Learning to Trust Your Body’s Pace
There’s something deeply frustrating about the waiting… the endless days that stretch into months or longer, the hope that flickers and fades, the longing to feel normal again.
You try your best. You eat healthily, you rest when you can, you care for yourself, you show up for your life as much as you’re able. But the signs of healing/symptoms linger. You still don’t feel like yourself. You may even be feeling worse. And a quiet fear creeps in:
Is this it? Am I stuck? Shouldn’t I be better by now?
If this is how you’re feeling, please pause, breathe, and know this:
You are not failing. You are healing.
It’s just that your healing is unfolding in biological time, not emotional time.
Emotional Time vs Biological Time
Emotional time wants healing to happen now. It measures progress by dates, milestones, and how long it’s been since you felt joy without effort. It says, “I should be better by now.” Of course, even a day in withdrawal is a day too long, and this fact is not being ignored. Still, coping well means we must be even more patient with the process.
But your nervous system doesn’t speak the language of emotional time.
It works in cycles and seasons. It heals in quiet, often invisible ways.
Your body is not punishing you. It is doing its job, gently and patiently.
Neuroplasticity Takes Time
Neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to rewire and recover—is slow, deep work.
Research shows that this repair unfolds over months and years, not days or weeks (Merzenich et al., 2013).
The circuits altered by medication, trauma, or chronic stress don’t snap back into place overnight. Like seeds taking root beneath the soil, healing often happens beneath the surface.
You might not feel it yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
This Isn’t Failure. It’s Healing.
If you feel discouraged, please remember:
Healing is not linear, but it is real.
You are not behind. You are not broken. You are walking through one of the most challenging human experiences—and you’re doing it with incredible strength.
Try not to measure your healing by the calendar.
Measure it by your courage. Your resilience. The fact that you’re still here.
Let the Calendar Go – Just for Today
Don’t lose heart.
Don’t let emotional time convince you that nothing’s changing.
Your body is showing up for you every single day, recalibrating, rebuilding, and slowly bringing you back to balance.
Let yourself exhale. Let the timeline soften.
And let this truth sink in: Healing is still happening. No matter what.
Affirmation
My body is healing in its own perfect timing.
I trust the process, even when I can’t see the progress.
Reflective Question
What would it feel like to let go of the calendar today
and simply trust that healing is unfolding in its own way, even now
With much compassion,
