How to Let Go of Urgency in Your Healing Journey and Create Lasting Inner Safety
One theme that’s been coming up again and again recently in my coaching sessions and inside the HEAL community, is urgency in healing.
The desperate feeling of needing to “fix yourself” fast. The pressure to reach a final destination of being fully healed. The fear of wasting time or falling behind. Perfectionism around ‘doing it right’ or ‘doing enough’.
And while this sense of urgency is completely human and understandable, it’s also one of the most common things that keeps us feeling stuck.
Let’s take a deeper look at where this urgency comes from, and why softening it is often one of the most healing steps we can take.
Urgency is a fear response
When you're moving through physical symptoms, emotional pain, or cycles of anxiety, it's completely natural to want relief — and to want it quickly. You might be longing for ease, for clarity, or simply to feel like yourself again.
But the body doesn’t heal through force.
That pressure to “fix yourself fast” isn’t coming from your calm, grounded self – it’s coming from a survival state in your nervous system. Urgency, pressure, and “fixing mode” all send signals of fear to the body. They reinforce the idea that something is wrong, unsafe, or broken – and they keep your nervous system activated in a fight-or-flight response.
Healing can’t unfold in that space.
You are not broken
It’s so important to pause here and say this:
You are not broken.
Even if you feel anxious every day.
Even if your body is experiencing symptoms that don’t make sense.
Even if you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or lost.
Your mind and body are doing their best to protect you. The patterns you’re experiencing – whether it’s dissociation, overthinking, pain, fatigue, panic – are not signs that you’re broken. They’re protective responses: adaptations your system developed to help you survive overwhelming or unsafe experiences.
You don’t need fixing.
You need safety, support, connection and space to come back into balance.
Why going slow is the fastest way to healing
True healing isn’t a race. It’s a return to safety, presence, and inner connection.
And paradoxically, going slow is the fastest way.
When we release the pressure to get somewhere quickly – when we soften the harsh inner timelines and comparisons – we give the nervous system exactly what it needs: space.
That space tells your body:
You’re safe now.
You don’t have to rush.
You’re allowed to feel, to rest, to be.
What healing looks like without pressure
So what does healing without urgency look like in practice?
It looks like:
Gentle consistency instead of rigid routines
Listening to your body instead of overriding it
Letting integration take time
Trusting the pauses
Knowing you’re not “behind”
Letting go of timelines and honouring your own rhythm
These aren’t passive steps – they’re deeply powerful nervous system messages of safety.
Speaking to your body in a language it understands
Letting go of urgency isn’t just a mindset shift – it’s something we embody.
It’s not only about the words you speak to yourself, but also how you breathe, how you move, and how you respond to your inner world.
When you soften that inner push and begin meeting yourself with compassion, your nervous system feels it.
Your body begins to receive the messages:
I am safe now.
I am enough, exactly as I am.
It’s safe to let go.
I am seen, heard and supported.
I am resilient, capable and whole.
Simple ways to shift from urgency to presence
If you find yourself caught in urgency, pressure and fixing mode, here are some supportive practices:
Pause and breathe into your body — let your exhale be a little longer.
Meet yourself with curiosity, not pressure — place one hand on your heart, one on your belly and ask “What do I need in this moment?”
Spend time in nature or quiet spaces — environments that model slowness and peace, and ground through your senses.
Release frustration, fear, or urgency through tapping and somatic practices — support your body in processing what's rising, rather than suppressing or spiralling in it.
Remind yourself: healing is not linear — it unfolds in spirals, not straight lines.
Release rigid timelines — and ask instead, “What would feel supportive right now?”
You’re allowed to take your time
Healing isn’t something you force – it’s something you allow.
It unfolds as you create safety, moment by moment.
And it’s okay if that takes time.
You are not behind.
You are not broken.
You are already on the path – even when it feels slow.
If You’d Like Support
If this resonates and you feel called to explore what it might look like to move through your healing journey with more safety, compassion, and support – I offer 1:1 coaching sessions that centre around nervous system regulation, emotional wellbeing, and sustainable healing. Feel free to reach out or to book a free discovery call to see if it’s the right fit. You don’t have to walk this path alone.