When you get hit by a major disappointment, it can feel like the world stops turning.
Your body keeps going through the motions, but inside, you’re stuck.
Maybe you replay the moment endlessly.
The words. The what-ifs. The why-me.
It’s as if your mind builds a cage from the thoughts that wanted release.
I know that place. It’s heavy.
You feel like you’re “working through” it, but really, you’re orbiting the same star of pain.
Anger. Resentment. Rumination. All going round in circles.
All of them have a purpose. They show us what mattered. They remind us we cared.
But they were never meant to be permanent residents.
Because the longer we hold them, the smaller we become.
And the more we analyse the wound, the less we move toward healing.
Here’s the paradox. Liberation isn’t found by pushing those feelings away.
You actually find it by letting them complete their course.
Grief wants to move.
Anger wants to be heard, then released.
Only when the wave has passed through can we return to that creative, energised self, the one that can see new horizons again.
So if you find yourself looping right now, maybe the invitation isn’t to think harder, but to feel fully.
Let the storm pass through instead of holding it in.
Because on the other side of that surrender lies something extraordinary. You’ll find quiet strength.
The kind of strength that doesn’t come from control, but from acceptance.
Maybe today’s question isn’t how do I fix this?
Maybe it’s what’s trying to move through me right now?
A final thought. If you’re stuck in a rumination loop, you’re not behind. You’re becoming.
The loop isn’t proof you’ve failed. You could say, it’s proof you still care. The shift begins when you stop fighting the feeling and start letting it move.
Photo by Po-Hsuan Huang on Unsplash