If someone had told me a few years ago that joy was the missing piece in trauma healing, I would have laughed. Or cursed. Probably both.

Conventional wisdom says that trauma and joy are opposites — that they can’t possibly coexist. You have to process your pain, survive the grief, and manage the symptoms. Then, and only then, do you get to earn joy, as if it’s some kind of reward waiting at the finish line.

But in reality, trauma and joy are not enemies. They sit right next to each other. Joy doesn’t wait politely for your wounds to close — it often breaks in right alongside the pain. It’s the laughter that bubbles up at a funeral, uninvited but somehow necessary. It’s the deep exhale of sunlight on your face after a sleepless night of anxiety. It’s the moment of connection with a friend when you’re still in the thick........

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