Dear Trauma: If I could write a letter to my PTSD or Trauma, I would say... [fill in the blank]
Try to post a letter to your ptsd or trauma below. I learned about this coping technique today. The idea is that writing the letter will shine awareness on how our ptsd or traumatic past affects us, remind us that these things don't define who we are, and release the feelings and thoughts we have about it. It's okay if you don't know what to write to your ptsd, maybe a simple 'Hello, I know you're there.' is a good start? Some things to think about including are: tell your ptsd how you feel about it, update your traumatic past on how you're doing now, boast about your accomplishments, remind your traumatic past you haven't given up -- whatever you would say to it if you could.
What would you say to your trauma or ptsd?
Dear Trauma,
. . .
Posting my own to give this thread some attention because I think it could be a really beneficial and powerful exercise:
Dear Trauma,
It's me, the one who's life you tore to shreds. The one who's been forced to rebuild her life a dozen times because you just keep showing up, uninvited. You've tried to destroy me, you've tried to tear me down, you've tried to keep me from living my life. While at times you've left me feeling defeated and you have almost won. This letter is to say that I'm taking my power back. I may still struggle with the flashbacks and the panic attacks, and the unjustified fears, for now, but I will heal, I will learn to trust, I will learn to feel safe and I will learn to thrive. I'm breaking the curse you've held on my family for years. You can not win this battle for I am stronger and more powerful than you realize. I have overcome more than many could ever imagine experiencing. I have moved mountains to create the life that I have now. While I still fear losing the progress, the fear doesn't paralyze me anymore. It motivates me to keep moving forward, to keep pushing on. Not only will I conquer you, I will be a light, a voice for others who you have tortured. Trauma, I'm not grateful for you. People like to say that my trauma made me stronger, but you did not, you gave me no choice but to be strong or die. I chose strength, I will always choose strength. I will always be a resilient warrior you will never defeat.
Consider this a break up letter, you are not welcome in my life anymore. It is time for me to heal and for you to leave, you are not my friend.
Dear Trauma,
I know you’re here, and I know you’ll likely always be a part of me. But I know this too, that I will always fight you trying to define me. You’ve done so for many years, unconsciously and consciously. For half my life, you’ve tried to break me. But no more. Despite the nightmares and flashbacks and the way you warp my thoughts, these things are becoming less frequent. I may not ever be completely free from you or my past, but I can keep moving forward with my life and keep healing. Even if you win the battle some days, I swear that I will win the war and come out more victorious than ever.
@willowsoul323
Love this! You are so strong to continue to fight the daily battles. I am cheering for you in this war and know that you'll be victorious in the end! You are amazing!
@wontwakewontsleep
Dear Trauma,
I am tired of you. I am endlessly exhausted by your presence.
My heart cries out and begs for me to do something. I am stuck in a place I cannot escape from, my childhood bedroom. Seeing every breakdown and calamity that occurred in the mirrored image of my own eyes. There is a saying you know, “If you grow up with an angry man in your house than there will always be an angry man in your house.”
But Its just not true. I mean yes, I will always live with the you- dancing in the light of the stove in the early mornings before I pack up to head to work. But I will not always live with my Father. I lived without him for a year, and I was the healthiest i’ve ever been. I was doing successful in school, involved in clubs, i had friends and a church I volunteered with. And the added advantage that when I got back only ONE scary thing was waiting for me.
I live with him and I fear that there is no world in which I can begin recovering. Overcoming you, overcoming my past and the things I’ve seen is impossible if the wound is still fresh. It is impossible to heal a wound if it never scabs over. I am so tired of being like this.
But rent is 2500$ around here and I can’t get an apartment.
I am trapped in the same bedroom, and the walls still remain the same.
You see me. Pacing my floor. Listening to the argument occurring outside of my room. Waiting for the gasoline to explode. We know it will, but never when.
So trauma, I’m sorry your on the back burner- i understand youre scary but there is something more terrifying hunting me.
I cannot wait to get out.
I need to get out.
So at least maybe someday I have a chance of being able to recover in any meaningful way.
@LonelyMarki
Thank you for sharing. I can relate to so much of what you shared. Every time I have gotten out of my parents' home I started doing well and made strides in healing, but I have had to return to their home multiple times to live and each time I took some steps back and it was so hard.
Rent everywhere is getting outrageous so I understand. In 2021 I moved 2 states away from my family by applying for and getting accepted into a transitional housing/group home program for mental health. I lived there for a few months and now I have been in my own apartment on my own for over a year and I'm doing better than I ever have before.
It is hard to heal surrounded by the environment where you were wounded, but escaping, getting away isn't impossible. You did it once, you can do it again, it just might take some creativity and thinking outside the box of possibilities.
Sending you positive thoughts that you're able to find some peace, get away from the environment that is keeping you stuck, and that you can eventually find some healing.
