Have you ever been held hostage by someone? No, not physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Held hostage by trauma. You know how people say "trauma makes you stronger". I disagree. Trauma can absolutely destroy you. It breaks your heart, dysregulates your nervous system, gives you sleepless nights and nightmares when you finally fall asleep. It makes you breathless and freeze at random moments when you're picking out fruits at the grocery store. It gives you trust issues and difficulty in connecting with your surroundings. It makes you want to dissociate from your body. It makes you hate yourself. It will make you beat yourself up for not being smarter, more self-aware or for not having the courage to stand up for yourself. Some people never recover from it. The narrative that trauma makes you stronger is a lie. There is power in acknowledging it and growing from it. And if you did grow and heal from it, you did that despite the trauma. You did that by yourself.