Is This a Setback or a Step Forward in Healing?
Episode 93: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
When your nervous system starts to let go of survival mode, healing can look like falling apart. In this episode, Amanda breaks down a listener-submitted question about panic, release, and whether a hard morning meant she was moving backward or forward. Spoiler: the answer isn’t binary. But there is a way to understand these moments with more compassion and clarity.
Ps. Click here to see the photo of story #3 moments before my friend helped get my shoulder back in place.
What We Cover in This Episode
- How emotional overwhelm can signal progress, not failure
- Why stored stress sometimes releases all at once
- What a dislocated shoulder taught Amanda about healing capacity
- How to tell if you’re actually resetting or just disconnecting
Why Your Big Emotional Reaction Might Be a Good Sign
If you’ve ever found yourself crying harder, feeling more anxious, or having bigger reactions after you start doing healing work—this episode offers an explanation as to why that might not be the step backwards that it often feels like. These emotional waves may actually mean your nervous system finally feels safe enough to process what it’s been holding. That pressure valve opening? It’s not regression, it’s release.
Your Healing Journey Is Not Linear—It’s Somatic
This release happens when our body finally feels safe enough to quit holding it all together to tightly, so suppressed. Our bodies need to experience safety before they can unwind stored stress. Sometimes that means you cry or shake or panic in ways that feel out of proportion. But if you’ve been chronically suppressing, your system may just now be getting the memo: it’s safe to feel. And with the right tools and support, you can learn to move through it.
Amanda’s Shoulder Analogy
Healing isn’t about powering through—it’s about learning how to reset. Just like Amanda needed help the first few times she dislocated her shoulder, we often need co-regulation and context to support us through emotional resets. Over time, we build the capacity to do more on our own. Not because it hurts less, but because we know what to do with the pain.
It’s also worth mentioning that going “too big, too fast” with trauma work can overwhelm, or flood, the system. Titration is a key concept to understand and practice in this work, it essentially means introducing experiences bit by bit, with resourcing tools in place. The goal isn’t to avoid all discomfort, but to prevent further emotional injury which can often be people experience when they’re asked to retell the hardest moments of their lives without knowing how to create a felt sense of safety first.
The 3 C’s That Help Determine If It’s Progress or a Push Too Far:
Ultimately one of the things this episode helps you assess is whether your bigger reaction are an indication of progress or that you’ve pushed too far or too fast in your healing. Here are 3 C’s that can help you sort through that:
- Context: Do you understand what’s happening in your body?
- Choice: Did you have some agency in what unfolded?
- Connection: Were you supported during or after the experience?
And if you’re looking for a new way of healing, we’re here.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Emotional overwhelm can be progress: Feeling deeply may mean your body finally feels safe enough to process long-held stress.
- Support and resourcing matter: Trauma healing should happen in supported, safe environments—not through re-exposure alone.
- Capacity grows with practice: The more you safely experience regulation and dysregulation, the more equipped you are to reset on your own.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
- Join me inside the Regulated Living Membership, a mental health membership and nervous system healing space (sliding scale pricing available)
- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
- Download free resources here
*Want me to talk about something specific on the podcast? Let me know HERE.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
