We each have trauma in some way, shape, or form. Nobody has an idyllic childhood, an idyllic adolescence, and an idyllic adulthood. It just doesn’t work that way because life has a habit of throwing curveballs. Trauma itself is a result of negative events, and when you feel emotionally or mentally hurt by something that has happened, it can lead to PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not something that is just related to veterans after a war. Adults who have grown up with difficult childhoods can experience it just as much as somebody in an abusive relationship who has just broken free. Trauma can surround anything from the death of a loved one to experiencing abuse, and understanding how you can get through those traumatic events is important.
Healing and Therapy
To be able to feel stable, happy, and emotionally secure you have to learn to work on your trauma. Whether you do that with healing, hypnosis, or you work with a therapist 1 to one for some pretty aggressive therapy, it is up to you. The point is that you have to own the need for help and take the first step. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of things you could do to help yourself get through past trauma.
Steps You Can Take to Get Past Trauma
- Accept support when it comes. It’s not easy to do this, and we’re not going to pretend that it is. Getting past trauma is not easy, but you need to want to heal and be willing to accept help to do that. If you could do it by yourself, you wouldn’t be traumatized. It may come that much of your healing journey is something that you do alone but with support. Whether that support is in individual therapy, hypnosis, or community support depends on what would work for you directly. Whatever route you take, you will have the best chance of recovery when you have a good accepting support system. This can be made up of a support group, your therapist, your loved ones, or even your colleagues. As long as you are in the mindset where you understand that others can help you and you are willing to take that help, you can move through unresolved trauma.
- Connect to the right help. You may not be somebody who feels comfortable talking one-on-one with a therapist, but you may feel better in a group therapy situation where other people are experiencing similar things to you. No two traumatic events occur the same way, and they don’t affect people in the same way, but there is a common thread of trauma. If you attend a support group, you can be around others who have experienced the situations that you have potentially been in and can foster some understanding and community. Finding the right trauma-informed therapist will ensure that therapy will work. You need the best possible advice along the way, so make sure that you are connecting yourself to the right help.
- Be open to a connection. Whether you attend a healing group or a trauma support group, you will connect with other people easily if you are open to it. You don’t have to center your trauma within that group, and you don’t have to talk to other people about the trauma if it’s not right for you. But being present with other people when they talk about their trauma can help you to move through your issues, even on a subconscious level. Connection is key when it comes to healing and getting through past trauma is never going to be an easy thing to do, but it is going to feel easier if you are connected to others. Isolating yourself while you’re dealing with trauma can lead to pretty heavy negative outcomes. These outcomes can be anything from depression to suicidal ideation. If you start to feel like this then spending time with friends and surrounding yourself with people to share what you’ve experienced when it feels right is a good idea.
- Get up and get moving. Did you know that exercise has been shown to improve the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? It can help you to heal directly, but exercise and physical movement can also give your body that feel-good chemical that you’ve been looking for. Endorphins are a good chemical, but you don’t have to be a slave to the gym for it to work. Taking walks, going for a bike ride, or even roller skating can help. If you’re not a fan of going out into nature, then move along to a yoga video or have a solo dance party in the house. If you could just get your body moving, it can help you to heal and it can help you to connect with yourself physically.
- Don’t fight your feelings. If you want to get through past trauma, you need to work with your feelings and face up to them. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s going to hurt to do so, like scratching an old wound. But once you start scratching at that wind to expose it, you then have a chance to let it heal and the new skin grows over it. Get in touch with what you’re feeling and use journaling to help. If it doesn’t help you very much, it can still be helpful to spend time sitting with your feelings and allowing yourself to feel them. Acceptance is key to healing overall. Anger can come through when you’re trying to heal, and that’s OK. Everything you feel is going to be OK.
- Start looking after yourself. Self-care is something that reduces your stress, but we don’t mean something as mundane as taking a bath. That’s not self-care, that’s basic human hygiene. You need to set time aside to care for yourself, and you need to do things that make you feel loved and appreciated. You have to be able to appreciate yourself emotionally and physically to feel good, so practice self-care by regularly taking action to do things that make you feel good about yourself.
- Stay away from drugs. It’s so tempting to drink or do drugs or even gamble when you are healing from trauma. Recreational substances and gambling are all addictive and help your brain to stop thinking and feeling, but this is not the right time for that. You won’t be able to work through the feelings that you have if you’re avoiding them by taking substances or distracting your mind with gambling. All of those things are temporary, and you can go back to activities such as social drinking once you have taken the time to heal.
- Take some breaks. When you are on your healing journey, you need to make sure that you are finding time to take breaks because you are going to be more tired than usual. Spending time feeling pent up and stuck is going to exhaust your body, so you need to be able to move through that. Healing can take a lot of your energy and make you feel sapped of it. The best way to deal with that during this time is to be gentle with yourself and take breaks from even doing fun things. You need to give yourself time to pause.
Healing takes a monumental amount of time, energy, and effort, but you can do it.
Editor’s Note
If you’re dealing with trauma that is generational, check out my Podcast episode on how to use your past generational trauma to your advantage. For those of you who may be experiencing trauma due to family members in law enforcement jobs, or you working in law enforcement yourself, check out my Confessions of a Correctional Officer’s Wife.
Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own, 100% honest & unbiased. Affiliate links are posted throughout. Feel free to read my Disclaimer Page for details and information on sponsored posts, affiliate links, and more.
