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 […]
Direct Communication Is A Lifeline for Trauma Survivors
If you’ve ever told me something like, ‘We need to talk later,’ and then walked away, I can almost guarantee you’ve just activated my fight-or-flight system like it’s Black Friday at Best Buy. It’s not that I’m overreacting (though, okay, maybe a little); it’s just that, when you live with CPTSD, vague communication doesn’t merely […]
The Impact Of Leaving Survival Mode
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 […]
Childhood Sexual Abuse CPTSD Healing Journey Inner Child Work Mental Health Self-Validation Therapy Trauma Recovery
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 […]
It’s Never Too Late for New Beginnings
As people, we are constantly evolving. We learn new things every day. Constantly having new experiences and making memories. Some good and some bad. The journey never ends and instead continues on a forward trajectory. The person we were last year isn’t the person we are today, or who we were last month. We were […]
I Can’t Fix Everything, And That’s Okay (Sort Of)
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, […]