Life knows how to throw curveballs at us. Many of us are currently facing significant challenges, (emotional, physical, or spiritual), that contribute to this feeling of being stuck as we navigate the healing path.
Even when we’re doing all the inner work, it can still feel like we’re not moving forward. I have been there myself; frustrated, discouraged, and questioning whether anything is actually shifting.
That’s why I want to offer insight into some of the reasons why you can feel so stuck in healing, even when you’re doing everything ‘right‘.
The Spiral of Growth
I always remind clients who come to me feeling stuck or feel like they have hit a wall, that the reality of any healing is that it is not linear but a growth that occurs in spiral form, where we slowly make our way up the spiral.
Healing is more like circling upward on a spiral staircase because we don’t move forward in a straight line. We might revisit the same wounds or patterns, but from a slightly different level of awareness each time. It can feel repetitive, but in truth, we are slowly rising.
We can even compare our healing to the growth of a tree. If we made daily observations, we wouldn’t really notice any growth, but if we came back and visited the tree after a year or two or three, we would definitely notice that the tree has grown.
We as humans are very much the same. Most of the time our own inner healing is not noticeable to us because it often happens slowly over time, but if we compare ourselves to who we were a few years back, I am sure after reflection you would be able to recognise changes in yourself, even the subtle ones.
The Fixing Mindset
Another reason we often feel stuck in our healing is when we approach it from a place of trying to fix ourselves. If we’re constantly operating from the belief that something is ‘wrong‘ with us, we unknowingly reinforce the very thing we are trying to heal.
Healing isn’t always just about becoming someone else. It is about coming home to yourself meaning that healing from this mind set is in a way an act of deep self-remembering. It’s less about changing who you are and more about returning to who you’ve always been beneath the pain, patterns, and protective layers.
So instead of chasing a version of yourself that feels far away, healing invites you to soften into who you are right now – with compassion, patience, and honesty. That’s the true homecoming.
When we shift from a mindset of “I need to fix this” to “I want to meet this with compassion“, we create space for true transformation. Healing responds to acceptance, not pressure. When we stop chasing perfection and instead honour our humanness, we often find that the healing we were searching for begins to unfold naturally.
Setbacks Aren’t Failures
And then there are those setbacks which are almost always a part of any healing experience. Experiencing setbacks can leave us feeling so frustrated because we feel like we are making progress and then ‘bam’, we experience a setback!
Believe me I have been there so many times and helped clients when they have had the ‘setback blues‘. However, the truth is that we never go backwards in healing, even if we experience a setback.
In fact, setbacks can ironically be a catalyst in the healing process and help strengthen those new emerging neural pathways that are forming as a result of all the work that has been done.
As we experience setbacks we are also forced to utilise new tools or ways of approaching a situation leading to growth.
It is also important to remember that our consciousness is always learning and expanding with every setback, new challenge, leading to growth and the continuation of upward movement.
Sometimes, a setback can assist us in stretching and expanding in ways that we could not have otherwise. As we reflect deeply on any changes, we often look for the big shifts but not notice the minor subtle wins. I always remind clients that setbacks are part of growth and that growth often happens in cycles.
The Integration Phase
It is also important to remember that as part of any healing process we can sometimes experience a period of integration which can feel like we are stagnating. Within this integration period we can also experience symptoms like lethargy, fatigue and other physical symptoms which are very common in this integration process.
Sometimes life’s challenges can also reveal how far we have come because it isn’t until life throws us a curveball that we truly realise that we are reacting differently and notice even a subtle change in our response. Patience and self-compassion are needed at these times where we feel like we are not making progress.
The Wisdom is Still Settling In
“Nothing ever goes away until we have learnt what it is we need to know.”
I have witnessed this frustration in clients who feel like after investing so many years and energy into powerful healing modalities, they still feel stuck and like nothing has worked.
Sometimes, we may still be in the process of mastering the lesson we need to learn from the issue we’re trying to heal. For example, it could be the lesson of true acceptance of what is and letting go of control that is the lesson within a challenge. It is not until we have truly understood what this means (at a subconscious and nervous system level) that we will finally release the issue, physical symptom, relationship pattern etc.
Subtle Wins Matter Too
We often search for the big shifts, sudden breakthroughs or radical changes. But healing is usually made up of tiny, quiet wins such as;
• Reacting differently to a familiar trigger.
• Speaking up for yourself in a way you couldn’t before.
• Feeling even a small drop more of self-compassion.
These subtle changes are signs of powerful inner transformation. Pay attention to them. Celebrate them.
A Powerful Tool for the “Stuck” Phase – EFT/Tapping
EFT or tapping, is a powerful mind-body technique that helps release stuck emotions and rewire limiting beliefs through gentle, rhythmic tapping on acupressure points. It allows the nervous system to safely process and release stored trauma, resistance, frustration, and emotional blocks, especially those rooted in subconscious programming.
When we feel stuck in our healing, tapping can gently move us away from:
“I’m stuck.”
to
“I’m okay with where I am.”
As an EFT practitioner, my role is to help clients identify and bring awareness to what is keeping them stuck. Often, that awareness alone is enough to begin softening the internal resistance. For example, a belief like “I am incapable of healing this” may quietly be driving the stuckness. Once we uncover the belief beneath the block, we can begin to dissolve it, paving a clearer pathway to healing.
And when we reach this place of acceptance, that’s often when the real shift occurs. That’s when we uncover the golden nugget, the insight, the breakthrough, or the emotional release we’ve been seeking.
In Closing – Patience and Compassion
If you’re feeling stuck, please know that you are not alone and you are not doing it wrong. Healing takes time. It takes love. It takes patience and immense self-compassion.
Sometimes, the very challenges that feel like roadblocks are actually signs of progress. Life’s curveballs don’t just test us, they often reveal how far we’ve come.
You’re not who you were. You’re becoming someone new.
And even when you can’t see it, you are healing.
