In my fifth decade on this earth, I’m only now beginning to accept that I can’t fix everything, no matter how badly I want to. And that truth? It’s brutal. Since I was a kid, I’ve carried this deep, unrelenting need to fix things. Not just the broken toy kind of fixing, but people, relationships, […]
Trauma Doesn’t Make You Stronger: A Journey of Healing
There is no truth to people saying that trauma makes you stronger. The fact is, it doesn’t. Trauma breaks you. It eats you alive and spits you back out in tiny pieces that you no longer recognize, and what is left are complex problems that you spend the next how many years trying to work […]
Overcoming the Superman Complex in CPTSD Healing
Being a major fan of DC comics and, more specifically, Superman, I was thrilled to hear the term “Superman Complex” used in therapy; it had my inner child jumping for joy. It seemed to me like a compliment. To have this and to be perceived in this way was kind of cool. Who wouldn’t want […]
From Shame to Self-Acceptance
For most of my life, I’ve struggled to accept the person I see in the mirror. But it’s never been about insecurity, not in the way people usually mean it. My discomfort with my appearance goes deeper than surface-level doubt. It’s rooted in childhood trauma, in abuse that left my body feeling like a prison. […]
Navigating the Storm: Living with CPTSD
Living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is no walk in the park. Some days, it can feel like a constant storm raging inside, making it hard to navigate through life. And it’s not a sound you hear, but a psychological beat that never seems to stop. The constant buzz of feeling unworthy, unlovable, and […]
The Quiet War: Living and Healing with CPTSD
It’s like living with CPTSD is walking through a mental minefield. One moment the ground is firm, and the next it gives way. Emotional blowouts are inevitable, and just when I’m okay, the ground beneath me gives way. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Intrusive thoughts arrive like unwelcome guests at a party, puncturing the […]