Let’s discuss the unexpected emotional kick to the gonads that happens when your past randomly pops up, like one of those meerkats coming up for air out of its burrow, right when you’re starting to feel the tiniest flicker of pride about how far you’ve come. Maybe someone brings it up in conversation, casually or […]
You Cannot Out Run Pain
Let’s be real honest right now. Yes, sometimes existing hurts. And I’m not talking about some ethical philosophical argument; I mean the physical and emotional hurt that is impossible to explain unless you have been there. If you have CPTSD, you know exactly what I mean. That heavy weight in your chest. The disconnect. The […]
The Mental Health Myth That Needs to Go
There are a ton of myths floating around about mental health. Some come from a good place, some are wildly off, and some just make you want to gently bang your head against a wall. But if I had to pick one to blast off into the sun, it’d be this: “You have to look […]
Weird CPTSD Triggers That Still Annoy Me
Living with CPTSD means you kind of get used to expecting the unexpected when it comes to what sets you off. You’d think triggers are always these huge, obvious, scary things, like a loud bang, a harsh word, or someone who looks exactly like that person from your past. But nope. Sometimes, what sets you […]
Where Does the CPTSD End, and Where Do I Begin?
I came across a question today that got me thinking: “Where does the CPTSD end, and where do I begin?” At first, I gave the kind of answer that felt honest enough. I tried to untangle trauma from truth, to draw a clean line between what’s mine and what got wired into me through fear, […]
The Shame That Shouldn’t Be Mine: Surviving Abuse with CPTSD
There’s a kind of shame that wraps itself around trauma survivors like smoke after a fire. Invisible and suffocating. If you’ve lived through abuse and now live with CPTSD, you know exactly what I mean. It’s not the shame of doing something wrong. It’s the shame of having survived something that never should have happened […]