The impacts of my traumatic childhood cannot be measured. They are too vast and far-reaching for me to classify, categorize or otherwise explain. That said, I do try. My controller hasn’t given up on the idea that I can define it. This blog exists because of my attempts to define it, so it’s not all bad. But the reality is too much for any one person to grasp entirely.
Over the course of my adult life, I have done my best to be an adult. But with a childhood of complex trauma and a coping mechanism which took the form of dissociative identity disorder, I haven’t always had the ability to handle life from an adult place. Sometimes my younger parts have handled things for me and this has rarely gone well. Sometimes my controller has handled things and exhausted me in the process.
But sometimes the paralysis hits. I don’t know exactly what causes it. Maybe there are too many parts who want to go in too many directions. Maybe the powerlessness is too much for the system and the shutdown is inevitable. Maybe some part believes that if I hide from it long enough, it will go away. All of these reactions come from my childhood coping and none of them will bring the best result. But often, I don’t have the ability, awareness and fortitude to overcome it.
Recently, I have noticed that my precious computer has been acting in a problematic manner. I do have an information technology background, but unlike many of my friends working in that sector, I am not a gadget person. I don’t like replacing technology at all. I don’t like the unknown. I don’t like change at all, but especially not with something as important as my phone and my computer. As I watched the erratic behavior of my computer increase over time, I could feel that urge to hide, to put my head in the sand, to expect some kind of miraculous recovery of hardware built for temporary use. I wanted a fix that didn’t involve hard work on my part. I didn’t want to deal with it.
This hiding reaction makes so much sense. I get it. It is an old pattern from back when hiding was my only option. But it went differently this time. I can’t tell you why. Maybe this business means so much to me. Or maybe I am tired of cleaning up massive crises that come from my choice to ignore a problem for far too long. But this time, I chose to do two things I might not have done years before.
First, I backed everything up to the cloud. My old approach would have been to use memory sticks which I would conveniently forget to update on a regular basis. Instead, I actually went out to a site and paid for a service to back up my entire hard drive. I acted like the adult I wish to become. Then, yesterday I went to the store and purchased another computer before my old computer died completely sending me into a frantic crisis of epic proportions where I would lose touch with all my virtual connections for days on end.
I did what I had to do. And I did it before a massive crisis ensued. I inconvenienced myself to take care of a problem before it became an issue I could not resolve easily. This has not been the way I operate. And I am proud of myself for refusing to hide from what I didn’t want to handle. Some of you might be thinking this is no big deal. Everyone handles stuff like this every day. Who cares? What’s the big deal? But with trauma, it doesn’t work that way. Little things can cause paralysis. Medium things can land us in a state of sheer panic. Big things can take months or years to overcome. Trauma does this. It turns logical problems in to illogical reactions. It turns normal life in to hell on earth.
So what is my message today? While trauma does those things, we can wake up from the confusion, the fear, the hiding and the paralysis. Does it happen overnight? Absolutely not. It takes years of awareness building, recognition, acceptance and inner conversation, but it can be done. Don’t give up on making those changes in your life. And the next time you feel the urge to react from that traumatic place, take another look at it. Consider another choice. Maybe you will make a change. Maybe you won’t. But just consider it. You don’t have to live there anymore.
Now I just have to conquer the new keyboard where the page up and the shift key have been switched. Who does that? It’s just cruel.
Love, love. ‘Little things can cause paralysis.’ ‘It turns logical problems in to illogical reactions.’ I find myself down this hole every so often. I try and make sense of why. This makes the best sense. I’m keeping going, steady as the tortoise. Thank you Elisabeth.
It is such an easy hole to be caught in. Thank you for your comment Georgie.
Glad you are still plugged in, online and reaching the world Elizabeth! I’m really enjoying watching your Facebook live videos thank you for the regularity and dedication. When I feel down, in flashback mode etc I watch them and they give me a huge boost and comfort. Thanks again.
Thank you so much Kate. I am glad I can help in that way.
It is good to be proud of yourself, even for small accomplishments. A small step is still a step! I enjoy your emails and think you voice is being heard. Way to go!
