Navigating Setbacks in Healing: Gentle Tools & a New Perspective

One of the hardest parts of healing is when it feels like you’re going backwards.

Maybe things were starting to shift. You felt lighter, calmer, more connected. But suddenly, old patterns resurface. You’re overwhelmed, exhausted, symptoms may have resurfaced and you’re questioning everything again.

It can feel like failure.

But the truth is — it’s not.
Setbacks are not signs you’re broken. They’re often signs you’re integrating something deeper. They’re part of the process.

Healing isn’t linear

We often expect healing to move in a neat, upward line. But in reality, it moves in spirals, cycles, waves.

Sometimes you revisit something you thought you’d moved past — not because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re ready to meet it in a new way. Your nervous system is recalibrating. You’re building capacity and deepening trust.

There’s often contraction before expansion. Just like a wave draws back before it rises, or a seed rests in darkness before it sprouts — we too have moments of retreat, stillness, even discomfort, as part of our natural rhythm.

These moments are not the opposite of healing — they are healing.

Your nervous system is working for you

When you hit a setback, it doesn’t mean your system is failing — it means it’s protecting. Something may have been activated, even subtly, that felt unsafe or too much. And your nervous system, always trying to keep you safe, responds in the way it knows best.

Recalibration can feel like fatigue, brain fog, heightened emotions, or even numbness. It might look like resistance, shutdown, or urgency. All of this is information.

We don’t need to push through or bypass. We need to meet ourselves gently.

Gentle tools to support yourself through a setback

Here are a few supportive ways to navigate a difficult moment in your healing journey:

Self-compassion
Start here, always. Not just with kind words, but with presence. Can you acknowledge what’s here without needing to change it?
Offer a hand to your heart, a warm blanket, a pause in your day — simple gestures of care.
Speak to yourself gently: “Of course this is hard.” “It makes sense I feel this way.”
Even the parts that feel messy, resistant, or overwhelmed are worthy of compassion. Every part of you is doing its best with what it knows. Let yourself be witnessed by you, with tenderness.

Listening to your needs
Tune into your body and ask: What’s happening in my body? What do I truly need right now? It might be rest, it might be movement, or connection, or simply space to feel.

Rest + regulation
Let go of the pressure to perform or fix. Rest is a healing strategy. Slow breaths, nature, music, scents, gentle movement, nervous system nourishment — anything that soothes your system matters here.

Connection
We’re not meant to do this alone. Speak to someone safe. Share what you’re feeling. Even just being witnessed can help soften the spiral and help you feel seen, held and connected.

Trust your rhythm
There’s no rush or fixed timeline. You’re not behind — even if it feels that way.
It’s okay if trust doesn’t come easily. You don’t have to force belief or optimism. Just notice what’s here. Sometimes, the most profound growth is happening quietly, beneath the surface, in ways we can’t yet see.

A new way to see a setback

What if this isn’t a setback… but a setup?

A setup for deeper awareness. For strengthening boundaries. For noticing patterns. For tending to old wounds that are ready to be met with new tools and compassion.

Every time you navigate a challenging moment with gentleness, you build trust with yourself. You grow. You evolve.

You are not broken — you are becoming.

If you’re moving through a setback right now, I want to remind you:

• It may feel like starting over, but you’re not — so much is already within you.

• Nothing is wasted. Even the setbacks, the pauses, the difficult days — they carry insight, growth, and quiet shifts that may only reveal themselves in time.

• Healing is still happening, even if it’s quiet, even if you can’t feel it right now.

• It’s okay to slow down, to pause, to do less. Sometimes, that’s exactly what’s needed.

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 mind-body coaching sessions centred around nervous system regulation, emotional wellbeing, and sustainable healing. You’re very welcome to reach out or to book a free discovery call to see if it’s the right fit, I’d love to connect.