You are NOT defined by the things that happened to you and you CAN heal from them.
The reason this is hard to believe is because trauma changes the way we think, feel, and act.
It makes us believe that others can’t be trusted, that there’s something wrong with us, and that we’re to blame for what happened.
We feel out of control of our emotions and at the same time detached from them. We’re on edge, hypervigilant, and have a feeling that something is going to go wrong – even when there is no proof.
Decision making is difficult. Spending time with others is hard. Keeping up a front is exhausting.
Sometimes we’re haunted by our memories, our sleep suffers, and it feels like nothing will ever help us. Like we’re beyond fixing.
This is trauma.