What is emotional recovery and all points in between?

Often, we use the word “recovery”. We recover from illness and injuries. When it comes to our emotional lives those moments of recovery are much harder to actually define. And yet, for many people, it’s the most important journey that one has to face. Some individuals face many different journeys through recovery. So, what exactly is emotional recovery?

Emotional recovery is the process of returning to or discovering for the first time a state of inner balance, resilience, and well-being after psychological pain or distress. Let’s be clear emotional recovery is not about erasing the past. It’s about integrating; learning to carry what you experienced in a way that no longer hijacks or diminishes you. At the heart of emotional recovery is that it is deeply personal. How long does emotional recovery take?

That timeline varies — some people process grief in months; for others it resurfaces years later. Neither is wrong. The tools that work for one person don’t for another. Part of the journey is discovering what works for you. What recovery tends to have in common is: safety, acknowledgment, patience, connection, and self-compassion. However, that doesn’t mean it is linear, it’s not.

Progress rarely moves in a straight line and often not the way we would like for it to be. There will be good days and hard days. Recovery is moving forward not “moving on”. It is moving forward with your experiences and the lessons held gently alongside of you.

Emotional recovery is real work. It asks something of you. Not everyone is ready and that’s okay.