Healing is not a straight path. In fact, it often feels messier than we imagined. Many of us, after finally gathering the courage to face our pain—by seeking therapy or working with a coach, asking for help, or diving into our inner world—find that things seem to get worse before they get better.

And that’s normal.

When we start healing, we create space for the things we’ve buried—memories, sensations, longings, and emotions that we couldn’t process while we were just trying to survive. Once they’re no longer suppressed, they demand to be felt, and often, it hurts.

Here’s the hope:

If you’re feeling more deeply—if the grief, anger, or ache is making itself known—it’s a sign that your body and mind are starting to trust you. You’re no longer in survival mode; you’re making space for healing. And just as you’re beginning to feel the hard things, you’ll also begin to feel the beautiful ones.

Pleasure. Joy. Connection. Love. Vibrancy. Passion. Ease.

As the backlog of unprocessed emotions eases, it becomes simpler to discern your needs and your feelings, to trust your body’s signals, and to understand whether your emotions are rooted in the past or the present. This clarity is transformative—it allows you to risk deeper connection, to trust yourself more fully, and to feel that trust as something tangible in your body, not just an abstract idea.

It’s a process, and it’s hard. But it’s also a reclamation—a return to yourself, where the capacity to feel deeply brings both healing and profound aliveness.

So if it hurts right now, hold on. You’re not alone. You’re doing sacred, necessary work, and the reward is nothing less than a fuller, richer experience of your own life.