You can’t hide from the truth about your childhood trauma
Self awareness is the first step to begin healing.
Have you been running away from your childhood trauma?
Perhaps as an adult you feel that the time that’s passed since a traumatic period of your childhood has helped you heal.
And maybe it has.
Maybe with the passing of time, you’ve been able to “make sense” of what’s happened to you.
Perhaps, you’ve developed Post Traumatic Wisdom from your adverse childhood experiences and relationships — and have actually grown stronger and more resilient because of your childhood stress.
And maybe, you’ve had the benefit of therapy.
Or perhaps, not.
For many — if you’re not healed — the impact of childhood trauma still lingers in your brain and body. The trauma lies dormant inside of you and can be triggered quickly — even many years after a traumatic experience.
And the impact of your childhood trauma — the impact to your brain development and structure (the wiring, neural pathways and memory imprint) — lives in your DNA and central nervous system.
Breathe in — and breath out.
Learning the truth about your childhood trauma and how it affects you as an adult can begin or enhance your journey of healing.
It can be an emotional experience.
The rewards for you are enormous and plentiful. You will emerge much stronger — more resilient and mentally tougher.
Once you heal from your childhood trauma, you can live your best life — experience more happiness and joy and deeper connection with those around you.
First you need to face some truths about your childhood trauma:
1️ Trauma is defined as reactions to events and relationships that overwhelm your ability to cope — that causes stressful implicit (emotional) childhood memory imprint.
2️ Your childhood trauma is not necessarily about the events themselves — but your perception at the time of the events. Your perception was affected by your resilience level and relational support.
3️ Your trauma is first a sensory — rather than cognitive — experience. The impact of your childhood trauma lives in your central nervous system.
4️ The frequency and intensity of your childhood trauma affects your health throughout your lifetime — both your physical and mental health.
5️ You can be empowered to direct your own healing from your childhood trauma with new awareness, understanding and strategies to meet your needs and heal your brain and body.
6️ Current emotionally safe experiences and current healthy relationships can heal the parts of your brain that have been impacted by your childhood trauma.
7️ You’re probably wiser and more resilient as a result of your childhood trauma and can support others impacted by trauma in a deeper way.
Carolyn didn’t expect to be thinking of that horrible incident she had in middle school again. Even though she remembers basic details of how she was severely emotionally bullied by her friends in 8th grade, she thought she had “gotten past that.”
“I literally have never seen her again. My so-called friend that stabbed me in the back, lied to me and got all of my other friends to gang up against me just disappeared after we graduated high school,” Carolyn remembers. “Then my daughter got bullied when she was in middle school and for months I was someone I didn’t recognize!”
It turns out when her daughter began being bullied, Carolyn started having flashbacks and intrusive dreams about her middle school “frenemy” from years before. It caused her a lot of sleepless nights.
“I wanted so much to be the educated, wise and rational parent and help her deal with her friends,” Carolyn says, “but my body would shake and tremble when I would hear her stories and my emotions would overwhelm me so much it sometimes felt like my head would explode. (Husband) Nate tries to help but he can’t always calm us both down.”
It seems Carolyn has not had the chance to work out the trauma she experienced in middle school — and make sense of what happened to her. For some, a similar middle school bullying experience would not have the same lasting effect, but for Carolyn, traumatic memories stored in her brain are being triggered by her daughter’s similar experience.
Let’s begin healing!
Once you know the truth of your childhood trauma and how it affects you as an adult — your overall health as well as your thinking patterns, emotional responses and ability for healthy connection to others — you can begin to take the steps needed to embark on your journey of healing.
And here’s a PRO TIP — since the journey of healing is usually an emotional one, you’re gonna need at least ONE person who can support you during your healing process.
Somebody who you feel safe with and can trust to honor and respect your emotions.
This person needs to be patient, compassionate, understanding and most importantly — accepting of the emotional challenges you face during your healing process.
Some days will be more emotionally challenging than others.
Part of your healing process will be to be able to tell your story to someone who will listen to you without judgement or suggestion and accept your emotional struggles with empathy.
If the trapped energy in your brain and body from your unresolved childhood trauma has caused you Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), your journey of healing may need more time and support.
There’s reason for HOPE and motivation to feel better.
Regardless of the level, intensity or frequency of your childhood trauma — you can HEAL!
By developing strategies that encourage and support neuroplasticity — your brain’s ability to be changed at any time — you can direct your own healing.
Getting to know how your brain reacts to stress — how you think about stress, feel about stress and behave when stressed — will help you develop new ways to change your stress response habits and patterns.
Many great leaders and innovators have experienced childhood trauma. By being more attuned to who you are and how you interact with the world around you, you can become stronger and more resilient and more intentional with how to heal.
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Please check out my TEDx talk — “Healing Trauma with Sports”
I’m an Emotional Healing Coach. I’ve helped hundreds of people — professional athletes, performers, business leaders, parents — heal from emotional trauma and toxic stress. Feel happier, more joy and achieve Peak Performance!
