Are trauma symptoms holding you back?
+ what healing in progress looks like
Get your SUMMER SOBER guide or share with a friend, colleague, or someone you are working with. Text SUMMER to 888-920-9446 or download your copy here.
How can we tell if trauma symptoms are holding us back?
Well, for one, they may wake us up in the middle of the night with racing hearts and obtrusive thoughts.
We may have flashbacks, creative avoidance strategies, or connect new people and things with old ones. We might be easily startled, agitated, or worried.
Ever been there? Maybe you are here right now?
I feel you.
I’d love to say that after living over 13 years in recovery from alcohol and other drugs, going back to get my MSW, working in both 1:1 capacities and in administrative roles (grants, policy, and more), and now being an author and recovery advocate, I’d have it all figured out.
The truth of the matter is that I am human, and sometimes, my past trauma creeps back in.
Recently, my mother was visiting [check out this fun bloopers reel] and we got to talking about how we’ve lived some of the same trauma symptoms, things that have gotten in the way of our living free in the present. Things that have crept up our family tree like an invasive species.
I confessed something to her that I’ve been struggling with, and she shared a bit of what she’s been working on, too.
Then we laughed because we have a book coming out soon about healing from trauma…and we are still living as human beings: healing in progress.
As my friends in recovery like to say: “progress, not perfection.”
Me and my mom working on the book!
If you feel like trauma symptoms are holding you back, you are not alone. We all have some version of brokenness, hardness, or challenge that we are living through. Even if we’ve been on this healing journey for years, new layers are revealed. God opens our eyes to see new ways that we can be made new.
Photo by Charles Schuett on Unsplash
As we continue to learn more about the SUMMER SOBER journey with new guest posts in the coming weeks, maybe something new will be revealed for you, too.
What does healing in progress look like?
Let’s keep learning together.
Stay tuned for exciting news about my next book coming soon (with excerpts from my mom, Diana Dalles) and a new tool that I’ve been working on to help you identify if trauma symptoms are holding you back.
Here are a couple of my favorite SUMMER SOBER posts for you to catch up on, and I’m super excited to be sharing some news from my friend and fellow author
soon!Let's SUMMER SOBER
The writer in me loves that the word summer can be a verb. Summer is a time that is golden and warm, with marigolds adorning its edges. The birds come back and sing. The bugs come out and dance by the back porch light. You water the garden and make rainbows.
7 Signs You Might Have Boundary Issues
*forward this letter to a friend or someone you work with who is navigating the very real challenges of summering sober
When it's easier to isolate
It’s easier to withdraw from others. For the longest time, this was my coping strategy—but not a healthy one. Because I suffered pain at the hands of other people, somewhere lodged in my mind was the lie that all people are unsafe. No one can be trusted. I spent many tear-stained hours huddled in the corner of a smokey apartment, missing this: true conne…