I was going to apologise for such a raw and bleak blog title so early in the year - and then I thought - why? Trauma is something that affects so many people, and if there is one thing I know from experience, there is a never a good time for it.
It's one of the reasons I created my 3 part mini series on 'Trauma' which kicks off this week on 'The Way Forward Podcast'
LISTEN HERE:
I have experienced trauma, not only through my training and qualifications as an Emotional Wellness & Empowerment Coach - but as an individual, a human - a me.
This trauma literally swept in to my life like a tornado, ripping up my foundations from the roots and tipping everything i thought i knew about life upside down. Then it shook it, hard and spun it around until all my certainty, all my fundamental knowledge on life and humanity was strewn across a barren wasteland of hopelessness and despair.
If you are wincing at the rather graphic description of the experience I had in 2019 - that is the PG, watered down, palatable version.
I am not creating a series to derive sympathy or pity from anyone - far from it. I am creating a podcast mini series that gets REAL about trauma. You will hear me reveal things I have never said out loud before, unfold thoughts I didn't even know I'd had and stumble over memories hidden by my own mind to save me from complete breakdown.
Your trauma is not my trauma. Your trauma is personal, bespoke, individual and owned by you. However, trauma does have a universality about it. There are parts of all trauma experiences that span all survivors regardless of age, race, ability, sexuality, gender, socio-economic background, class, heritage, biography, geography or biology. I guess you could say trauma is the ultimate A grade in Inclusion |(i jest of course). PTSD and C-PTSD are horrific. Insomnia, flashbacks, memory loss, emotional shut down, chronic pain, auto immune conditions, depression, anxiety, phobias, isolation, relationship breakdown, self-neglect, personality changes - just a few of the gifts it gives and can continue to give if we do not meet trauma where it is and look it square in the eye and say, 'I see you, I hear you, I feel you - now let's get to work.' I am 5 years down that path and still learning, the one thing I know for sure is that I want all trauma survivors to be able to access real, relatable and game changing healing work.
That starts with some tough conversations.
So if you, or anyone you know has experienced a trauma of any kind - please check out the podcast LISTEN HERE: https://the-way-forward.captivate.fm/
Together we can safely explore parts of our story we may have forgotten. We can navigate our narrative in a more hopeful way. We can move through time and space with a more grounded sense of purpose and process. I know the future may look impossible right now, I have been there and I have insisted that my life was over and I would never find joy again - and for a long time I did not. But then I began my journey assessing my own emotional wellness, resilience, connection and understanding and very slowly, glacially at first things began to change. I would be honoured if you would spare 20 minutes of your time to listen to the first instalment of The Trauma Trials. I created bite size episodes to walk you through the various elements of trauma, because just surviving a trauma or multiple traumas is overwhelming, the support should be the absolute opposite.
Scooch over to my socials Facebook/ Instagram @codesignwithfliss or email me hello@flissgoldsmith.com and tell me how you are and where your journey is paused at right now? We can map out a life worth the journey, together.
X Love and Empowerment Fliss X
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