Not All Healing Looks Like Healing

We talk a lot about healing. What it looks like. What it should feel like. What progress means. But here’s something I’ve learned—something I had to feel in my bones to really believe: Not all healing looks like healing. Some days, you’ll journal with your favorite tea beside you, incense burning, the light just right. You’ll cry a little, breathe deep, and feel something shift inside you.

 But other days?

Healing is invisible.

 It’s skipping the phone call you don’t have the energy for.

It’s zoning out for a while because your nervous system is fried.

It’s letting the dishes sit in the sink, choosing rest over productivity.

And sometimes, it’s even choosing numbness over pain—because that’s all your body can do right now. That counts, too.

It’s not always poetic or full of “aha” moments. Sometimes it’s quiet. Messy. Awkward. Sometimes it looks like you’re not doing anything at all.

But beneath the surface, something is happening. You're learning to trust yourself again. You're choosing not to abandon yourself this time. You're doing the brave work of feeling what’s real—even if it’s uncomfortable.

I used to think healing meant always moving forward, always glowing, always “doing the work.”

Now I know… healing is nonlinear.

It spirals. It pauses. It breathes.

And even on the days you feel like you're falling backward—You are not broken.

If today all you did was wake up and carry your heart through the day,

I’m proud of you.

Keep going, soul. There is no wrong way to come back to yourself.

I’ll meet you there.

—Jessica