“Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns… We may want to love other people without holding back, to feel authentic, to breathe in the beauty around us, to dance and sing. Yet each day we listen to inner voices that keep our life small.”
― Tara Brach
Some of the symptoms people have when they’ve experienced difficult life events are depression, anxiety, irritability, concentration problems, sleep problems, feeling emotionally overwhelmed or emotionally numb, feeling shame or worthlessness, not trusting others or themselves, feeling as though their surroundings are surreal or that they are disconnected from their bodies in some way.
Some folks don’t even know why they feel a certain way, or experience difficulties in areas of their lives, but something just feels “off.” You may not believe you’ve experienced “trauma”—it’s such a big word that some believe only applies to those who have been to war—but trauma can be any deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Trauma can include childhood abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, growing up in a home with a substance abusing or mentally ill parent, witnessing or experiencing an assault, divorce, or loss of a loved one, to name a few.
We repeat behaviors, even if they are currently causing us distress, because they helped us at some point in the past. Let’s work together to find alternatives so that you can thrive in the present, and experience all that life has to offer.