Returning to Yourself – Healing the Disconnect After Trauma
After trauma, many women describe feeling like strangers in their own lives. Like they’re watching themselves from the outside. The woman in the mirror feels unfamiliar. Emotions feel distant. Joy feels out of reach.
This is the silent wound trauma often leaves behind: disconnection from self.
At Awaken Your Lioness, we believe that healing means more than surviving—it’s about coming home to yourself. The version of you before the pain may feel lost, but she’s still in there—waiting to be reawakened.
1. Why Trauma Disconnects Us from Ourselves
When you’ve lived through painful experiences, especially those involving shame, addiction, abuse, or incarceration, your mind and body may have created protective walls. You numb. You detach. You silence your own needs in order to survive.
But over time, that disconnection can lead to:
A loss of identity or purpose
Difficulty trusting your own feelings
Guilt for feeling joy or rest
A sense of floating through life without direction
Healing means gently tearing down those walls and learning to reconnect with the parts of yourself you’ve hidden, silenced, or abandoned.
2. Steps to Reconnect with Yourself
Start small. You don’t have to leap into “self-love.” Begin with self-awareness.
Body Check-ins: Ask, “What does my body need today?” Rest? Nourishment? Movement?
Inner Voice Practice: Start journaling—without judgment. Just get curious. What are you feeling? What do you need?
Say Your Name with Kindness: Look in the mirror. Say your name. Speak to yourself the way you would a friend.
Revisit Joy: Think back—what used to light you up before the trauma? Reclaim it, even if in a small way.
3. You Are Not Lost—You’re Returning
Healing is not about becoming someone new. It’s about remembering who you were before the world tried to dim your light.
You are not broken.
You are not behind.
You are coming back to yourself—braver, wiser, and more whole than ever before.
And that is a sacred journey worth celebrating.
