Trauma Survival Toolkit #1 | Healing is the Best Revenge episode #8 transcript
This is a transcript of episode #8 of my podcast, Healing is the Best Revenge.
Hi, I’m Karina Hagelin and this is Healing is the Best Revenge, a podcast for survivors and the folks who love us, to discuss the politics of survivorship, healing, and community care. This is a space where we reject pedestals & perfectionism, instead honoring the messy and complex realities of healing from trauma.
Before we start, a quick reminder that if you love this podcast, please take a moment to rate, review, subscribe, & to share this show with a friend. Your support means the world to me & keeps this podcast going. I really really REALLY appreciate every review and rating.
Now, a note from this show’s sponsor: Me! The Survivor Affirmation Deck is now available for preorder.
This deck is a beautiful, inspiring, & uplifting collection of 40 vibrant affirmation cards for survivors of abuse and violence who are healing from trauma. Each colorful card features a supportive & loving affirmation for survivors, written by a survivor who gets it, not a rando love n (gas)lighter. Cards have a rainbow gradient on the back & come packaged in a lovely pink box.
The Survivor Affirmation Deck is a great gift for loved ones healing from trauma, therapists, mental health workers, folks who work with survivors of violence and abuse, and for yourself and/or your bestie.
Onto today’s episode, a new series on coping skills for CPTSD.
Welcome to your Trauma Survival Toolkit, a new series in which I’ll share a few of my go-to coping skills for living with CPTSD with you.
For those of you who don’t know me - yet - I’m Karina and I’ve been intentionally working on healing from trauma for over a decade at this point in my life. And my life? Is so much better than I ever imagined it could me. I have moments where I move from surviving to truly thriving. And I spend less time struggling to survive.
And while I’ve come such a long way, I still have bad days, bad weeks. Sometimes, bad months. There are times when my CPTSD is all consuming and I’m fighting for my life, all over again.
But! I have a decade’s worth of coping skills, techniques, and tools that have supported me on this journey. I’m not alone, ever, and neither are you, even if we sometimes feel like it. I hope this podcast & this skill share series is supportive for you & helps you feel less alone.
As always, take what works. Leave the rest behind. Now, let’s talk about some of my go-to coping skills. Today, I’m going to cover 3: grounding, dialing down, & resources check-in.
Grounding
Grounding is a coping strategy that is designed to take you out of the past and firmly ground you back in your body, in the present. Ways I ground myself include:
Drinking a cold beverage
Holding something cold, like a frozen orange or ice cube
Feeling the weight of my body in my chair
Pressing my feet to the ground and feeling them connect to the floor supporting me
Counting 10 pink items - or X items of Y color
There are so many ways to practice grounding yourself. Try using your five senses to get embodied & stay here, in your body, in this moment in time & space.
Dialing down
Dialing down is a strategy that helps me feel less distressed and overwhelmed. I visualize my. feelings as a set of rainbow stairs, each a different color that represents gradually lower levels of intensity. I imagine myself slowly stepping down those stairs, each step I’m taking gently decreasing the intensity of the feeling. This is a skill I’ve had to work hard to develop and needed to practice regularly for it to work well for me. Sometimes, I can take one step down & that’s great! The goal isn’t to numb out but rather, to decrease how distressed I am. Every little bit counts because slow progress is still progress.
Resources check-in
Checking in with myself means asking questions like: Have I eaten today? Am I hydrated? Did I take my meds? Have I gotten enough rest? Have I been outside today? Have I talked to a friend? Because all of these things add up and affect how well-resourced I am, how well-equipped I feel to handle any symptoms that arise during the day.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got for you today but before I go, if you’d like to receive notes on radical self-love, healing, & affirmations, you can find a link to subscribe to my newsletter in the show notes. I’d love to have you on the list! Until next time, sweet friend. & as always, I believe you.
