When Healing Doesn’t Happen Overnight
We live in a world that moves fast. Answers are a click away, deliveries arrive within hours, and there's a particular pride in getting things done quickly. So when someone sits down for counseling, it's natural to want relief, fast. The pain, confusion, or heaviness that led them there feels unbearable, and if they're finally asking for help, shouldn't things start feeling better right away?
But healing doesn't work that way. And when we try to rush it, frustration follows.
Why It Takes Time
Imagine carrying a tangled ball of thread in your pocket for years. You don't remember when it got there, and you don't know exactly how it became so knotted, but it's tight, woven into itself, impossible to pull apart with a single yank. If you try to force it, the knots only tighten. The only way to untangle it is slowly, piece by piece, pulling gently, loosening the strands that have tightened over time.
Counseling works like this process of untangling a knot. It's not about snapping our fingers and making the pain disappear. It's about getting to know ourselves in ways we've avoided, softening the hardened places, and making space for emotions we've kept locked away. That can't happen overnight.
What Happens When We Rush
If we push too fast, two things happen. First, we skip over the complex parts. We might want a solution right now, so tell me what to do and fix me. But without understanding the deeper layers of what brought us here, any "fix" is just a bandage. The wound beneath it remains, waiting to surface again.
Second, we grow frustrated. If we expect quick progress, we'll be disappointed when old habits don't break immediately or when an uncomfortable feeling resurfaces. We might even think, What's the point? This isn't working. But the truth is, frustration often signals that healing is taking place; it's just not happening in a way that feels obvious or easy.
The Beauty of Slow Work
Real healing happens when we stop trying to force it and instead learn to sit with ourselves as we are. When we take the time to notice our patterns rather than judge them. We create space for true healing by allowing emotions to rise instead of pushing them away. When we practice honesty with ourselves, one layer at a time.
Healing unfolds slowly because it allows profound, lasting change to take root. Our deepest wounds didn't form in a day and won't heal in a day. But if we stay with it and let the work unfold at its own pace, we'll find something far better than a quick fix.
We'll find ourselves untangled, whole, and free.
