Learning to heal childhood trauma as an adult survivor

What if your dreams weren’t just dreams? What if, despite childhood trauma, we could have that life that we fantasize about? Would you take the chance to find out, or are you too paralyzed by fear?

I remember lying on my bedroom floor and feeling the concrete beneath me on frigid cold winter nights and thinking to myself that there must be something more out there. Growing up in poverty and abuse is a surefire way to either engulf or ignite a child’s dream. I looked at my life as a discerning ten-year-old and knew that it just wasn’t right. Happiness seemed to be abundant all around me; the only problem was there didn’t seem to be any leftover for me. I was malnourished, bruised, and scared. All I wanted was for Mr. Bigs to pull up in the Rolls and Annie me away to safety. That didn’t happen.

My something more would take another 20 years to realize fully. I sough love, kindness, connection, humanity, shelter, security, peace, and hope-all of which in their own right were a life or death battle to obtain. And in seeking those amenities that should belong to all human beings, I found myself in a place of learning the most important lesson that a childhood trauma survivor can be taught, that you can have what you want in life, but you have to work for it.