Why we need to stop glamourising healing from trauma

I interviewed one woman whose emotionally traumatic experience left her healing in hospital, and she said that it’s as if the wellness industry was just gaslighting her.

We need to stop glamourising the healing process as this linear journey with KPIs and a deadline.

It’s time our pop culture stopped presenting emotional healing as a fairy tale where Cinderella sits on a picturesque beach at sunset, does some yoga, clutches her crystals, scribbles in her gratitude journal for a hot minute, has an epiphany, and just like that, all her trauma is healed.

Sarcasm aside, I don’t want to be dismissive of whatever is working for you. If some time in the sunshine, a couple litres of herbal tea and a few lines in a gratitude journal are what it takes for you to heal, then that’s great. Please keep doing what works best for you.

I’m writing this because I don’t want anyone healing from emotional trauma in the way it so often happens (as I’ve listed at the beginning of this article) to think they are somehow doing it ‘wrong’.

I don’t want anyone to feel like a failure, because their healing involves messy sobbing in the shower instead of peacefully meditating beside a salt lamp, drinking herbal tea, and smiling their problems away.

You’re not failing at all. You’re probably doing the best you can with whatever means you have, and that makes you awesome.

You do you, at your own pace.

Gratitude always has and will always be a big part of my life, and I metaphorically stand by my written, spoken and words about it.

Below are some of my thoughts on trauma, as well as things you can do that might help.