Feeling Stuck? What Progress Really Looks Like on the Healing Journey

Hello Beautiful Souls,

Let’s talk about the kind of days no one really posts about. The days when you’re sitting with your journal, or trying to breathe through a wave of emotion, and wondering quietly to yourself: “Wait… why does this feel familiar? I thought I’d moved past this.”

I had one of those weeks recently — what I’ve come to call an expansion, moments when life pushes me to unlearn, release, and see myself more clearly. In fact, this one felt a lot like frustration, confusion, and the urge to throw all my self-help tools out the window.

And maybe you’ve felt it too — that moment when life throws something unexpected at you, or your nervous system gets activated, or you’re just tired of trying to be “okay” all the time. You think, “Am I actually making progress?” You start to question whether your therapy is working. Whether the journaling, the meditations, the boundary setting, the inner child work — any of it — is actually making a difference.

Because in that moment, it doesn’t feel like it is.

What I’ve learned — and keep learning — is that progress doesn’t always feel like progress in the moment. Sometimes it feels like a headache. Sometimes it looks like hiding under the duvet, canceling plans, getting short with your partner, or bursting into tears over something small. Sometimes it’s just the heaviness you can’t explain, the “I don’t know what’s wrong with me” kind of day.

But here's the thing: those moments don’t erase your growth. Feeling overwhelmed, emotional, tired, or even confused doesn’t mean you’re going backwards — it just means you're in it. You’re human. And being human means you will have emotional days, triggered days, exhausted days — even after all the work you’ve done.

What I noticed during my own “expansion” was that even though I had some uncomfortable thoughts and emotions — ones that used to completely derail me — they didn’t take me out in the same way they once did. I still reached for my tools. I still tried to care for myself, even if imperfectly. I still showed up to my day, even if it was slower, messier, or quieter than usual.

That’s progress.

Real healing isn’t just the days when you’re calm, aligned, and glowing with gratitude. It’s also the days when you feel all over the place, but somehow still manage to be kind to yourself. Or at the very least, not as mean. It’s realizing that maybe your inner critic only screamed for two hours instead of two days. Or that instead of spiraling, you paused — even briefly — and took a breath.

It’s easy to think we’ve regressed when emotions come back up. But the truth is, you’re not the same woman you were six months ago, or a year ago. You respond differently now. Maybe not perfectly. Maybe not always. But differently. And that is the work.

The healing journey isn’t about becoming someone who never feels fear or sadness or doubt. It’s about learning to meet those feelings with more presence, more grace, and — when possible — more compassion.

So if you’ve had a hard day recently and you’re wondering if you’ve lost your progress, let me offer this: You haven’t.

You're still moving forward. You’re just doing it in real-time, with a real life, and real emotions.

You’re doing better than you think.

With love,

Nicole