Stop Rushing Your Healing: The Nervous System Truth About Slow Progress

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Do you feel like you should be further along in your healing by now?

In this episode, Dr. Leah Hahn addresses one of the most common things she hears from patients and from women doing the work: “I feel like I’m behind.” Whether it’s your physical health, your emotional healing, or your overall wellness journey, that feeling of not being far enough along can quietly make healing even harder.

Dr. Hahn explains why slowness isn’t a sign that something is wrong, it might actually be a sign that something is working. You’ll learn how comparison activates the stress response, why your nervous system cannot strive and heal at the same time, and what real progress actually looks like in the body.

In this episode:

00:00 Introduction
00:52 "I feel like I should be further along by now"
03:06 What evolving really means (and why there is no finish line)
04:56 How comparison creates urgency and blocks healing
07:05 What progress actually looks like in practice
09:30 How to work with slowness instead of fighting it
11:33 What to take away: you are not behind
12:46 Closing + how to connect with Dr. Hahn

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What if the fact that you're still going is actually the whole point? Not how fast, not how far, just that you haven't stopped. Welcome to Healing Beyond the Symptoms, the podcast that helps people discover the root causes of their health struggles and take back control with science, strategy, and self-awareness. I'm Dr. Leah Hahn, a chiropractor and functional wellness doctor who believes that true healing starts beneath the surface. So let's dive in. I want to talk about something I hear so often and not just from patients. I hear it from friends, from women who are smart and capable and doing so much. And it sounds like this. I feel like I should be further along by now. And maybe it's about your health. You've been working on it for months and you expected to feel different by now. Maybe it's about your healing, emotionally, physically, spiritually. And it just feels slower than you thought it would be. Like everyone else figured something out that you haven't. Can I tell you something? That feeling, that I'm behind feeling, is one of the most common things I see hold people back from actually healing. Because when we decide that we're behind, we stop being present to where we actually are. And where you are is exactly where your healing needs to happen. Today I want to talk to you about what it really means to evolve, to grow, to heal, and why slowness isn't a sign that something's actually wrong. It might actually be a sign that something's working. I love the word evolving. And I don't use it the way we sometimes use it in wellness spaces, where it can start to feel like being another thing to achieve. I use it because of what it actually means. Evolving means there is no final destination, no perfect version of you that you're supposed to reach, no finish line where you finally have it all figured out and you don't get to stop growing. You don't reach a final version of yourself. You just keep becoming. And I think for a lot of us, that's actually a relief if we let it be, because it means you're not failing right now. You're in the middle of something. You're still in the process. And that's not a problem to fix. That's just what being alive looks like. And here's what I also want to name evolving isn't always graceful. It can feel messy. It can feel heavy. There are seasons of it that are genuinely hard. And I don't want to gloss over that. Some of the most important growth I've experienced and that I've watched patients move through looked nothing like a highlight reel. It looked like sitting with discomfort, like being uncertain, like doing the thing anyway, even when you weren't sure it was working. That is still evolving. In fact, I'd argue that that's the most honest and authentic kind. Let's talk about this being behind thing, because I think it's worth really looking at. When we feel behind, what are we comparing ourselves to? A timeline we made up, someone else's journey that we're only seeing the surface of, that's behind being highlighted or social media, some version of ourselves that we decided we should be by now. Because here's what comparison does in the body it creates urgency. Urgency activates the stress response. And the stress response, the very thing we're trying hard to heal from, makes it even harder to actually do the deep work. Your nervous system cannot be in a state of striving and a state of healing at the same time. It has to feel safe to soften. It has to feel like there's enough time, like you're being allowed to move at the pace you're moving. So when you tell yourself you're behind, you are literally making healing harder. I see this a lot with women who are high achievers, who are used to working hard and getting results. And when healing doesn't respond to that same energy, when pushing harder doesn't make it go faster and feel really disorienting, like something must be wrong. But what if nothing is wrong? What if your body is just asking you to learn a different skill