When Breakthrough Meets Real Life
I Thought Things Were Falling Apart—Until I Realized My EMDR Resilience Was Stronger Than Ever
This past week looked like a collapse.
Financial uncertainty hit, my business wobbled, and I found myself staring down job applications while trying to care for my father from a distance.
It felt like the emotional scaffolding I’d built through EMDR was coming undone.
But as the week unfolded, I realized something I would have missed a year ago:
I was actually processing all these setbacks faster than ever.
This entire wave of emotional and spiritual turmoil—something that used to take 4–6 weeks to work through—I moved through in a matter of days.
That’s not collapse — that’s growth.
Real, measurable emotional resilience.
EMDR Didn’t Fail—It Worked Exactly as Designed
Let’s start with the part that surprised me: Losing my largest client didn’t crush me.
In the past, that kind of loss would have triggered:
emotional flashbacks
betrayal wounds
self-hatred
shame spirals
anger
the old “I must be a failure” narrative
But thanks to EMDR, none of that happened (I wrote more about this in EMDR Can Save Your Bacon).
Why?
Because EMDR specializes in healing stuck memories — the old emotional charges that attach past pain to present events.
And it worked.
The client loss hurt… but it didn’t reopen old trauma. It didn’t hijack my identity. It didn’t drag me into the pit.
That alone is a sign of deep emotional healing.
Where the Real Pain Came In: A Current Crisis, Not a Past Wound
The emotional punch this week didn’t come from the past.
It came from the present:
revenue uncertainty
the harsh reality of needing temporary work
the spiritual weight of caring for my father
the swirl of financial pressure
the fear of “starting over again”
the Accuser whispering lies in the middle of it
That part felt heavy.
But here’s the breakthrough I almost missed:
EMDR resolved the old wounds.
I was left facing only the current crisis—which means I was finally dealing with reality, not emotional residue.
There are two types of emotional shock:
1. Stuck memories (old trauma)
EMDR dissolves this.
This is why the client loss didn’t trigger betrayal or shame.
2. Current crises (present pain)
No therapy removes this.
This is simply life happening in real time.
The fact that I could tell these two apart is evidence my emotional health is maturing.
The Real Indicator of Growth: Faster Processing, Stronger Resilience
In the past, a week like this would have leveled me for a month.
You know the drill:
Rumination → paralysis → shame → confusion → emotional exhaustion
Not this time.
Instead, I:
felt the crisis in real time
named it honestly
processed it within days
stayed spiritually anchored
stayed relationally present
bounced back instead of sinking
regained clarity faster than ever
That is emotional resilience in action.
EMDR didn’t give me a pain-free life.
It gave me a recover-faster life — and that’s the fruit I’m finally seeing.
A Surprise Sign of Calling: What Gave Me Life This Week
Here’s the irony:
The most alive I felt during all this was when I was working on my own ideas — writing, shaping content, building Deep Water Labs, creating this very article.
That wasn’t escapism.
That was evidence.
Evidence that:
I’m made for influence
I come alive when I teach
My calling pulls me forward
Creativity is oxygen, not distraction
God keeps pointing me toward the work only I can do
This week didn’t reveal collapse.
It revealed alignment.
The Big Picture: EMDR Didn’t Stop the Storm—It Strengthened the Structure
I used to think emotional healing meant the storms would stop.
Now I see the truth:
Healing means the storms no longer destroy you.
This week required:
spiritual resilience
emotional regulation
honest reflection
rapid processing
leaning into God instead of fear
And somehow, all of this happened faster and cleaner than it ever has in my adult life.
Not because everything went well.
But because I’m no longer processing this week through the wounds of last decade.
That’s the real breakthrough.
Reflection Question
Where in your life are you mistaking emotional resilience for collapse simply because you’re processing a current crisis faster than you ever could before?