Trauma, Echos from the Past

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If we could “just leave it in the past,” we would. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed—experiences that happened decades earlier can still profoundly affect you today.

💜 This! WE survivors are so in tune with others due to our messy childhood! 💜

From Lindsay Braman - Therapist & Psychoeducator

Something happens to you when you get to a certain age. You start to tolerate less. And when you add extensive trauma, it's almost a certainty that you're going to come out a different person. I was always very submissive and shy. I tended to tolerate way too much BS. And forgive people for unforgivable things. I would give people countless chances to hurt me. Of course, I didn't know that's what I was doing. But now, after all the hell, I have been through. No. I am just not willing to tolerate the same kind of nonsense. Either someone can behave themselves and act like a reasonable adult around me or they need to go. I am not entertaining anyone's abusive behavior. I just won't play. I will disengage. Go, no contact or pull away. Or, in some cases, tell the person exactly what I think. Either way, I am not living my life to please someone else any longer.

I owe myself an apology
For all of the times
I tore myself apart

When I neglected my own needs
Lowered my standards
Berated myself
And put myself down.

For the self-sabotage
I continually inflicted upon myself
And the times when I apologised
For being who I was
And expressing myself authentically.

And I owe myself
The permission to start anew.

To forgive myself
For the battles I fought
That weren’t mine to fight
For all of the love
That I failed to give myself

And for the times when I failed to realise
That rather than being broken
I was worthy of value, respect
And beautiful, brilliant things in life
And that how I treated myself
Dictated how others would view me
And in turn, behave towards me
So by showering myself
With love, kindness, forgiveness and respect
In turn, I could pave the way
For others to do the same.

~ Tahlia Hunter

[Art: Tom Bagshaw]

Pretty much

How have your stress levels been recently? Here are a few things you can do to stay grounded when things feel a bit too overwhelming.

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