You’ve probably noticed it’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog post. Creating content for a business (blog posts, newsletters, Facebook posts, etc.) is work, and sometimes I run out of things to say. Other times, I run out of time to say them. Now that I’m relaunching my romance author pen name and will be releasing a book every other month for the foreseeable future (into 2027, at least), not counting the…
Over the course of my life, I have experienced various forms of abuse and other trauma. For nearly two decades now, I have been on a journey to heal from those experiences. And for most of that time, I have had occasional people tell me “Just get over it, it isn’t happening anymore, you’re just dwelling on the past.” (Or, worse, “You just want attention.”) Trauma is not an event. It is not a “thought…
I am a trauma survivor. For me, that means throughout my life, I have experienced abuse and other things that caused long-lasting effects on my physical and mental health. I have been working for years toward healing from those experiences. But trauma is not just “dwelling on the past,” and it isn’t the same for everyone. Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional, nor have I ever been enrolled in an educational program on…
As I discussed in last week’s post, I’m exploring setting intentions rather than goals for my business and my life in general. The primary reason for this is that when I set goals and don’t meet them, it’s far too easy for me to fall into self-loathing and negative self-talk. Sometimes I can’t quite see what I *have* accomplished, only what I haven’t. With intentions, there isn’t an end-game. It isn’t “I’m going to do…
We’re a bit more than halfway through January now. Did you set goals or make resolutions at the beginning of the new year? If so, how are you doing on them? I used to fall in line with the “make New Year’s resolutions” thing. I was taught it was what you were supposed to do. Did I keep those resolutions? Not often. Sometimes I forgot I’d even made them; sometimes it wasn’t feasible for me…
Last week, I wrote about how trauma is an individualized thing. No two people have exactly the same experiences, and no two people will respond or react to similar experiences in the same way. Just as how one reacts to trauma and whether one is traumatized by an experience is individual, so is the healing journey. How–and whether–someone heals from trauma depends on a number of factors. How old they are when the experience occurs.…
In discussing trauma and how it impacts people, one thing I’ve seen overlooked repeatedly is the fact that not everyone is traumatized by the same things. I’ve actually been told my traumatic experiences weren’t traumatic because “that wouldn’t have traumatized me, so it isn’t a traumatic thing.” That’s not how that works. That’s not how any of it works. There are a lot of variables behind how an experience effects someone and whether those effects…
When you’re on a journey to heal from past trauma, sometimes your present environment interferes. Maybe you feel uncomfortable in your home because of the noise around you, or you live with someone who doesn’t respect or doesn’t understand your need for boundaries and privacy. Maybe something in your current environment reminds you of your past, or even is the same environment in which the trauma occurred. I met and married my current husband while…
Chios is a form of energy healing that includes specific techniques for balancing the chakras, clearing the energy field, and repairing energetic damage caused by past physical and emotional experiences. In 2005, I was in an abusive marriage and was beginning to uncover memories of traumatic experiences I’d had as a child. Trying to navigate these things while raising two children was difficult. I needed clarity. I needed help. I met and became close friends…
The thing about energy, your mind, and your body is that they’re all interconnected. Anything that affects one affects all three. For example, let’s say you’re a child on the playground, and someone knocks you down. You skin your knee. You have a physical injury. But you also have an emotional injury. Someone knocked you down, and that hurt you. Maybe they did it on purpose, or you don’t know whether it was intentional or…