I was five years old when the abuse happened. That’s a sentence I still have trouble writing, let alone fully grasping, even after all this time. At five, you’re supposed to be discovering the world with wide eyes and open hands, not learning how to protect yourself from the very people meant to keep you […]
Pausing Therapy: Embracing Growth And Trusting Myself
My therapist is retiring, and while I could start the search for someone new, I’ve decided not to, at least, not right now. So, today was my last day in therapy. After sitting with it for a while, I realized I simply don’t have it in me to start over, to retell everything from the […]
Hyper-Empathy: The Unwanted Superpower
Let’s talk about one of the lesser-known side effects of living with CPTSD, hyper-empathy. If you’ve ever walked into a room and instantly felt like you just downloaded everyone’s emotional data through some invisible trauma-powered Bluetooth, congratulations! You might be a hyper-empath. Or a sponge. Same difference. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, so […]
Living with CPTSD: What It’s Really Like
I write a lot about CPTSD, the facts, the symptoms, the definitions, and how it shows up in everyday life. And all of that matters. But lately, I’ve been thinking about how that’s only half of the picture. It’s one thing to explain what CPTSD is, but it’s another thing entirely to talk about what […]
Living with CPTSD: Rumination and Embracing Growth
I’ve talked before about how rumination shows up, especially when you’re living with CPTSD. Today, I got caught in it, stuck replaying old mistakes, old choices, things I wish more than anything I could take back. For so long, CPTSD has controlled my life. It’s not easy to admit that, in fact, it’s painful to […]
Music as a Lifeline: Finding Safe Spaces in Sound
Living with CPTSD can sometimes feel like trying to navigate through a storm, everything’s spinning, and it’s hard to find any solid ground. Some days, it’s like the weight of everything just hits all at once: the past, the present, the world around me. But through all of that, one thing has always been there […]