4 Steps to Restart Your Life After a Trauma

It’s tough to restart your life after a trauma. Trauma is something that happens in your life and creates an emotional response. It could be something like getting a disease, having an accident, drinking polluted water, and suffering chronic diseases as a result.

After a trauma, life can feel like it’s on pause. It’s easy to just want to lay low and stay out of the way until you’re ready to handle things again. When the trauma is caused by someone else’s negligence, it can be hard to focus on anything else—particularly when one of those things is getting money for your injuries.

Such incidents include inadvertently drinking contaminated water due to the authority’s negligence, like the Camp Lejeune water contamination case, where several people continued to consume contaminated water for years. Moving forward includes getting your much-needed compensation to avoid long-term effects that could impact every aspect of your life. The recovery process would mean filing a Camp Lejeune Lawsuit or suing for emotional distress.

Irrespective of the type of trauma, here are a few tips to help you rebuild your life:

Step 1: Take Care of Yourself

Take Care of Your Body

The first step to getting through a traumatic experience is to take care of yourself.

First, make sure you’re eating well and taking time for yourself. That may mean having a glass of juice made of fresh fruits in the evening, or it might mean setting aside an hour each day to sit quietly with your thoughts. It’s important to do whatever works best for you.

Next, get some exercise. A good workout can be a great way to release tension and focus on something other than your trauma. You might even consider joining a sports team or class at your local gym—it will give you a sense of belonging, which can help increase self-esteem after an event like this.

Take Care of Your Mind

Traumatic events can often cause people to feel anxious or depressed, so it’s important not only to take care of your body but also your mind as well. If you notice negative thoughts coming up frequently during the day—for example, imagining that someone is going to harm you—try focusing on something positive instead: maybe think about how much fun it will be when you finally have time for yourself again.

As per the American Psychological Association, prioritizing self-care is one of the most effective ways to cope with traumatic experiences. The organization further highlights the importance of eating nutritious meals, doing regular physical activities, and getting a good and long night’s sleep. 

Step 2: Reach Out to Others Who Can Help You

It’s important to reach out to others after trauma so that you can get the help and support you need to move forward. Many people don’t realize how much of an impact a traumatic experience can have on their mental health and well-being until they’ve experienced it firsthand. When we’re going through something difficult, it’s easy to feel isolated, like no one else could possibly understand what we’re going through.

But the truth is that there are many people who have been in your shoes before, and they want nothing more than to help you get through this difficult time. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, for instance, PTSD affects 6 out of every 100 individuals at some point in their lives. Additionally, each year, about 12 million adults get post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That means that if you’ve experienced trauma before, chances are there’s someone out there who can relate.

Moreover, research has shown that feeling alone and isolated is one of the most common side effects of trauma. But it doesn’t have to be this way—and it’s not.

According to the CDC, one of the best ways to cope with a traumatic event is by finding support from family, friends, and clergy and talking about your experiences and feelings with them.

Moreover, reaching out to others who have been through similar experiences can be incredibly healing for both parties involved—you’ll be able to share your story with someone who understands what you’re going through, and they’ll be able to share theirs as well.

Step 3: Set Small, Achievable Goals

Setting small, achievable goals is an important part of recovering from a traumatic event.

Your life has been changed in a way that you never thought it would be—and you may be feeling overwhelmed by the new normal. But don’t worry! You can take steps to get your life back on track and feel like yourself again.

The first step is to set small, achievable goals for yourself. This doesn’t mean that you have to make huge changes right away; it just means setting goals that are within your reach but still challenging enough that they’ll help you feel better about yourself as time goes on.

For example, if you’re experiencing anxiety after a traumatic incident, one goal might be to go outside for five minutes each day without having a panic attack or feeling stressed out afterward. Similarly, if you’re depressed after a traumatic incident, one goal might be to spend 30 minutes each day smiling at strangers and talking about something other than your trauma. Even the CDC highlights that participating in leisure and recreational activities will help in mitigating the pain caused by negative events. 

The point here is that these are things that might seem too hard at first because they’re so far outside your comfort zone—but when broken down into smaller pieces and accomplished over time, they become much more doable.

Step 4: Learn to Redirect Your Thoughts

A traumatic incident can be something as simple as your cat dying or something as serious as losing a loved one. No matter what it is, it’s going to be hard to get over.

The first step to getting back on your feet after trauma is learning how to redirect your thoughts. By redirecting your thoughts, you’re changing the way that you perceive the world around you. Instead of dwelling on the negative things that have happened, it’ll help you reconnect with your purpose and start living again.

When we think about the past, we tend to focus on all the bad things that have happened in our lives—the mistakes we’ve made and people who have hurt us in some way. This kind of thinking isn’t good for us because it makes us feel worse about ourselves than we already do after being traumatized by something terrible happening in our lives.

But when we start thinking about positive things, like our dreams and goals for the future, or even just things that make us happy, like watching a funny video on YouTube, then suddenly those negative feelings start fading away and are replaced by positive ones instead. It’s like magic.

Summing Up

Now, it’s time to move on. It’s time to put these events behind you and get back to living a life that makes you happy.

The best way to do this is to take a step back and focus on your own needs for a little while. If you’ve been focusing on other people’s needs for a long time, it can be hard to tell when it’s time to focus on yourself again. You know what’s best for you, though, so trust your instincts and go with them.