How to Trust Yourself After the Trauma of Being Dismissed and Invalidated
Embarking on a journey of self-trust after experiencing dismissal and invalidation can be daunting. Yet, it's a path filled with self-discovery, resilience, and healing. Let's explore the steps to regain confidence and trust in oneself amidst the echoes of past traumas.
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
- Don’t pass your trauma and your parents’ trauma down to the next generation
- Make a promise to yourself to heal as best you could. This is the first step on your journey back to yourself.
Process stuck energies
Take the time to feel any pain and trauma you’re still holding onto instead of repressing your feelings and distracting yourself with work, mindless scrolling, or substances
- Gently and lovingly, acknowledge what happened and allow the hurt to come up, whether through physical sensations, feelings, or thoughts
- Sit with the discomfort watching it ebb and flow through your body, and surround it with kindness
- Be patient with yourself
Trauma Leaves an Imprint on the Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul
Adverse experiences in childhood leave a mark on a developing brain, personality, and a sense of self
- Not receiving the love, care, support and validation we need at our most vulnerable time leaves us feeling less than, undeserving, abandoned, and broken
- We often grow up internalizing fear, anger, guilt, shame, helplessness and a feeling of being unsafe in the world
- Overwhelmed, we push the pain away and put on masks in order to survive
- Desperately trying to mask our shame and the feeling like we don’t belong, we become a warped version of ourselves
Spend time alone and reconnect with yourself
Daily alone time helps you reset and renew, reconnect with who you are, and realign yourself with your true nature
- The goal is to silence your mind and create space so that insight can come into your awareness
- Write down all of your thoughts and connect with yourself
Childhood Trauma Destroys Trust
When our caregivers don’t reflect our worth back to us, we never learn to internalize it
- We grow up believing that we don’t deserve love, care, and attention
- If our feelings and emotions are not validated growing up, we begin to believe they are invalid, that we shouldn’t feel them, that they are wrong
Practice mindfulness
Slow down and check in with yourself throughout the day
- Sense into your body
- Fully tune into your inner experience in the moment
- Consciously observe what is happening internally and take in any messages that you are receiving
- Follow these internal cues to what you want and don’t want in your life
Put yourself first
Nurture your body, mind, and heart, prioritizing your own needs before you give to anyone else
- Create boundaries to protect your energy
- Love yourself enough to keep commitments to yourself, your healing journey, and your growth-by showing up to do the work no matter how hard it gets
- Have your own back and stand up for yourself
- Practice kindness, not perfection
- Be authentically you
Your intuition is your super power
Listen to your intuition and allow it to guide you toward what is best for you in the moment
- This opens the doorways for higher knowledge to enter your consciousness
- Aligning with the higher self this way fortifies our strength and courage and helps us find a path toward fulfillment
Rebuilding Self-Trust
Trust is the foundation of any relationship, and that includes the one we have with ourselves.