PTSD or PTG?! Growth After 4-years of Trauma
It’s Inauguration Day!
Today is finally the day. The day that Trump will leave office. The day that Biden steps in.
After 4 years of stress, many of us feel the traumatic toll of this never-ending violence. We are bracing at the next thing. Our bodies are worn out and deeply impacted by the post-traumatic stress this presidency has caused.
Here is some good news.
We are entering a time of Post-Traumatic GROWTH.
Post-Traumatic Growth refers to the phenomenon of positive change as a result of highly miserable circumstances.
Negative experiences always bring positive change. Some of these include our personal power, expanded awareness, new opportunities, better relationships and a higher love for life.
Post Traumatic Growth actually co-exists with PTSD.
As we close this stressful chapter, let’s honor these positive changes.
I ask you to look within and find the power that lies within you. The power in your activism, your resistance, or even your very existence.
Feel the growth within you.
As you find where your internal power and growth lie, I equally encourage you to be mindful of how you can uplift and empower those around you. As marginalized folks, we often partake in horizontal hostility.
Horizontal hostility happens when we project our internalized hate and unworthiness onto other groups that we have come to learn are also unworthy.
That could be Asian folks criticizing Black folks, womxn shaming other womxn or queer folks questioning trans people.
We do this because we fear there is not enough space for us. That if the needs of another marginalized individual is being met, then we will be forgotten. So, we get scared. We shift into this primal area of our brain and we attack the very people we want to be standing alongside.
Horizontal hostility is the most dangerous way we enact harm in our oppressed identity.
Rather than project our own shame, we must realize that we can do so much more when we band together. When we make space for others, we are actually creating more space for ourselves. Not to mention, it just feels good to uplift others rather than bring them down!
Let’s build on our collective PTG (Post-Traumatic Growth) together.
When we uplift others, it turns scarcity into hopefulness. It turns fear into possibility.
When we acknowledge the growth in others, we mature tenfold.
Under this new administration, I encourage you to find your power and use it to help others. We are so much stronger together.
Our future is so much more promising when we work alongside one another.
Think about how you can create space for others. Maybe that is by donating to an organization. Bringing awareness to a cause. Even just being there for a friend who is targeted.
The future is bright with us in it.
XO
Nora