Self Love/Self Care - The PTSD Antidote
The reason people who have experienced trauma do self care is because it actually counteracts or cancels the debilitating effects of PTSD. You may be doing some things that you are not recognizing as self care due to the fact that you have, deep within, self love. Self love generates self care!!
As my life hurled down the track as a run-away train, I did not grasp or understand how self-care would have benefited me. As I shared in a previous blog post, often PTSD will ‘tell you’ that you don’t need to help yourself because you are ‘fine’. I became oblivious to the fact that I was becoming increasingly dependent on others emotionally, physically, spiritually, and psychologically. I looked to others for the strength that was actually beginning to be buried within me.
When I moved from my idyllic hometown to a huge metropolis with the abuser I looked at the opportunity to begin again. He was telling me that he would never abuse me again if… So, I believed his untruth and hit the city with a renewed strength and determination. Even though I was experiencing severe abuse, I had enough self love to propel me to begin doing a few acts of self care. These acts of self care quietly strengthened me. The self-care began to build upon itself which fostered my esteem and confidence. I began to be able to feel my strength as I got my own divorce, laid out a safety plan which included securing housing. The ultimate self-care act happened one morning when I called the abuser and announced I wouldn’t be home when he got there – I was leaving. As I hung up the phone, I stood tall in the strength I had gained through these self-care acts. Some of the self care I did during that time was: roller skating ( atop a condominium on a tennis court) and on a perimeter of a golf course, eating healthy, washing my clothes in a tiny sink as there were no laundry facilities and I couldn’t afford to go to the laundromat, showering and washing my hair, dressing as nice as I could on the budget I had. Self-care does not have to involve a gym membership, expensive exercise classes, designer exercise attire or a personal trainer. You can do self care acts of love wherever and however you have the means to do them.
Today, as I continue on my journey of discovering my true self, my self love deepens which fills my life with creative acts of self-care. I find this process is a never ending spiral of discovery which brings love, peace, joy, happiness, awareness, kindness and much more beyond my wildest dreams.
Don’t give up – you can do it!
