Healing Isn’t Linear, Part Three: The Forward, the Backward, and the Becoming

“Grief isn’t a straight line. It’s a tide that ebbs and flows, carrying you backward and forward as you learn how to breathe again.”
— Unknown

Healing takes you through all the stages of grief — sometimes all in the same week.

Some days, you feel light, grounded, hopeful…and other days, one small trigger can send you spiralling right back into the ache you thought you had moved past.

That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It simply means you’re human.

One of the most complex parts of healing, whether it’s from burnout, trauma, illness, a heart event, or emotional pain, is accepting that progress doesn’t move in only one direction.

Some days you take five steps forward.
Some days, you feel pulled ten steps back.

Some days the grief hits you out of nowhere — in the car, at the sink, in the middle of a perfectly normal afternoon.
Other days are incredible; the kind of days that remind you of who you are becoming.

Both are part of your healing.
Both are valid.
Both deserve compassion.

And this is where we need each other.

Not to fix the problem.
Not to offer platitudes.
But to sit beside someone in the messy, human middle of it all and say, “You don’t have to hold this alone. I’m here.”

Healing isn’t something we do in isolation. It’s something we walk through together — slowly, messily, truthfully — with softness for ourselves and softness for the people around us. Because you never know what someone is carrying. The person who looks strong on the outside may be fighting a quiet battle on the inside. The friend who seems “fine” may be holding back a storm.

This is why compassion, presence, and listening matter. We don’t need to fix people. We just need to remind them they’re not walking through their grief or their healing alone.

You are allowed to rise.
You are allowed to fall.
You are allowed to feel everything in between.

Healing will take you backward so it can move you forward. It will break you open and soften you at the same time, and through it all, you’ll learn one of the greatest truths:

You don’t need perfection.
You need support.
You need compassion.
You need connection.

And you deserve all three. 🌿

If this series has spoken to you, I’d love for you to stay close. Subscribe to Hormone Harmony Weekly for more reflections, science-backed tools, and gentle guidance to support you on your path back to balance.

You’re not broken. You’re becoming, and you never have to do it alone. 🩵