Trauma can leave us confused about knowing what we need or want in our lives. When we recover from trauma, we might have difficulty understanding how to be happy or recognize what makes us happy. Trauma has a powerful impact on our brain chemistry. We might have trouble feeling positive emotions. Feelings and emotions are rooted in our brains, as they release chemicals that affect how we feel about things. We experience something or encounter something in our environment and our response is triggered. We have a certain feeling about everything that we face. These feelings guide our actions. Following traumatic experiences, we may feel numb or negative about most things. This numbness or neutrality can lead to our difficulty knowing what steps to take to move forward.
The good news is that our brains can heal. We can start to feel safe again. When we experience trauma, our brain begins focusing on finding and avoiding threats. We begin to feel hypervigilant and suspect that the world will hurt us or let us down. We can change our brain chemistry by taking small steps forward. We need to allow ourselves the time necessary to heal. We need to recognize the small wins and the good things in our lives. These can be good starting places for healing. They can be little glimmers of hopefulness in the day or happiness seeing the sunshine. When you notice these feelings, take note of them. You can start to seek the good again and tap into positive emotions to recognize what you want and need in life.
Small changes can lead to big ones in our brain chemistry. Begin recognizing the small things. When you suffer from trauma, you may become numb or feel neutral about almost everything. These feelings can make us feel lost or without direction. Our feelings and emotions help to guide us toward the things that we want and need in life. Good feelings let us know where to put our energy and time. We might have a limited range of emotions due to being on the lookout for threats in everyday life. We may have learned to be numb to cope with our trauma. Our brain chemistry has been altered and has changed our belief system. Following trauma, we may always be feeling like we are unsafe. If you are struggling with identifying your needs and wants in life due to feeling numb from trauma in the past, we may be able to help. The Guest House welcomes you to recover with us. Call (855) 483-7800.