Complex trauma & cumulative healing

In our culture we often think of healing as linear, ascending and as having an end point. This model can often leave us feeling stuck, broken or like we aren’t moving fast enough.

I visualize healing as a many layered and circular process that can occur much more slowly than many would have us believe.

We may find ourselves circling back to things that we thought that we had resolved and feel frustrated because it can feel like we are returning to the beginning.

Yet, we are never going back to the same place we came from. Each time we return there are new resources, a newfound resilience, a shifted perspective and different things that we are feeling and accessing.

Sometimes it will feel like healing is the last thing on our minds, but sometimes that is exactly what is happening beneath the surface. Something is settling or integrating. We are finding our own unique way outside of prescriptive norms or the path that was set out for us.

On the days that you feel demoralized or stuck, I offer you the gentle reminder that your journey is alive and messy and wild. Your journey doesn’t come with a map. It can feel slow and uncertain. But you are in it and this world needs your unique expression of humanness.