than the one that got you this far? What if this is actually an invitation to trust a slower, gentler rhythm? That is one of the hardest things I ask people to do, and also one of the most healing. I want to share something I witness regularly in my practice because I think it can help people reframe what progress actually looks like. So many people come in after months, sometimes years of working on their health. They've done the things and they sit across from me and they say, I don't know if I'm actually getting better. I feel like I should be further along. And then we talk and I ask them, how are you sleeping compared to six months ago? How is your relationship with your own body? Are you more aware of your thoughts and the signals from your body? Are you able to honor what your body is telling you? Are you able to take a small pause before going into automatic behavior? Are there moments now where you feel present in a way that you didn't before? Do you recover from hard days a little faster? And almost every single time the answer is yes to at least some of those. But because the progress didn't look like they expected it to, because it was slow and quiet and happened in those in-between moments rather than in one big shift, they had completely missed it. Healing is almost never a dramatic before and after. It's usually a thousand tiny befores and afters that add up over time. It's the morning you wake up and realize you're not clenching your jaw anymore. It's the moment you notice you handled something hard without completely falling apart. It's the capacity that's quietly growing, even when you can't see it yet. That is authentic healing. And that's why I love working with the nervous system. Because as we create more safety in the body and as we help the nervous system move out of survival and into something more open, there's a reorganization that happens. And it's not always loud, but it's real. So, what does it look like to actually work with this, to embrace the slowness instead of fighting it? It starts with checking in instead of checking out. We spend so much energy out running how we feel, staying busy, staying distracted, staying in our heads. And one of the most powerful things you can do is just pause for a moment and actually notice what's happening inside. Not to fix it, not to analyze it, just to be present with it. Okay, so what do I feel right now? Where am I tight? Where am I holding on? What does my body actually need today? That moment of awareness that's not wasted time. That's the practice, that's the healing. And then from that place of awareness, you can make one small intentional choice. Not a hundred things, just one. Maybe it's 10 minutes of something that genuinely calms your nervous system. Walking, breathing, stretching, stillness. Maybe it's saying no to something that was going to cost you more than you have right now. Maybe it's reaching out for support instead of trying to hold everything alone. Small and consistent beats big and unsustainable every single time. That's not settling. That's how nervous systems actually change. That's how healing actually happens. Here's what I want you to take away from today. You are not behind. You were in the middle of something. And that is exactly where you're supposed to be. Slowness is not failure. It might actually be your nervous system finally getting what it needs to do the deeper work. Look for the quiet progress. Ask yourself, what's even a little bit different than it was six months ago? Give yourself credit for that. Thank you for spending this time with me today. I hope that wherever you are in your journey, whether it feels fast or slow, clear or messy, you leave this episode with just a little more kindness towards yourself than you came in with. You are evolving. You are growing. You are still moving forward. And that is exactly enough. If you're ready to explore what deeper nervous system support could look like for you, I'd love to connect. You can book a wellness consultation at bodyandbalancecare practic.com and we'll look at what your body actually needs to heal at whatever pace is right for you. If today's episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs permission to stop rushing their healing. Please take a moment to like, subscribe, and leave a review for the podcast. Reviews help more people discover these conversations about healing, nervous system health, and living beyond the symptoms. Thank you for being a part of this community. And until next time, breathe deep, move gently, and remember, you don't have to rush this. Your rhythm hasn't stopped. Your story is still unfolding. Thanks again for joining me today on Healing Beyond the Symptoms. If you've been curious about network spinal or if you've tried everything else and still feel stuck, I want you to know this. Your body is not broken. It's patterned. And those patterns can change. If you're ready to experience how gentle care can lead to profound transformation, I'd love to invite you to book a wellness consultation at BodyInBalanceCarepractic.com. Together we'll look at what your body needs to finally release, reset, and thrive. Until next time, breathe deep, trust your body, and remember, gentle can be powerful.