Fighting Battles No One Can See Living with CPTSD means spending vast portions of our lives fighting battles nobody else can see. On the outside, you might look “fine.” You show up to work, you smile at the right times, and you laugh when something’s funny. But inside? It’s a full-scale war zone. Flashbacks, shame […]
Making Peace with a Trauma-Stamped Brain
The brain is this wild mix of wiring, chemistry, and memory, running everything from your heartbeat to your deepest thoughts, all while somehow letting you remember the lyrics to songs you haven’t heard in twenty years. Beautifully magnificent… and sometimes, frustratingly mysterious. It’s a powerhouse of possibility and also a paradox. It keeps us alive. […]
Inside Out, But Trauma Got the Remote
One of my daughter’s favorite movies is Pixar’s Inside Out. We’ve watched it together more times than I can count. And honestly? It’s become one of my favorites too. It’s clever, heartfelt, and somehow it makes all these big, messy feelings make sense, not just for kids, but for adults, too. And every time I […]
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 […]
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PTSD or CPTSD? A Simple Breakdown Without the Psychobabble
So, you’ve been down a WebMD rabbit hole, or your therapist dropped “CPTSD” into a session like it’s a totally normal acronym. And you have somehow found yourself here. Welcome. I write a lot about my own experiences living with CPTSD, and I want you to know you’re not alone, even if it feels that […]
CPTSD Recovery: Embracing Feelings to Heal and Grow
I used to think being in my feelings was a weakness. Especially living with CPTSD and trauma. That if I let myself feel anything, sadness, anger, even happiness, it meant I was giving my trauma a seat at the table. Like feeling was the same as surrendering. So I armored up. Numbed out. Laughed things […]