For 40 years, I lived in constant survival mode, running on fear, stuck in fight-or-flight, exhausted but pushing forward anyway. I had no idea I was running myself into the ground. I thought I was just doing what I had to do to exist. Then, about a decade ago, I began therapy, and I started […]
Why Self-Validation Matters After Childhood Trauma
Growing up with abuse and never being able to ask for help, the idea of speaking up felt completely foreign. I had nobody to turn to, and deep down, I didn’t think I’d be believed. For 40 years, I carried that secret. Looking back, desperation seemed to be the theme of my formative years. Desperate […]
Healing from CPTSD: It’s Messy, It’s Real, and It’s Worth It
There were a lot of times in the early days of my healing journey when I genuinely wondered if I was doing it “right.” You know, like… Is there a healing manual I missed? Am I allowed to feel this way? Does spiralling while reorganizing your sock drawer count as emotional progress? (I’ve decided yes. […]
Letting People Be Wrong About Me
For most of my life, I’ve kept things pretty close to the chest. I wasn’t the kind of person to open up easily. Sharing my thoughts and feelings with others felt… risky. But something’s been shifting lately. As I’ve started working on myself and my healing, I’ve realized just how powerful vulnerability can be. I […]
Working On Healing My Inner Child
Change is tough, especially when you’ve spent so much of your life in survival mode. But in order to heal, it’s crucial to address the wounds of your inner child. Having worked on processing my emotions more effectively, the next step for me was to actually start doing that, feeling and dealing with those emotions. […]
There Is Empowerment In Vulnerability
For a long time, I believed that vulnerability was something to avoid. I thought it would leave me wide open to hurt and pain, and I wasn’t ready for that. But as I’ve worked on healing, I’ve come to realize something that I never fully understood before: vulnerability can actually be a source of empowerment. […]