Thank you Cassandra! Small steps are so important in this journey.
My, I surely needed this today. My dad pleaded guilty this past week to molesting children, me being one. I spent most of my life feeling this exact way. Always afraid to step off that sidewalk. I stress over the most simple task that to me are foreign. My goals this yr. are to challenge myself more & if I fail then be proud that I tried…. Your so right, most people will never understand this kind of fear. TY, for this today…. You opened my brain to think differently about change.
Thank you Kim for your comment. I am glad your dad will finally serve time for what he did. And I am so happy to hear about your courage to change and think differently.
Kim,
My heart broke when I read your post and I just wanted to say I’m so sorry . I read once just make it to Tommorrow and it has helped me on really bad days because a day can make a huge difference. God bless you.???
Lately all I want to do is sleep. I think I have found that as a way to escape from life. I feel so overwhelmed most days with everything that needs to get done I just avoid it by going to bed. I find I react instead of acting like an adult should. Hiding is so much easier than dealing.
Well done to you Elisabeth, ((((HUGS)))) you are AMAZING….lol
I too have been, and still do, become paralysed with stuff. I also used to sleep alot. Ive been doing the therapy for two years now so am learning not to avoid everything.
I am trying to remain focused and not listen to the doubts and fears and retoric the abuser conditioned me with and/ that paralyse me solid. It is such hard work and I believe all us who are suriving trauma are truely AMAZING………!!!!!
Big love to everyone, yvette x
Thank you Yvette for your courage in processing your trauma responses and approach life in a different way. It is such hard work, but so worth it in the end. Love to you.
Thank you
Yay! I’m feeling so proud of you! I can definitely appreciate what you’re saying here and I know you have coached me to do this sort of thing and it is so hard but feels AMAZING when we can do it. Good for you!!! Maybe next time it will be easier 🙂 <3
Thank you Victoria! I do notice that each time gets easier. That gives me hope to keep this up. I hope you are doing well my friend.
Hello Elizabeth, thank you for this, I am so right there and I love how you explain it, love love because it is so right on.
And again, I love your vulnerability and appreciate you sharing. You also model how one can help others, move forward, share your light, share what you’ve learned, and show us that you STILL struggle just like everybody else. 1 foot in front of the other, one day at a time, moving towards the light. Thank you
Much love and sweet hugs to you.
Thank you so much Mary. I really appreciate your kind words. This work is tough, but we can go so much further when we know we are not alone. Sending love and light to you!
Loved this “maybe it will go away”. This is exactly what I find myself doing. In fact I have been putting off going out and getting a new computer. It’s just too overwhelming. But now I know I am not alone and that this paralysis is not terminal.
It helps so much to read what you write. I will go out and do it now. A scary place to be when you feel paralyzed.
Thank you Eileen. I am so glad this piece helped you step out of your paralysis. And I hope your computer shopping went well.
This makes me think of how I’ve been having a lot of “freeze response” issues lately… I’ve been learning to push through it but also be gentle with the parts (mostly kids) who are having the responses. I also have trouble with the kind of thing your talking about- I’ve done it with bills and other financial things that have really caused problems- for me it’s out of fear and the hope that if I hide still enough then maybe the scary thing will go away…
Yes. The freeze response really comes from that powerlessness in childhood. And it is so hard to overcome when it hits. We can literally be paralyzed.
“Big things can take years to overcome.” I really thought it was just me and obviously had something completely wrong with me. Your entries are helping me so much to better understand trauma. I know I experienced childhood trauma, yet one of my sisters insists it never happened, always in a fit of rage. Your writing explains so much. Thank you.
Those fits of rage are a sure sign of hiding something. They are a defender rising up to shut you down.
oh wow this is a big problem for me and everyone in my world I always ignore things hoping it will just go away. Sometimes it works but usually not I am so scared and I don’t really know why exactly.
Our fears from childhood will follow us into adulthood. They might not make sense, but they need to be understood so they stop showing up.
Thank you for sharing.
I do this so much.. overcome it for a bit and can manage the adulting.. then retreat from life all over again and can’t even manage to face the little things