I met Monica when she walked into my office looking successful on the outside but stuck on the inside.

She told me things I hear all the time:

• "I know I can do better, but something keeps stopping me."
• "I can't stick to anything."
• "Even when people say my work is good, I don't believe them."
• "I put off important stuff, then hate myself for it."

> scrolling instead of working

Monica would sit at her computer with work piling up but found herself scrolling through social media instead. Then she'd panic about deadlines, do the work at the last second, feel awful about it, and repeat the whole cycle the next day.

She was stuck in a fight with herself - wanting to succeed but terrified of failing.

One day while looking up "how to stop procrastinating" online, she found an article about self-sabotage. It hit her. This wasn't just bad habits - it was a pattern. She called me the next day.

> the body as a way out

When we started working together, we didn't just talk about her problems - we found where they came from. Monica realized how things from her childhood were still running the show today.

Instead of just talking more, we tried something different - Somatic Experiencing. Fancy name for a simple idea: your body holds your stress and your solutions.

I asked Monica: "Where do you feel it when you're about to procrastinate?"

She pointed to her tight chest, shallow breathing, and knotted stomach.

We worked with those feelings directly. No complicated theories or homework assignments. Just noticing what her body was trying to tell her.

As the physical tension melted away, so did her stuck patterns. Her thoughts slowed down. She could breathe again.

Then something amazing happened - without realizing it, she started doing the things she always wanted to do. Not perfectly, but consistently and without much effort. When fear showed up (and it still did), it didn't paralyze her anymore. She regarded it as information.

> change

Monica didn't just understand her problems better - she actually changed. She stopped fighting herself all the time.

Now she's not controlled by her past anymore. She's actively living in the now, one moment at a time.

That's what real healing looks like. Not perfect. Not instant. But real.