I just spent six days with family at the beach on vacation. Six years ago, I couldn’t have done this. I’m not even sure I could have done it six months ago. My nervous system was far too dysregulated to navigate family history and complicated emotional triggers. But trauma therapy made a peaceful — dare I say, fun? — family vacation possible.
The emotional triggers that once lived beneath every interaction are at peace. There’s no undertow waiting to catch me by surprise, sweeping me up in its intensity. There’s just a calm surface. For the first time in my lifetime, I can be present in a family situation without fear, anxiety, or the threat of being swept up in the memory of past trauma.