This episode takes a deep dive into new research that challenges how we understand healing after trauma. Instead of treating recovery as a fixed state, something you either achieve or don’t, the podcast explores trauma as a constantly moving process. Drawing on a 2025 study of California wildfire survivors, the hosts unpack how post‑traumatic growth and distress change day by day, often accelerating together. Using ideas borrowed from physics—like momentum and acceleration—the episode reframes healing as an active, dynamic journey, where periods of intense pain may also signal meaningful growth in progress.