It isn't a lonely journey as long as you're sharing it with us.
It seems counter-productive to put oneself through pain to achieve healing but it really does work, doesn't it? We spend all our lives putting a lid on difficult emotions because it's how most of us were taught to deal with them or learned to cope through necessity at the time. Once we start letting the garbage out, it feels so much better. I'm glad that your journey is progressing well.