Healing Childhood Trauma: Why Going Slow Is the Fastest Way

A solitary figure pauses on a quiet, tree-lined path enveloped in mist, embodying the essence of moving slowly and mindfully through nature.

If you’re beginning the journey of healing from childhood trauma, or maybe you're halfway through, feeling around in the dark, or even circling back for the tenth time, I want to offer one simple, underrated, essential bit of advice:

Go slowly.

Seriously. Healing from childhood trauma is not a weekend project. It’s not a 30-day program. It’s not a TED Talk epiphany. It’s a long, layered, often nonlinear process that asks for patience, self-kindness, and the willingness to go bit by bit.

It’s Natural to Want It Done Yesterday

When we first become aware of our trauma, when it clicks just how much it’s shaped our lives, our patterns, our relationships — a part of us naturally wants to fix it. We want to deal with it, be done with it, move on.

I remember when I first started therapy, I thought: "I'll do this for two or three months, get it sorted, and that'll be that."

You can probably guess how that went.

The truth is, healing doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t come with a clear timeline, and it’s never as fast or linear as we want it to be.

Why Quick Fixes Don’t Work

We live in a culture obsessed with speed. Instant downloads. Same-day delivery. Hack your brain. Heal in 21 days.

But trauma isn’t something that gets “hacked.” You can’t fast-track a process that was never meant to be rushed.

So if someone’s selling you transformation in a box, a one-month mind hack or a three-step shortcut, be careful. That’s not healing. That’s marketing.

What Real Healing Looks Like

Real healing is slow. Gentle. Sometimes boring. Often circular. It's:

• Two steps forward, one step back.

• Progress you only see when you look back six months later.

• Quiet, gradual changes that build over time.

Think of it like Snakes and Ladders. You roll the dice, you hit some ladders, you hit some snakes. No one just ascends to the top on a clean streak. The game is the process, the ups, the downs, the rerolls, the start-overs. And with each pass, you do get a little closer.

You Are Worth the Time It Takes

This isn’t a punishment. It’s not a life sentence. It’s a return to who you are beneath all the coping.

Healing isn’t about getting to some magical finish line where you say, “I’m done, I’m fixed.” It’s about feeling more whole, more present, more you than you were last year. Or even last week.

Some days, you’ll barely notice the shift. But give it time, and one day you’ll look back and realise: “I don’t live from that place anymore.”

So Wherever You Are, Start There

Start slowly. Go gently. Stay kind.

Trust that small steps matter. Trust that even when it doesn’t feel like it, something inside you is unfolding.

And most importantly: You are worth the time it takes to heal.

Thanks for reading. If this resonated, feel free to share or subscribe. You never know who might need to hear it, too.

With warmth,

Ewan