Healing From Trauma

If you have recently dealt with a traumatic event, you might be worried that you're going to feel lousy indefinitely. While it can certainly take some time to feel fully happy and healthy again, there are many steps you can take to help you move forward. Know that you will indeed be OK again and that you have the power to make your healing journey an effective one.

Trauma is the result of a negative event. It occurs when you feel emotionally or mentally hurt by something that has happened, and it may lead to a post-traumatic stress disorder, which is commonly referred to as PTSD.

Examples of traumatic events include the death of someone you love, experiencing abuse, a plane or automobile crash, an extremely difficult relationship or breakup, or a natural disaster like an earthquake or hurricane.

If you feel shocked, saddened, anxious, or otherwise overwhelmed by an occurrence like one of the above, you're probably experiencing trauma. The trauma isn't the event or experience itself but rather your body and mind's response to it. Traumatic stress affects the brain, which makes it crucial to take the steps toward recovery and mitigate its negative effects and impacts as much as possible.

Physical Movement

Exercise has been shown to improve symptoms of PTSD. In addition to directly helping you heal, exercise and physical movement also provide your body with much-needed feel-good chemicals like endorphins.

If you don't love working out, that's OK! Take walks, do something fun like bike riding or roller skating, move along to a yoga video, or have a solo dance party. Anything that involves moving your body will help you heal.

Work With Your Feelings

Journaling is a common way to manage stress and move through complex events. Give it a try if it feels like it might be beneficial for you. If it doesn't, it will still be helpful to spend time sitting with your feelings. Do your best to get in touch with what you're feeling, allow yourself to experience it entirely for a few moments, and then notice how it passes.

Feeling your feelings, and accepting them, is key to healing from trauma. You may have some difficult feelings along the way, like anger, and that's OK. It's natural to have a wide variety of emotions, and there's nothing wrong if some of them are new to you.

Practice Self-Care

Self-care reduces stress. Equally important, it feels good. Practice self-care through your healing journey by regularly taking action to do things that feel good and loving for yourself.

Avoid Recreational Substances

While healing from trauma, it might be incredibly tempting to drink or do drugs. Because recreational substances are addictive and help your brain stop thinking and feeling, this is not the right time for them.

You won't be able to work through your feelings if you're actively avoiding them by taking substances. Know that this is temporary, and you can go back to activities like social drinking once you have taken the time to heal from your trauma.

Practice Mindfulness or Meditation

One act that's well proven to support healing is mindfulness. It's a method of experiencing life where you make a point of paying attention to each moment. You stay present for everything from your thoughts and feelings to how things are for you physically. This can help you relieve stress.

Additionally, meditation and breathwork, which are natural offshoots of mindfulness, can improve stress levels and help you to feel more relaxed and settled in your life. These are all helpful for healing.

Engage in Creativity

Lastly, having fun is a great healing tool. Getting creative, for you, might mean making music or just listening to it. It might mean writing poetry, journaling, or even just reading a fiction book. Engaging your brain in creative and artistic endeavours has been proven to improve physiological and psychological outcomes in people.