Healing Is an Ongoing Process

Healing: the process of making or becoming healthy again

We all have trauma - that's a fact. If you are an adult, you have experienced trauma at some point (probably multiple points) in your life. Often, when we think of trauma we think of a heinous act that someone has endured. And while this is indeed one way in which trauma may present, trauma also occurs on smaller scales. Trauma may be things like abuse, lack of food, emotionally and/or physically absent caregivers, unkind teachers, and a host of other adverse experiences.

Although traumas may be small or large and affect us in minor or major ways, we are all indeed affected by our trauma. Your trauma will show up in your words, actions, decisions, thoughts, ways of treating people, and how you love yourself. Our trauma shapes us as people, making us who we are. As we begin to acknowledge the traumas that we carry with us, we can break the unhealthy patterns that we are used to utilizing in triggering moments. More specifically, our brains come up with ways to deal with our trauma (in or shortly after the moments of trauma) so that we can feel some sense of safety and/or control. As we move past that experience that caused the trauma we continue to use that mechanism even if it no longer serves us. Often, these old patterns that we have harm our current relationships and become ultimately self-destructive.

Only when we begin the process of healing - becoming whole again from our traumas - are we able to break the old patterns that our brains have set up to help us navigate life and to begin forming new patterns and habits. The process of healing is just that - a process. The term "healed" is one you will never hear me use in relation to recovering from trauma. Healing is an ongoing process that is never complete. You will continually have to practice methods to help with your healing. The good news is, the more you practice ways of healing, the better you get at identifying triggers, knowing how your trauma affects your response to those triggers, and utilizing new healthy patterns.

With Gratitude,