Hi, how are you doing?

You have been better I guess. I know it's a toughie. Being in love with someone who struggles with trauma or PTSD, isn't it?

I have been there, and I know what you are going through.

Trauma Is The Worst Thing That Could Happen To Anyone

You might look fine to most people, you might even say it and prove it. But deep down, you might be broken into a million pieces and not have the slightest clue how to get yourself back together.

Even When You Feel Whole, You Know You Are Broken

Sure, over time, the pain dulls, but the ghosts still haunt you. I have learned to live with that, and I know this process will take time. Heck, I am even learning to enjoy the healing process.

Unless you have been through trauma, you might not understand what I am talking about.

You feel dead even when you are alive. At best, you feel numb, as if you are having a terrible out-of-body experience.

You cannot reconcile who you are with the person who suffered the trauma. You have no idea if you are sad, broken, angry, afraid, or confused.

The one thing you wish for is to be separated from the person you have become because you cannot stand it anymore. You feel like there is nothing but darkness within you.

You Cannot Trust Yourself Or Even A Loved One

Nothing gives you peace. Nothing makes you feel safe. Life becomes hard and hopeless. You find no meaning in it.

Even the smallest things seem like the hardest chores. Everything is either completely tasteless or scary. Yes, even getting out of bed.

Paranoia engulfs you and becomes your closest companion, following you wherever you go.

The Urge To Retreat From The World Can Overwhelm You

And while the world will often do its part to make us know we are being weird, we are already feeling very guilty about it ourselves.

We feel like we are going insane.

Our emotions get on edge and even a small noise can unsettle us for days.

What we fear is going through the trauma again. Yes, it was that intense, and we are not sure we would survive the experience again, or even want to.

When you are traumatized or suffering from PTSD, you are no stranger to pain.

At One Point, Pain Was All You Felt

Even today, you still feel it. It lives permanently in your head. And it will probably stay there for many years to come, and there's not much you can do about it.

So, honor the pain your loved one is going through if they are suffering from some trauma or PTSD. You might not understand it, but at least acknowledge it.

I Hope That People Understand What PTSD Is

Let us not stigmatize these people, the trauma has done a pretty good job of that already. They carry within them a darkness you cannot even imagine.

Yes, they fought and won, but they are wounded and scarred. They want to be whole and to find themselves again, but they are trapped in the dark recesses of the trauma that rule them from deep within.