Unhealed Trauma Is at the Root of Our Addictions

Years and years of pain and hurt get shoved down beneath the surface.

Parents and grandparents were told not to cry. To toughen up. To not be so weak.

Previous generations didn’t really get to sit and dissect their emotions. They worked hard it seemed to put food on the table and maybe had vices they used to relieve the pressure like drinks after work. It was normal then to alleviate worries and stress while drinking.

Something has changed and is evolving with up-and-coming generations.

We are saying no more. We don’t want to shove down our angst. Many of us feel hopeless and depressed and it’s not good enough to just fight through this life.

We want answers.

We want to talk to therapists and doctors about our ailments. We want to come clean and be healthy.

We see how screwed up we have become, how much anger we hold in our hearts, how chasing the next thing never fulfills our souls.

We want to go within, as hard as it seems, and look with a flashlight at all of those dark crevices.

What are all of those past hurts that are rising to the surface when we begin to stop and notice?

What are the feelings and emotions that are begging to be seen but that we continually avoided?

What have we eaten and drank away? Who have we slept with to avoid feeling? Have we worked too hard to feel like we have a purpose? Are we people pleasers just performing to get acknowledged?

These are the questions we must ask to get to the root of our healing. We want to be free of the generational ties that have held us back. We want to acknowledge that we have been hurt, sometimes it’s grueling these feelings and we are scared to let them be felt.

Going within feels challenging, but I believe there is a gold mine waiting for us when we connect to our divine nature.

We may find our inner child curled up in a ball and afraid.

We may find that we didn’t feel loved and nurtured as children. Maybe our parents or grandparents had addictions that were passed onto us as a way to cope with life. We may see that our family of origin had their own unhealed trauma that they didn’t know how to process and now here we sit ready to stop and do this work for all of our previous generations.

It is our time.

I believe we have been chosen to do this work. It’s part of our evolution as a species. We can’t keep going like cogs on a wheel.

We must heal.

We must find a connection.

We must search to find the peace we so desperately crave.

We can do it and it starts with us.