Trauma Sucks

I’m like:

Everything is going to be okay.

Breathe and remember that you’ve been in this place before.

You’ve been this uncomfortable, anxious and scared, and you survived.

Me: Yeah

Me, 3 minutes into the therapy session:

A lot of the time, mental health disorders will lie to you and make you believe you’re not ‘sick enough’ to get help. They make you believe that it’s not real, that you’re making it up, or that there are other people out there who are ‘sicker than you’ so you should just put up with it.

But just listen to me for a minute, from someone who’s been there and knows what it’s like to think those things.

If you’re crying for days at a time and you don’t really know why, then please speak to your doctor.

If you’re feeling empty with no motivation or excitement, please speak to your doctor.

If you’re constantly hearing horrible thoughts about yourself in your head, please speak to your doctor.

If frequently you find yourself alone and scared and hiding from everyone, please speak to your doctor.

If you feel overwhelmed and you can’t carry on, please speak to your doctor.

If you have a gut feeling that something might be wrong, even if there’s only a 1% chance, please speak to your doctor.

It’s okay if you experience trauma and you need to take a while to sort through it. You are allowed to choose to unpack something when you have the energy and emotional stability to actually wade through it. You don’t have to process everything as soon as it happens, you can put it away until you have the spoons for it and it doesn’t mean you’re repressing it. You’re allowed to acknowledge something has happened and you’re not in a good place to sort it out in your head.