Showcase: What That One Meeting Gave Me + Healing At The Gym + Friend’s Therapist + Why I Choose To Write

Edited by Sarah Frideswide

The theme of choices that lead to unexpected healing continues this week. First of all, we have a piece by Vrushali Khadilkar which looks at the slow, quiet healing that can result from simply choosing to be in relationship with someone who is steadfast.

What That One Meeting Gave Me

I chose to meet up with him after a long time and, looking back now, it feels like one of the best decisions I made in those years. I never knew when I met with him that this guy somehow would turn out to be a real blessing.

I was visiting the ICU to see my granny and later, I was grieving for her. As different uncertainties showed up in my life, I kept piling the weight on. But, through it all, this man never rushed me. His patience and steady presence held me in ways I was, as yet, unable to name. He didn’t demand closeness or ask for explanations. He simply stayed in touch with sweet check-ins here and there.

Only later did I tell him how important his loving presence had been. How it revealed a side of him rooted in care, in perseverance. What I thought would be an ordinary date turned into an unexpected surprising tenderness that revealed itself slowly, quietly, through many years.

I didn’t realise then what a blessing his arrival was. When you are deep in grief, you don’t always recognise grace when it shows up. You become numb, a little monstrous in your survival.

And yet, sometimes, magic enters your life not with fireworks – but with someone who simply stays, understands and is patient with you.

© Vrushali Khadilkar, 2026

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We move on now to something from me in which I look at the unexpected side-effects of having PT sessions in the gym. We hear a lot about angry men; here’s a piece about a compassionate one.

Healing At The Gym

Going to the gym isn’t something typically associated with inner healing. It’s well known to reduce stress and help with mental focus, but when it comes to the deep re-wiring of the brain that’s needed to heal from Complex-PTSD and a life of abuse, there is little written on what a gym membership can do.

This is, in part, because it’s highly individual. Every person is different, has different trauma and a different psychology and, of course, every gym is different as well. So it would be difficult to track the impact on healing of Complex-PTSD across the board. But here’s one short account of how sessions in a gym can have an unexpected impact on healing.

As someone with ADHD, I have sessions with a personal trainer, partly because it’s so difficult to be reliable that the accountability of a booked session is sometimes the only thing that gets me there. I’m a woman who has suffered an awful lot at the hands of men. It can therefore be very scary to be around them. But my personal trainer, H, (that’s his nickname), is one of those rare men who have compassion and are prepared to listen to what a woman’s experience of the world is. He’s always interested and caring about what might be happening with me that week. (And there’s always something!) This means that, besides my training, I’m able to express how I feel and also have a laugh with a man who feels safe and comfortable to be around. So I leave the gym each week having expressed how I feel emotionally and with a new a sense of connection.

The impact of that on my long-term healing can’t be overstated. It’s helping to over-write and regulate the awful experiences I’ve had with men in the past, which enables me to be feel more confident around them in general and to know that there are men out there who are kind and who do allow women a space to breathe. It also, crucially, shows me that I have a right to expect kindness and safe social connections with men. When I joined the gym and signed up for PT sessions, I didn’t expect this to be the result!

© Sarah Frideswide, 2026

Connect with Sarah on Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahfrideswide

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To follow on from this, we have a poem from Derek Ehiorobo which looks at friendship. It shows the ways in which love and healing can be given and received between two people with the mutual decision to listen and share experiences. Loneliness comes from a lack of connection. In this poem, we see the love that results when connection is shared.

I Pretend To Be My Friend’s Therapist Because We Cannot Afford A Real One

Let’s trace this river to its source.
Where was your grief first planted?

Silence.

I believe my body is a sentence, doomed
to end in my father’s fist.

Do you know how much I love him?

He once held  a knife to my throat.
Told me to present myself
a living sacrifice. I closed my eyes
and said amen.

My father believes he is God.
Sometimes I believe him.

You sent me a text at 3am,
saying you woke up and found
a cadaver on your bed.
What did you mean?

I cannot remember.

I don’t believe you.
I know you and your
obsession with performing
autopsies on yourself.

Can you blame me?
My parents say I was supposed

to be stillborn.

So you’re a miracle?

More like a poem stuck
in God’s throat.

Every morning, I beg him to say
he loves me and he coughs in my face.

Okay, let’s do a Rorschach
test. What do you－

I see a boy trying to crack
his head open.

Okay what about－
Won’t you ask me
who the boy is?

Who is he?
He’s my brother.

I fear I may have stained him
with my poison.                          Once, I told him
to kiss my fathers feet and he slapped him
so hard he lost three teeth.
My brother has not said a word since.

I seem to have
gotten you
speechless.

Can you blame me?

No. I wonder why
you do these things
with me.

It’s the only way I can afford
to travel.

I’ll take a wild guess
and say I help you
forget.

I won’t say forget.
more like transform.

What does that mean?

Let’s continue
the Rorschach test.

No. I hate how
you always avoid
my questions.

I guess this is where our session ends.

I hate you.
I know.

I love you.
I love you.

© Derek Ehiorobo, 2026

Connect with Derek on Instagram @derekimagines

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To finish, we bring our gaze back to the act of writing with a piece by Destiny Hankerson, which sums up the reasons why our other pieces this week are all sources of inspiration. My hope is that you may be inspired to try some writing for yourself after reading this.

Why I Choose To Write

When I think of why I choose to write, it’s because, for me, writing has always been a natural form of expression. Ever since I was a little girl, I enjoyed writing my own stories and using the magic of words to express my imagination. When I feel I have so many thoughts, emotions and ideas swirling around in my head, I can always take out a pen and paper and just write it all down.

Not only is writing a creative process, it can also be a healing one. Through writing, you can release tension or stress around different things you may be going through in life. I’ve found that dealing with my challenges or emotions through telling a story helps me feel better. And best of all, other people can benefit from my writing and enjoy it, too! Perhaps they feel their own emotions, hopes and dreams are reflected in the words I share, and they feel less alone in the human experience. That’s why I choose to write.

© Destiny Hankerson, 2026 

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You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.

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If you or someone you know has been affected by issues covered in our pages, please see the relevant link below for ​information, advice and support​: https://pentoprint.org/about/advice-support/