Peace, passion, pleasure, and purpose. These are the four things that you need to have along with managing your fears in a healthy way to have a tranquil and harmonious life. Some of us are having a harder time achieving this kind of life, and it is because we’ve been through trauma. If you’re one of these people, remember that it is not too late for you. There are still ways to recover from your trauma.
As we celebrate this week, the National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Week, we will focus on ways to recover from PTSD, and one of these ways is passion. Maybe you’re wondering now, “Can my passion help me recover from PTSD?”
The answer to your question is a big YES! Knowing your passion can help you recover from your trauma.
Ways on How Passion Can Help You Recover From PTSD
We have defined passion as “Being passionate about someone or something means that it is touching your heart and mind in a way that moves you to the extent that you feel fulfilled.”. From the definition itself, passion will move you, the whole you. When traumatized, the main things that you feel here as a survivor are that you lose hope, feeling like your life revolves around the traumatic experience you had, losing interest in the activities you used to enjoy, and just about anything uninspired and from a negative experience a person will feel, but finding your passion can transform these feelings into something positive. Here are ways on how pursuing your passion can do this:
1. Your passion will give you a sense of purpose.
“What now?” We’re sure that this is your question the moment after your traumatic experience. It may be losing a loved one, a house, or witnessing a negative event. You’ll question yourself “why” and “what will happen now?”. You may also feel like not getting out of bed or even just carrying on living because you’ve already lost your purpose. BUT! Yes, there’s a big “but” there, but if you know your passion and when passion really comes into your life, your life can resume and slowly recover from your trauma.
2. Pursuing your passion can be used as a distraction.
As a survivor of a traumatic experience, your thoughts now mainly revolve around the trauma. Sometimes you may even have flashbacks or nightmares of the experience, or you may feel isolated because of it. Finding and pursuing your passion can provide a distraction from the trauma’s pain. It can help you ignore the pain for a while and do something positive that can uplift your energy. This may not be the cure, but the important thing is that along with pursuing your passion, you’re doing something for your healing too, like seeking help from a mental health professional like us.
3. Passion allows you to not let your life be defined by trauma.
As a trauma survivor, you wouldn’t want your life to be just about the traumatic experience. Yes, we understand that they are concerned, but it can be exhausting to constantly hear them asking how you’re doing or how you’re coping just because they know what you’ve been through. Well, with pursuing your passion, you have a different thing to talk about or a better thing to be seen or defined.
Now that we know that passion can really help you recover from trauma, one thing you need to remember is that this experience may vary from person to person. Some may find it easy to use passion as a healing process, some may not, some may find different ways, but what is important is that there will always be a way to recover from trauma. It will never be too late, and most importantly, your trauma does not define who you are.
If you or someone you know has experienced trauma, please do not hesitate to seek mental health help from a professional like us. Reading this article can only give you a glimpse of hope and optimism, but it will never completely take away the pain and trauma you’ve experienced. That is why it is still important to talk to a therapist. Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services, LLC is a diverse therapy clinic that can meet the needs of anyone. If you’d like to talk about your mental health or career, feel free to message us here.
References:
(2022, May 17). How important is passion in a relationship? . Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://shirleytherapeuticandconsultingservices.com/passion-relationship/
DSM-5 criteria for PTSD. BrainLine. (2021, August 3). Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://www.brainline.org/article/dsm-5-criteria-ptsd
How pursuing a passion helps with healing from trauma. She Counselling. (2020, October 29). Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://shecounselling.com.au/how-pursuing-a-passion-helps-with-healing-from-trauma/
