#TriggerWarning #DomesticViolence
I was watching an episode of 911 Rescue (Disney+) where what sounded like a domestic abuse call came through, triggering flashbacks for the call handler who had also escaped from abuse herself.
Watching this gave me chills, because that’s what happens to me – when I am on shift at Samaritans, and I get a call just like that.
The thing with trauma is that our bodies remember the feelings and emotions of the event, and it remembers even if our mind blocks the memories.
We all have our own trauma and triggers that no one else knows about.
One time, I was running a discovery workshop and I went to the ladies. The bubblegum smell of the detergent cleaner used in the washrooms just flung me back to the past and it took me quite awhile to compose myself to continue the workshops.
Every week I listen to the callers of our crisis phoneline, sharing their deepest feelings and emotions – of grief, of loss, of trauma.
Fear and anxiety of the unknown, the unsafe, and the uncertain.
Our bodies remember, even if our minds do not.
And that itself makes us behave irrationally, when our bodies relive those moments.
When a colleague has a meltdown over a ‘trivial’ email…
When a loved one has an unexplainable reaction to a movie scene…
When a smell, a thought or a memory triggers a visceral reaction in your body…
Pause.
Breathe.
Our body is in fight or flight mode.
Years can pass, but some past trauma can have very long shadows.
That 911 episode just brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings and I just wanted to share that everyone could be fighting battles that no one else knows about.
That’s it really.
Maybe I’ll watch something else now, and carry on doodling book 3. 😬