For almost eight years, I did what most people do when they’re hurting — I went to counseling. Three different counselors, all variations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
CBT helped me think better about my problems, but it never made the problems go away. I was constantly reframing, re-interpreting, and trying to keep my head above water. I could manage the pain, but never stop the noise.
Then I found EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
With EMDR, something wild happened:
I didn’t have to fight the thoughts anymore.
They simply weren’t there.
It was like the mental replay button finally broke.
For the first time in decades, a setback felt like just one setback — not a summation of every bad experience from the past twenty years. Each event carried only its own weight, and I could breathe again.
That single shift changed everything about how I see healing, work, and recovery.
What I’ll unpack in the full article:
Before EMDR – What “managing” trauma really looked like (and why CBT wasn’t enough for me).
The EMDR Session – What actually happens in a session — step by step, without the psych jargon.
After the Breakthrough – How it felt when the old mental loops finally went silent.
Trauma at Work – How career wounds stack up over time — and how EMDR helped separate the past from the present.
Faith, Memory, and Mercy – What healing taught me about God, grace, and the mind He gave us.