What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger….Right? Or Wrong?

This is a common saying that we have  probably all used at some point.  I know I used to believe it… a little bit of adversity strengthening the character making us more resilient, right? But then I found myself lying on the sofa month after month physically and mentally broken following an accident thinking ‘shit happens, get over it’ and wondering why I wasn’t in fact getting over it! 

My physical wounds had healed but I was still totally exhausted and could barely do any more than look after myself.  Driving was an absolute nightmare and I’m talking popping to the local shop here, it was months before I could even attempt doing the school run.  My initial recovery period was extended from the original 6 months.  I literally spent the summer lying on the sofa thinking I would be fine by September right up until the point that I wasn’t in fact any better in September!  And then people started telling me it could take 2 years to recover….WHAT!!??

Luckily for me I had some people around me who started talking about trauma and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I started to understand.

Let me explain how it works.  We are affected equally by 3 things.  Our Environment. Our life Experiences. And our Ancestral pre-dispositions.  Imagine we are a bucket, constantly filling with new experiences as we live our life.  Our environment is always around us, always affecting us both physically and emotionally.  Our ancestral pre-disposition is an inherent part of ourselves.  I’m not a scientist so to put it simply, our DNA is affected by our life circumstances.  The science of Epigenetics has proven this.

Our life experiences are unique to each of us.  We are each affected differently by the same event and that is as a direct result of our unique experiences leading up to that that moment.  Every time we feel unsafe or not completely in control creates a trauma cycle.  A trauma cycle is a natural process our body is biologically programmed to carry out to help us deal with whatever we are faced with every time we feel unsafe or out of control.  If we don’t allow that cycle to complete naturally the emotional stress of it is stored in our body. When our body (or the bucket!) is full it, overflows and that is when we experience dis-ease, pain, and ailments. 

When we release the emotional stress, the stagnant energy, it’s like tipping the water out of the bucket.  It creates space and in that space our body naturally rebalances and heals.  And it creates space to handle the next experience.

What is important to note here is that to clear the emotional stress we do not need to re-live the story.  We don’t need to get stuck in the past, instead we can feel where the energy is stuck and gently release it.

I had quite simply reached my trauma threshold, my bucket was full so then it overflowed.  What didn’t kill me hadn’t made me stronger at all!!  When I cleared the emotional stress, the stagnant energy, my migraine went away and so did the PTSD.

If you would like to know more about how I can help you eliminate migraines from your life, simply book a call and we can chat.