Because trauma leaves you feeling very vulnerable, it’s important to re-establish coping skills that may have seem gone to the wayside. It can be very cathartic to share your truth. In sharing your experience and the reality of the aftermath, you are refusing to allow trauma to define you. You are separating this toxicity from yourself and voicing that you are more than what you went through. Join support groups, establish a therapeutic partnership with a counselor, discuss how you’re feeling with family and friends. You can also consider joining online groups of fellow survivors and blogging or journaling.
A very real benefit to sharing your truth is helping others. Not only will doing so be therapeutic for you as you rebuild and begin to self-reflection again in the aftermath, but you can help others who may be going through, or who could potentially go through, the same thing you did. One of the most cathartic things you can do in the aftermath of trauma is to feel empowered enough to express what happened and acknowledge who you are now because of it. If you keep things bottled inside and isolate yourself from communicating, you cannot heal.
On the other hand, if you can summon the courage to share, eventually distressing emotions associated with past events will dissipate and this will enable your mind, body, and soul to separate from them. You will realize that the past can no longer have a hold over you.
This is not to say that you have to share your journey with everyone you meet. Consider seeking the help of a therapist or support group. Discussing events and your feelings in a safe environment with others who understand is a great place to start. This will help you rebuild confidence, and through verbal expression, you will be able to rediscover your sense of self and gain independence from the trauma. Listening to the stories of others will help you feel comfortable telling them your own.
It may seem very difficult at first to share your truth, and this isn’t something that should be rushed. Remember, no one is forcing you to share anything. If you choose to, you can do so on your own time. As you move further and further away from the past and into this second draft of life, though, you may just be compelled to at some point along the way. And, this is a beautiful thing. It will enable you to release the past and help others at the same time.