You’d think that after all this time, I’d be a seasoned pro at navigating CPTSD. That it’d be a cakewalk by now. But it’s not. Even those of us who’ve done the therapy, the shadow work, put in the time, and learned the tools that do work for us still have off days. Still get […]
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 […]
Therapy Hangover: Why You Feel Exhausted After Therapy
A therapy hangover is the emotional and physical exhaustion some people experience after a difficult therapy session. It can leave you feeling foggy, anxious, drained, detached, or emotionally raw for hours, and sometimes even days, afterward. It’s wild how surprisingly few people talk about therapy hangovers. Everyone tells you therapy is supposed to help, but […]
How IFS Therapy Helped Me Heal from CPTSD
For those of us who’ve been diagnosed with CPTSD, real healing often begins the moment we stop asking, “What’s wrong with me?” And start asking, “What happened to me, and how did I adapt to survive it?” That shift is everything. It changes the whole lens through which we see ourselves. However, knowing the right […]
Why Trauma-Informed Therapy Matters for Healing
When I first started therapy to deal with my CPTSD and the trauma from years of childhood sexual abuse, I honestly thought I was ready to heal. I’d done the research, found the courage, and showed up. What I wasn’t prepared for was how often I’d end up feeling like the problem, misunderstood, rushed, or […]
The Pressure to Reinvent vs. the Power of Just Being
There’s something that’s always puzzled me: the need people seem to have to constantly reinvent themselves. New year? Reinvent. Breakup? Reinvent. Got bangs? Reinvent. It’s like we’re all supposed to be our own PR team, constantly rebranding to stay relevant, like some sort of personal SEO strategy. (See what I did there? Threw in some […]