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Anniversary Trauma: 5 Strategies to Overcome It
Five Ways to Overcome Anniversary Trauma It’s funny how anniversary trauma sneaks up on a person. November 30 marked the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Eagle River, Alaska. I am currently recovering from a car accident, so while on the table with my massage therapist, I found myself extremely tense. There is a difference between muscle spasms due to injury and muscles that are clenched from tension. I had plenty of the first, but this time I had tension all over my body. I knew that my lower back had been particularly painful, but this day, the therapist couldn’t go anywhere near it. All of a sudden, it…
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Denial: Four Ways It Destroys You and Your Family
Firstly, let me say that I am a past master of denial. One cannot stay in an abusive marriage for as long as I did and not have expertise in the exercise of denial. But often, we misunderstand what exactly is being denied when we talk about this subject. Often, it isn’t the situation that we are unable to face, but our feelings about the situation. I could admit that my husband was abusive. What I couldn’t admit to was the fear, agony, anger, and helplessness I felt within an abusive marriage. And so I convinced myself I was just making the best of a bad situation. When we consider…
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PTSD: 5 Subtle Signs You Suffer from Trauma
PTSD is no fun, but almost everyone has endured some trauma and retained the effects in their minds and bodies. Last night another 5.0 quake hit, shaking my bed and knocking a couple of books down off the shelf. As I lay in bed, I found myself automatically pleading with God to stop the quake. My mind and body remember the 7.0 quake. And if I am technically accurate, an 8.2 tremor where I was, near the epicenter. Whenever we have even a minor tremblor, my mind rehearses that earthquake, a minor flashback of sorts. I remember the bookshelf rocking back and forth as I try to keep it from…
Healing Through Art & Words
