At some point in the process, almost everyone asks a version of the same question: why do I feel like I am back where I started?

It can be disorienting. You had a good stretch. Things felt lighter, clearer, more manageable. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, an old feeling resurfaces — the same anxiety, the same grief, the same pattern you thought you had already worked through.

This is often interpreted as regression. As proof that the progress was not real, or that something is wrong. But healing rarely moves in a straight line, and a return to familiar pain is not the same as starting over.

More often, it is a sign that you are encountering the same material from a new vantage point — one shaped by everything you have already learned about yourself. What used to overwhelm you completely may now be something you can name, sit with, and move through more quickly. That is not failure. That is growth, even when it does not feel like it in the moment.

This is part of what the Sankofa bird represents: the willingness to look back is not a step backward. It is often the very thing that allows forward movement to continue. If you find yourself circling back to something you thought you had already resolved, it does not mean you have lost ground. It may simply mean you are ready to understand it more deeply.

Wherever you are in this process, we invite you to book a complimentary fifteen-minute consultation to talk about the next step. Book A Consultation 👇 https://calendar.app.google/WrKRubvmMpPJFRcx7