The Smoldering Embers of C-PTSD
The Smoldering Embers of Complex PTSDBy Jesse B. Donahue 2024 ©The metaphor of smoldering embers nicely depicts my experience of day-to-day life. No smoke is coming from my ears, but hiding and avoiding social experiences are efforts to control a threatening fire....
CPTSD and the Brain: A Battle Inside Your Head
The human brain is a wild mix of wiring, chemistry, and memory, running everything from your heartbeat to your deepest thoughts–all while somehow letting you remember the lyrics to songs you haven’t heard in twenty years. Beautifully magnificent… and sometimes,...
Why Even Opening an Email Can Feel Scary When You’re Healing from Trauma
Have you ever stared at an email, felt a tightness in your chest, and thought, “I’m not ready for this”? You’re not alone. As someone who works with trauma survivors every day, I hear it all the time: “I saw your email and meant to open it… But I couldn’t.”“I’ve had...
Understanding Your Window of Tolerance: A Career Survival Guide for Trauma Survivors
As trauma survivors navigating the professional world, many of us have experienced those moments when work feels utterly overwhelming or, conversely, when we feel disconnected and numb. These experiences are often related to our “window of tolerance,” a concept that’s...
Healing or Hiding: Recovered, Numb, or Disconnected?
So, you don’t flinch anymore. The song that used to destroy you? Doesn’t even register now.You can talk about what happened—maybe even crack a joke. No lump in your throat. No tears. No panic. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t automatically mean you’re healed. It...
Are You Having A Bad Day? Glimmers of Hope in the Darkness
Are you having a bad day, or week? Maybe the whole month hasn’t gone as well as you were expecting it to? Consider the fireflies shining into the darkness in the picture above. Let their lights shine the way throughout this reading. In today’s post, I’m going to...
The Club We Never Asked to Join
How many times have you dismissed your past experiences because “others had it worse” or “it wasn’t really that bad?” Too many to count? Yeah, me too. Welcome to the club we somehow became a part of without ever signing on the dotted line. We didn’t agree to...
5 Signs You’re Outside Your Window of Tolerance at Work (And What to Do About It)
For trauma survivors in the workplace, moments of overwhelming stress can suddenly render even routine tasks daunting. These instances often indicate that we’ve exceeded our emotional capacity — what experts call our “window of tolerance.” Recognizing the early...