complex trauma

  • Why I Always Kept One Foot Out the Door

    He asked why I always seemed half-in. Why I’d smile with my whole face but hold something back with my body. Why I wouldn’t let him pick me up from the airport or leave a toothbrush at his place. He… Continue reading

    Why I Always Kept One Foot Out the Door
  • What My Chest Has Been Trying to Say

    There’s a pressure in my chest I can’t always name. It comes quietly, without cause, and settles in deep. It’s not sharp like panic or loud like heartbreak. It’s steady. Ancient. Like something that has been waiting a long time… Continue reading

    What My Chest Has Been Trying to Say
  • The Quiet Collapse

    I can be doing everything right. Drinking water. Getting enough sleep. Moving my body. Smiling at people in the hallway. Laughing at the right parts of a conversation. On paper, I look like I’m okay. Like someone who has their… Continue reading

    The Quiet Collapse
  • The Silence That Startles Me

    Some days, nothing looks wrong on the outside. The coffee is warm. The morning is quiet. The world moves normally. But then something small – a sharp tone, footsteps too loud, a door closing a little too hard – lands… Continue reading

    The Silence That Startles Me
  • When Explaining Becomes Exhausting

    I stopped explaining my triggers. Not out of bitterness. Not even out of pride. I just got tired of watching people’s eyes glaze over halfway through my sentence. Of feeling like I was offering pieces of my pain to people… Continue reading

    When Explaining Becomes Exhausting