Foundations of Healing Childhood Trauma: Overwhelm Eliminator

The original video that was posted had a low hum. That has now been corrected.
Get the Foundations Workbook that goes with the Foundations of Self-Healing videos on Amazon at my cost: amzn.to/4eep7Zv - just $14.99
Transcript:
Avoiding Overwhelm in the Healing Process
In this lesson, I want to talk to you about avoiding overwhelm. Several factors can cause you to feel overwhelmed, and I've noticed that when people start to feel overwhelmed, they often give up on the healing process. That's the last thing I want you to do. As you progress in your healing journey, life will generally feel less overwhelming. But first, let's discuss how to make this process manageable so you can keep moving through it, even when it feels stressful or scary.
Three Strategies to Avoid Overwhelm
1. Know What Leads to Overwhelm for You:
Identify the specific things that cause you to feel overwhelmed. This might seem simple, but many people don’t think about what leads to their overwhelm. The handouts associated with this lesson will help you identify your personal triggers.
2. Commit to Really Good Self-Care:
I'll elaborate on this as we move through the lesson. Good self-care is essential to avoid overwhelm and successfully manage your healing process.
3. Focus on One Trigger at a Time:
When investigating a trigger, understand all behaviors and thoughts surrounding it to neutralize it. However, this requires you to be in a calm state. If your brain is in a fight-or-flight state, you won't be able to effectively heal.
Identifying What Leads to Overwhelm
1. Make a List of Stressful Things:
Identify all the stressful things in your life.
Determine which of these you can temporarily remove from your list to focus on your healing process.
2. Prioritize Your List:
Temporarily take off non-essential tasks from your list for the next six weeks.
Simplify tasks, such as using crock-pot cooking to reduce dinner preparation stress.
Committing to Self-Care
Good self-care includes:
1. Healthy Eating and Hydration:
Ensure you eat enough healthy food and drink enough water. Avoid eating leftovers or fast food due to lack of time.
2. Rest and Sleep:
Many trauma survivors have difficulty sleeping. Consider taking warm Epsom salt baths before bedtime to improve sleep quality.
3. Pace Yourself:
Don’t rush the healing process. It's organic and must be body-led. Listen to your body and nurture yourself along the way.
4. Practice Patience:
Healing takes time. Understand your body’s signals by taking good care of yourself to avoid mistaking fatigue, hunger, or pain for symptoms of trauma.
Focusing on One Trigger at a Time
1. Identify Behavioral Responses to Triggers:
Focus on your response to the trigger, not the trigger itself. For example, if a sudden noise triggers you, focus on your behavioral response, such as overeating or yelling, rather than the noise.
2. Use Journaling Strategies:
Journaling should focus on patterns, not just emoting. Identify how your behaviors, thoughts, and feelings are connected to triggers and past or present events.
Allow a free flow of thoughts without worrying about grammar or spelling.
Maintain a non-judgmental attitude and listen as if you were advising a friend.
Conclusion
Emoting is not the goal of journaling. Instead, do detective work to understand what's happening at your core related to external events that cause unwanted behaviors. Download the worksheets and create a plan to avoid overwhelm as you heal.
Homework document can be found here: drive.google.c...