I agree with you - healing doesn't happen all at once. It takes a lot of time. And depending on how much trauma there has been, it might never be completely healed, but at least become manageable when something brings it up again.

Cycles within cycles - or like the rings of a tree growing yearly over a cut. Each year it gets further away from the original wound on the tree but you can still see it in spite of it getting smaller.

My experience with trauma would take a book. Trauma-loaded childhood, trauma-loaded adulthood, It hasn't stopped coming, year after year.

This is the first year that I haven't had a new traumatic situation. There were usually at least a few going on at any given time.

And between 2020 and 2023, I had so many it was ridiculous. 2021 I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD after a series of terrible events, then ended up facing more, including this nasty leg injury almost 2 years ago that meant I've had to learn how to walk again unsupported (still not fully healed).

My attitude and many tools gathered over decades have helped me to cope with everything. When I was on overload in 2020-2023, I felt completely broken. All the tools that had worked before were not helping.

But I kept trusting it would pass and I'd be okay again.

Still not 100% there; I am still dealing with the effects of a lifetime of trauma, but I'm feeling more like my old self and doing my best to keep healing and moving forward.