I have been through things people call traumatic, things that I have a hard time referring to as traumatic.

I don’t deal well with “trauma”, so I simply look at these things as not that bad or thus is life and move on.

I always think of those who have it worse and I stuff the shit in a corner get over it and move on, well at least pretend to.

I tend to minimize the severity of the things I’ve gone through.

I was sexually abused by my father as a child and when it was finally put out it the open and the mixed reactions flooded in, just like that it wasn’t a big deal, and got shoved in the corner with all the other emotional shit I didn’t want to deal with.

I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to deal with it. I rationalized it to myself came up with excuses as to how it could have been worse and well basically ignored it.

Yes, sexual abuse happens unfortunately too often, and no I am not alone as a survivor of sexual abuse but it is still traumatic.

For years I would either not talk about it or talk about it in a very disregarded way. It took a ton of therapy and years before I could openly talk about what my father did.

I still tend to talk about it as though it wasn’t a big deal, you know in like shit happens kind of way (this is a trauma response, shocking right….insert eye roll here). I am still working on dealing with things I may not have dealt with appropriately.

Drug addiction is traumatic, domestic violence is traumatic, mental, and verbal abuse is traumatic. No matter the degree of said trauma it is still trauma.

I am now learning to deal with some of this trauma and ways to cope and recognize the triggers that set off my PTSD and other mental disorders.

This blog has helped with some of this and will continue to be not only a way for me to recognize and cope but a way to show others what trauma does to a person and how to recognize traumatic responses not only in yourself but in those you love.

Some wounds never show on the body that is deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.

Laurell K. Hamilton