By: Brittany Gonzales 

Trauma can be many things 

*Disclaimer: I am not a professional. These are my own personal experiences and wisdom. 

We all have our healing journeys in life. For some people (like me) it takes several years to heal from a traumatic event. These traumatic events can range from a car accident, violent death of a loved one, rape, emotional and physical abuse, and more. A traumatic event that leads to post traumatic stress disorder is not limited to one type of event. Many different types of events can be traumatic. Please do not let someone try to trivialize your trauma.  

My traumatic event summarized 

(My cat Link for attention and smiles! 🙂 )

My journey to healing has been slow. I dealt with sexual abuse and emotional abuse from the person who was supposed to be my guardian. These events and threats lasted for 13+ years. I will not name the attacker, but he is a man not worth my emotional turmoil anymore. No person that leaves you broken is worth your time.  

A good way to heal is to not fixate on your trauma. From my experience of fixating on my events too long, it has caused me more depression and anxiety.  

I constantly look over my shoulder or dart my eyes back and forth in public. I do not want to be ambushed by an unknown assailant. However, it has caused me to be afraid to go anywhere alone. I am especially afraid of parking lots, even though I have never attacked in one. 

Women do have to be careful in parking lots, because we get attacked a lot in those places. 

I have dealt with trauma my whole life because four people emotionally or physically abused me or both. I have forgiven one of those people but will never forgive the other three. Do not let others tell you to forgive your tormentors. You can heal in your own way. 

 If you need to forgive them to heal, go ahead. For me I will not give them the time of day.