Trauma takes many forms and how we react to that trauma at the time or years later impacts everyone differently. With me. both childhood sexual trauma and military sexual trauma have left deep psychological scars. Flashbacks, anxiety/panic attacks, self harm.
For years I was able to push things down, bury it. But then about 18 months ago the floodgates opened and everything came rushing back. I became isolated, afraid and would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I would get up and turn all the lights on and just sit in a corner, my back to a wall facing the door and just rock myself, or curl myself in a ball until exhausted I would fall asleep.
My career was unstable, my marriage a farce, I was obese and I was miserable.
I looked at myself in the mirror and despised what I saw looking back at me. I swore to get my life back. I found a counselor, I started working out. I started the process of separation and divorce from a man I no longer had anything in common with.
Bit by painful bit I dragged myself out of the pit of misery that had been my life for so very long. Every day is a new day, a better day. Some days I am on a high, some days on a low. But everyday I move forward. Trying harder, learning something new. I fight every day to heal and become the person I know myself to be. Each night before I sleep I reflect on the things I did right, the things I didn’t and how I can do better the next day.