Healing Doesn’t Always Look Holy 💔
For the girl rebuilding herself while crying, dancing, and cussing.
Some days it looks like praise hands. Other days, it looks like sweating through your sports bra to a Beyoncé remix.
Before healing felt like peace, it felt like chaos.
It didn’t look like a woman gracefully reclaiming her crown. It looked like crying in the shower. Like snapping at people I loved because I didn’t know how to speak up for what I needed. Like closing my laptop on another round of edits because I thought maybe I just wasn’t good enough.
And that was after therapy.
Healing doesn’t always show up in pretty packages. Sometimes it’s loud. Messy. Private. It comes in waves, and sometimes you’re just trying not to drown.
But sis, that doesn’t make it any less real.
Healing Doesn’t Always Look Like Church
I grew up thinking healing meant prayer circles and deliverance services. That you had to cry on an altar to be cleansed.
But healing can also look like:
Setting a boundary and sticking to it
Saying no and not explaining yourself
Letting go of people who keep triggering the version of you you’re trying to outgrow
Buying a pair of leggings and dancing your pain out in the back of a cardio hip-hop class
And that last one? That’s where Laura found her breakthrough.
The Dance — When Healing Comes in Sweat and Beats
In The Dance, Laura doesn’t have a neat healing arc. She’s not journaling her way to freedom. She’s trying to glue the shattered pieces of her life back together after her husband walks out, and her first thought is "How do I get him back?"
But healing starts when she walks into that cardio hip-hop class. Not because she’s confident. Not because she’s ready. But because she’s desperate. And it’s in that sweaty, breathless, awkward beginning that she starts to remember who she is.
Roman doesn’t heal her. But he reflects back the version of her that’s always been there, hidden under guilt, shame, and years of playing small.
And maybe that’s what healing really is:
Not becoming someone new, but getting bold enough to return to yourself.
You Don’t Have to Be Put Together to Begin
I was still 100 pounds heavier when I started writing again. Still full of doubt when I signed with my agent. Still unsure when I left traditional publishing to bet on myself.
My healing didn’t happen because I had it all figured out. It happened because I started moving. One step. One draft. One boundary at a time.
So no, healing doesn’t always look holy.
Sometimes it looks like cussing on the way to church. Like walking away from your agent to honor your convictions. Like lacing up your sneakers to dance out the grief of being left behind.
But every messy, imperfect step still counts.
And the best part? One day you’ll look up and realize you’re not surviving anymore.
You’re dancing.
With love,
Kimberly R. Vargas
Romance Author | Storyteller of Second Chances
The Next Chapter™ | © 2025 Kimberly R. Vargas. All rights reserved.
A platform for soulful romance, second chances, and emotionally rich storytelling by Kimberly R. Vargas.
Ready for a story about sweat, self-worth, and second chances?
The Dance is an emotional romance about rediscovering your rhythm after heartbreak.
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This is amazing 🙌🏾