You wake up in the morning, but you don’t want to get out of bed. Nor do you not want to go to work and earn a living.
Yet, at the same time, you don’t want to deal with any of it. It’s not because you are lazy or realize that you have lots of responsibilities or tasks.
In fact, you really want to do those things, and more! You want to connect with your friends, have fun, and relax. But something is stopping you, and that something is trauma.
The trauma that you experienced is having repercussions long after it happened. And those effects have made their way into your daily life.
Here’s how trauma can impact your daily life, and what to do about it.
Never Feeling Completely Safe
One issue associated with trauma is safety. When you experience trauma, it dramatically impacts your sense of personal safety. For instance, if you were in a car accident, it might be more difficult for you to feel safe driving afterward. Or, if you were subjected to abuse as a child, you find it very hard to form relationships and trust others.
Whether it’s physical safety, emotional safety, or a combination of the two, you never feel you can let down your guard. For example:
- Having a lack of desire to form new relationships.
- Snapping back whenever you receive feedback or constructive criticism.
- You always worry that something terrible will happen.
When you don’t feel safe, it’s impossible to experience joy. Joy allows you to be open, relaxed, and revel in the moment.
Focusing and Concentrating
Another way that trauma impacts your daily life is your ability to focus and concentrate. People who have experienced trauma often struggle with concentrating on tasks and focusing on what they are doing. For instance, you might have trouble focusing and concentrating on a project at work that needs to be completed by a certain deadline.
In fact, the project requires that the work be done in a particular way. Now, it’s not as if you don’t have the intellectual capacity to complete the work. But if you experienced trauma, then you may have trouble with having your “head in the game.” Instead, you are distracted by the lingering memories of what you experienced.
When Solving Problems is Hard
We all must solve problems throughout our daily lives. These could range from cooking a meal that your kids will actually enjoy to navigating a complex issue at work. However, trauma can cause you to struggle with your problem-solving skills. You get overwhelmed easily with what needs to be done and shut down.
Overwhelm can be particularly distressing because the problem is still there! But instead of having a calm, logical mindset, you are emotionally flooded. You can’t solve the problem because your brain is too focused on your trauma.
Triggers are Everywhere
Triggers refer to instances where your mind flashes back to the moment(s) of trauma that you experienced. Think of them as reminders that jog your memory. For example:
- The smell of gasoline.
- Watching a movie or show that involves a car accident.
- Hearing breaks screech.
All three of these examples bring you back to that time you lost control of your vehicle and slid off the road, hitting that telephone pole. However, instead of just recalling the memory, there is the extra addition of emotion.
You remember the fear that you felt at that moment, and how you were afraid you might die. That’s very powerful! Yet, if that trauma has not been resolved then the emotions will continue to flood back, sometimes when you least expect them.
How to Resolve Trauma
To resolve trauma, you need the professional support of a counselor who understands trauma and how it works. In therapy, you and your therapist will collaborate to get to understand why you still struggle with trauma and work to resolve those traumatic memories. You can’t forget what happened, but you don’t have to carry the emotional burden that continues to hold you back.
As you can see, there are several ways in which your traumatic experiences, even if they occurred long ago, creep into your daily life. The key to resolving your trauma is through counseling. Find out today how trauma counseling will help, 256-686-9195.