Tips To Overcoming Trauma

Throughout a lifetime, certain disturbing events can subject you to trauma. This event could be a violent act, a serious injury, a sexual violation, traffic accident, plane crash, violent crime, terrorist attack, global pandemic, or any other shocking event.

Trauma can shatter your sense of security, leaving you feeling helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world.

This occurs mainly if the traumatic event was manmade, such as a shooting or act of terrorism. It may leave you feeling physically and emotionally drained, and overcome with grief, in some cases, you might find it difficult to focus, sleep, or control your temper.

There are several physical symptoms of trauma, some of them include:

Sadness

Feeling nervous or on high alert

Irritability or anger

Difficulty sleeping

Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, or nightmares

Trouble feeling positive emotions

Avoiding people, places, memories, or thoughts associated with the traumatic event.

In worse cases, you may develop acute stress disorder with extreme symptoms of stress that significantly interfere with daily life, school, work, or social functioning.

Nevertheless, the good news is that there are very effective ways to cope with and treat the stressful effects of trauma.

This means that there is also a lot you can do to assist in your recovery and better come to terms with the trauma you have experienced.

You can calm your nervous system and regain your emotional balance with some of these tips.

Surround yourself with loved ones

When you gave certain trauma situations, it is best to identify friends or family members and lean on them for support.

Your loved ones serve as a major support system to relieve you of the traumatic experience and help you feel better.

Face your feelings

It is normal to want to avoid thinking about a traumatic event or facing how you feel about it. However, you mustn’t ignore your feelings, if you do, you’d end up slowing down your recovery process.

These feelings exist whether you’re paying attention to them or not and the only way to get past these feelings is by allowing yourself to feel what you feel. Accepting these feelings and allowing yourself to feel what you feel, is necessary for healing.

Prioritize self-care

You must take proper care of yourself especially when you gave traumatic experiences. Ensure you eat nutritious meals, get regular physical activity, and get a good night’s sleep. In addition, seek out other healthy coping strategies such as art, music, meditation, relaxation, and spending time in nature.

Reduce Stress

One of the essential tips to deal with trauma is by reducing your stress level. This is because as you face the challenges that come in the aftermath of a disaster or tragic event, too much stress will interfere with recovery.

Be Patient

The recovery process takes a while, as it doesn’t happen in a snap of the finger. It is normal to have a strong reaction to a distressing event, however, take things slowly as you recover. As the days pass, your symptoms should start to improve gradually.

Put major life decisions on hold

Making critical life decisions while traumatized will only trap you in making the wrong decision. Be patient and wait until life has settled down, you’ve regained your emotional balance, and you’re better able to think clearly.

Conclusively, it is important to remember that taking care of your own needs is not selfish, especially during a traumatic crisis.

Therefore, take a break and allow yourself to lean on others for support and soon you’ll have the energy and fortitude to better help others in need.