Navigating Trauma

“Hello there! I'm here to give you some information on what navigating through trauma may look like. I want to remind you that the suggestions in this post should not be taken as medical advice, legal advice, therapy, etc. Remember that every person's journey through stress or trauma is unique because you are one of a kind and there really is no one like you! Experiencing abuse in any form is not okay, but what you experience as a result of abuse is valid. Please know that healing is not a formula and no one else can define it for you. You do you and follow everything you need to help yourself. If you need more resources or need someone to talk to, please don't hesitate to contact Imaara Foundation."

It looks like living your life in the aftermath of healing the initial, raw trauma fresh after the incident causing the trauma has taken place. After unpacking the factors causing and enabling trauma and healing the initial, severe manifestations of and root causes for the trauma, most often, the next step involves returning to or reintegrating with everyday life. This could look like different things for different people: going back to work, returning to live at home, heading back to school, moving cities, moving home, altered living arrangements, and altered work / school arrangements.

At this stage, it is common to find a few triggers evoking particular kinds of traumatic responses, or memories of such traumatic responses. This does not mean that you have not healed: it may just mean that the memories are still around, enough to be revived when triggered, but not as intensely as it was in the initial few phases post incident. One is not superhuman: and therefore this phase is both perfectly normal and natural, and even expected. Think of it like peeling an onion: new layers are discovered on occasion, and these layers can fully well be addressed in ways that are gentle and supportive of yourself and your needs.

In this section, we share a few things that can support you in the course of reintegrating or returning to life and its many demands, while also navigating trauma if or when it is triggered.

What are triggers?

We’re constantly receiving information: whether that’s on our phones and social media networks, or in conversations and entertainment we consume. In the process, while some of this information enhances our knowledge, it is fully entirely possible for some of this information to leave you feeling triggered, anxious, or uncomfortable.

In simple terms, a trigger refers to something that evokes a particular reaction in you – it could be a word, a sound, a voice, a colour, a particular story, a name, a smell, a picture – pretty much anything. The wide-ranging nature of triggers is essentially because each individual responds to trauma in unique ways, and different things can be triggering for different people. To be triggered is to be placed in a situation where a stimulus causes an emotionally reaction or response in the individual perceiving the stimulus

Is it normal for me to experience triggers?

To be triggered is perfectly natural, as we are human beings with emotions, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, that respond to stimuli around them. It does not make a person highly sensitive, fragile, or even incapable of enjoying humor. It does not define a person and does not operate as a basis to discriminate against them, or to poke fun at them

What are some reactions that occur when you feel triggered?

The most common immediate reaction involves going into fight, flight, or freeze mode – where an individual either puts up a fight in the situation, or runs away, or freezes to the spot. But immediately and after, individuals can have a variety of reactions that range from physical to psychological when they are triggered.

Among the physical reactions, one may:

• Increased heart rate

• Increased sweating

• Shaking or tremors

• Muscle tension

• Dizziness

• Nausea

• Chest pain/tightness

• Cold chills

• Hot flashes

• Breathing difficulties

• Panting

• Tunnel vision

• Blurred vision

• Cluster headache

• Increased body temperature among others.

Psychological reactions can include:

• increased anxiety

• high levels of panic

• a sudden dip

• heightened fear

• rage

• sorrow or sadness

• irritability

• withdrawal

• and confusion, among other things.

How can you respond to triggering stimuli?

1. The first step to take at this stage is to acknowledge and give yourself due credit for all the work you have done in this time so far: coping, healing, taking action, showing up, and being present in life, in dealing with the trauma. These are all acts of resistance and involve speaking your truth to power by standing up to the factors that tried to strike you down. There is no right or wrong about healing: there is just healing and trying. You are the author of your script, and you get to pick the ink you write with, the kind of paper on which you write, what you choose to write, how you choose to write, and how often you write – and whether you write, at all.

2. Acknowledge that healing and recovery are both verbs – and therefore, refer to processes that unfold over time. These journeys are both unique and shared – unique in that your experiences are unique to your own and shared in that several others are making similar journeys in some ways. It involves processing things while also simultaneously acknowledging that you are in a safe place, that you are away from the things that traumatized you. Relying on a grounding exercise or a safety anchor (a small object you can keep on your person) to bring you back to the present can go a long way..

3. You are free to disengage from things that force you to engage with things that traumatize you and force you to face the things you want to dissociate or stay away from. If it means that you have to draw boundaries, or stop engaging with someone or some people, or stop going to a particular place altogether, the decision to do so does not make you wrong or bad, but rather prudent for prioritizing your needs when you need it most.

4. When memories and feelings come up, allow them to resurface in the ways they do. Try your best to feel them fully rather than to push them away – the more you resist, the more they persist. You can take all the time, space, and resources you need to process feelings that come up at every stage, and pursue courses of action that serve your need to process and respond to those feelings when they become apparent.

5. Build a routine. Trauma can feel overwhelming when it takes away your sense of control and your peace of mind. But if you built a routine and worked around it, treating it as an anchor, you see yourself in charge, and as the one who gets to call the shots. When you establish and exercise control over yourself, your life, and all the factors that go into making both of it what it is, you also establish a strong measure of control, by reclaiming what was always yours to begin with.

6. Reach out if you need any support or help that can rise to the occasion and respond to your needs at each point. Support can look like friends, therapists, a trusted lawyer, a relative or more, and even people you work with – provided that this works in a two-way fashion with everyone equally enthusiastic and engaged in supporting you as you would best need it. Establish expectations and check in regularly if you think that can help you engage in helpseeking without hesitation.