09/16/2026
Sometimes we don’t realize how much we’ve been carrying until something brings it all back.
Over the past two years, loss seemed to come one thing after another.
I lost one of my dogs. My brother became very ill and later passed away. And in the middle of it all, the Eaton fire disrupted my home and my sense of normalcy.
There wasn’t much time to stop and process any of it. There were things that needed to be handled, decisions that needed to be made, and life kept moving. So I kept moving too.
Recently, I had to return to my home to take care of some things related to the fire. I wasn’t prepared for what came up.
My body reacted before I could make sense of it. I could feel the heaviness, the tension, and emotions connected to more than just that moment.
And I realized—I hadn’t really given myself the space to grieve everything that had happened.
As a therapist, I know the tools. I know how to breathe, ground myself, and pay attention to what my body is telling me. But knowing the tools doesn’t mean we don’t experience grief, trauma, or overwhelm ourselves.
Sometimes we survive first. We process later.
That’s one of the reasons I value EMDR. It can help us process experiences that our minds and bodies may still be holding onto, even when we’ve done our best to keep moving forward.
I’m learning to give myself the same permission I encourage others to give themselves: to slow down, acknowledge what’s there, and make room for grief.
Healing doesn’t mean forgetting. Sometimes it means finally allowing ourselves to feel what we didn’t have the capacity to feel before.
— Karen
