I think a good metaphor for understanding trauma might be to imagine you’ve got something stuck in your eye.
An eyelash, whatever.
You can’t do anything without the discomfort of this thing in your eye. It’s there every time you try to see out into the world.
You try so hard to get it out yourself. It really seems impossible. It’s painful. It’s annoying. It’s depressing. You can’t do the simplest things you want to do without it grabbing your attention.
Finally you go get support from a professional.
Thankfully, they are able to get the thing out. And they give you some tools to help heal the damage. And you begin to heal. And you feel so much better.
But... now you’re afraid — what if something else gets in your eye again?
It makes you worried, this possibility.
And you keep checking to see if your eye is still ok.
If you feel the slightest sensation in your eye, you panic—shit—something got in my fucking eye again.
It takes awhile of ‘nothing in your eye’ to feel calm again.
And eventually this happens more and more.
And you stop being as anxious about it.
And whenever someone happens to mention to you that they have something in their eye, you immediately feel so much compassion for them.
(Yes, I had something in my eye last night, lol. It was somewhat hellish.)
-JLK
