found in her latest book, “Your Empowered Self: Activities, Exercises, and Steps for Living an Empowered Life”.
In the heart of healing, Emily Maroutian stands as a guiding light, showing us that pain can be a catalyst for personal transformation. Through her wisdom, empathy, and practical guidance, she empowers individuals to embrace their pain, transform it into power, and embark on a journey towards self-actualization. With her teachings, Maroutian inspires us all to find strength in vulnerability and discover the resilience that lies within our hearts.
Emily Maroutian’s work can be found on her website: www.maroutian.com You can also follow her on Instagram @emaroutian.
