How To Deal With Past Trauma In Your Life
Jul 09, 2023
Trauma is something that many people face in their life. Whether that’s in their childhood or multiple experiences in their adulthood, no one is immune to it. It can also affect people in different ways, with some being able to handle it more easily than others. Some may find it extremely difficult and it could be something that’s hindering the person’s quality of living.
Dealing with past traumas is important, so with that being said, here are some helpful tips that will hopefully help with overcoming or moving forward. Trauma will always exist but it’s how you control that trauma in your life that really counts.
Consider counseling
If you’re looking to tackle trauma, it’s often helpful to speak to someone who can lend a professional ear and voice to your troubles. There are plenty of counseling services out there but it’s worth doing your research and meeting with different counselors.
That’s because not every counselor is going to practice in the same way, with some having more specialist experience and knowledge than others.
Speak to the counselor and listen to your gut when it comes to deciding whether or not they’re the right fit for you. You’ll likely get the right or wrong first impressions pretty quickly.
Find a routine
A routine is something that can help provide structure to your life. When you’ve been through a situation that’s traumatic on the body, on the mind, or both for that matter, a routine keeps things going.
It can often be the case that you fall into a routine that you once held prior to the trauma in order to serve as a distraction. While that’s good, it’s something that you don’t want to ignore completely.
With that in mind, find comfort in a routine but don’t forget to address that elephant in the room which is your trauma. After all, it’s not going to go away so easily.
Speak to those who’ve been through similar experiences
Sometimes, when it comes to trauma, the experience is fairly unique and perhaps not something that everyone has experienced. Some traumas are more common, while others are fairly rare. For example, losing your whole family at once is considered a new level of trauma that only so many people might be able to relate to.
Losing members of family or friends in particularly tragic situations like mass shootings is another unique situation where it’s useful to speak to someone who knows first-hand what that’s like.
Try to reach out to groups and those who you are aware of, whether you know them or not, who could offer some comfort and support, It’s sometimes these individuals or groups that will be able to relate to your trauma the most and in doing so, can provide the best answers to those questions you might have.
Create a network of trust
With any traumatic situation, it’s good to have someone you can trust. Not everyone will be there after the trauma and not everyone will want to be around you. While that’s somewhat understandable in some situations, that’s not helpful to you. It’s important to have people in your network that are always going to be there for you, no matter what.
With that being said, if you haven’t done so already, make sure you’re creating a network of trust. This trust is something that you’ll need when facing your trauma, particularly on those darkest days ahead.
Learn to live with your trauma
Trauma is something that will always exist in your life. It’s not something that you can simply wipe from your brain, unfortunately. Therefore a lot of people who are faced with trauma will learn to simply co-exist with the trauma itself. It’s all about the amount of control and direction you allow it to take you in your life.
The more control you have over it, the less it’s likely to impact your life in any way further. That trauma was a moment in your life and shouldn’t be one that takes anything more away from you. Speaking to a professional, surrounding yourself with others, and finding best practices to handle trauma will all help that.
Be aware of how you’re feeling
Always be aware of how you’re feeling and you’ll be able to take control of the situation when you’re feeling triggered or you’re having a bad day dealing with said trauma. Being closer in sync with your feelings is a great quality to have in general.
These tips will hopefully help with your trauma, however severe it may be and whenever it may have occurred.
Mike Veny is fiercely committed to empowering employees to discover the gift of emotional wellness so they can accelerate personal and professional growth. If you are looking for a proven speaker who can transform your attendees through addressing mental health, team building and wellbeing, then you've come to the right place.
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