Healing Isn’t Linear: Why Setbacks Don’t Mean Failure
Healing isn’t a straight line — it’s a spiral. Each time you circle back, you bring more awareness, grace, and strength. Setbacks aren’t failures; they’re feedback.
When Burnout Sneaks Into Recovery (and What It’s Trying to Tell You)
After more than sixteen years in recovery, I know one thing for sure: burnout doesn’t care how long you’ve been sober, grounded, or “doing the work.” You can have all the tools, all the awareness, and still find yourself running on empty.
Burnout doesn’t always come from overworking; sometimes it comes from over-caring — from carrying the weight of things you can’t control, and trying to hold it all together because you have to.
It’s not recovery versus burnout, it’s recovery including burnout. Healing isn’t a finish line you cross; it’s a lifelong practice of noticing when you’re slipping back into old patterns and gently returning to what’s true.
What If Vulnerability Made You Stronger?
When I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer on my 58th birthday, I thought I knew what strength meant — until chemo, recovery, and vulnerability taught me otherwise. For years, I was the strong one, the capable one, the woman who rarely asked for help. But cancer didn’t give a shit about my control plan. What saved me wasn’t grit — it was surrender. Vulnerability didn’t make me weak; it made me real. And that, my friends, is where true strength lives.