🌱 10 Months of Psychotherapy. 7 Years of Healing. And a Lifetime of Becoming. 🌱

🌱 10 Months of Psychotherapy. 7 Years of Healing. And a Lifetime of Becoming. 🌱
“Where am I now?” you ask. Quite advanced, actually.
And here’s why that matters.

Seven years ago, I followed the advice of my doctor and psychologist in France and began a process that would not only unravel years of trauma but also help me begin the most courageous journey of all—returning to myself.

Ten months of intensive psychotherapy.
Countless psychological and medical assessments.
Two criminal court cases that forced me to revisit some of the darkest corners of my experience.
And still—I show up. I face it. I grow.

And recently, when I contacted the French psychologist who had originally assessed me—just to ask for a copy of the reports for the court—he couldn’t believe I was still doing the work and had not left him years ago.
Still in the process.
Still committed.

But I am.
Because healing is not just about surviving trauma—
It’s about claiming your right to live free of its grip.

🧠 What’s Happening in the Brain and Body When We Stay Committed to Healing?

From a neuroscience perspective, long-term trauma work rewires the brain.
Yes, literally.

🔹 Neuroplasticity – With each therapy session, the brain forms new pathways—shifting from survival wiring (hypervigilance, shutdown, emotional dysregulation) to integration, calm, and conscious choice.

🔹 Trauma Integration – Memories that once lived in the body as unspoken fear or flashbacks begin to move through the brain’s processing systems, especially the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. This is where insight, self-awareness, and emotional regulation start to strengthen.

🔹 The Vagus Nerve – As you engage in therapy, practice emotional safety, and process your story, the vagus nerve—the body’s key regulator of stress—becomes more toned, helping you feel grounded and safe in your own skin again.

🧩 Insightful Homework: The Gift That Keeps Giving

That French psychologist, with all his clinical experience and intuition, gave me one last thing when I reached out recently:
A piece of homework.
Insightful. Unexpected. Transformational.

What am I afraid will happen in this situation?

What might people think about me in this situation?

Is it almost always best to be saving/helping another person?

How will I react in this situation (what symptoms will I exhibit – eg, racing heart)?

What if my expectations come true?

What might that lead to?

Am I aware of any other beliefs or predictions that contribute to my view on the situation?

What are the costs for maintaining the present situation?

Because the work never really ends, does it?
Even when we’ve come a long way—even when we’re “advanced”—
there are still layers to uncover.
Patterns to unpick.
Truths to reclaim.
Freedom to embody.

And I welcome it.

💬 Where Are You Now?

If you’ve been walking your own healing path—whether for 10 days or 10 years—ask yourself gently, without judgment:
Where am I now?
Not compared to others.
Not based on how fast society says I should “get over it.”
But truly—what have I survived? what have I learned? how am I different?

Healing doesn’t always look like happiness.
Sometimes it looks like clarity.
Or boundaries.
Or releasing guilt.
Sometimes it looks like walking into a courtroom and saying, “Here is what happened to me.”
And sometimes it looks like accepting insightful homework from a psychologist you haven’t seen in years—because the work still matters.

✨ So yes. I’m quite advanced.
And I say that with pride, not ego.
Because healing is not linear, but it is sacred.
And I honour every single step of this journey I’ve walked—and every tear, every truth, every trembling moment of courage that got me here.

🕊️ I am becoming.
Every day.
Still.
And always.

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