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How to Bounce Back After a Stressful Ordeal

If you have encountered a stressful ordeal in your life, like a romantic breakup, some stigma, or time in jail, it can be difficult to bounce back. In this article, you will find some useful strategies and techniques for enhancing your life quality and getting back to the harmony you had before. 

Remember, no matter what kind of trauma you suffered, it will take some time to heal, and there is no hurry. Using the techniques in the article, you can begin to resolve some of your difficulties in the here and now, bringing you the calmness, prosperity, and wellness you need to recover.     

Key Takeaways: Stressful Ordeal 

  • It takes time to heal from a stressful ordeal, so don’t strive for instant results
  • Forgiving someone is an important way to move past feelings of anger and resentment
  • 80% of our thoughts are negative, so we need to practice mindfulness and let go 
  • On the path to wellness, we need to learn to trust and again and find supportive groups
  • A gratitude practice can be powerful; write down the small things you are grateful for  

Time to Heal 

Whether you have suffered some recent heartache, a natural disaster, or the trauma of going to jail, you want to get back to your best self as soon as possible. Unfortunately, psychology doesn’t work like that. It’s not possible to hurry the healing process; you have to give yourself time to heal and practice wholesome activities. You must also prepare yourself for more trauma

In order to heal and move on with your life, you might have to process lots of difficult emotions and memories. A traumatic event opens us up, and we can expect to deal with a variety of trauma from the deep past as well as recent troubling events. Adopt a healing mindset, and don’t strive towards your goal. Practice meditation, creativity, talking therapy, and stay active.    

Letting Go 

A stressful event leaves an imprint on the emotional side of the brain; this is because of the adrenaline and neurochemicals that rush there during the trauma. For this reason, a traumatic memory can be a difficult thing to let go of; it takes time and practice. At the same time, the brain wishes to process the trauma and return to normality, so trauma continues to resurface. 

If you need to process trauma and let go of intrusive thoughts or memories, you need a variety of practice techniques to work with. One of the most powerful trauma-processing technologies is mindfulness which uses awareness to accept and dissolve intrusive thoughts, memories, and feelings from the past. Mindfulness is practiced by following the breath in the present moment.  

Find Forgiveness 

Forgiveness can be challenging, especially when someone has experienced violence, trauma, or heartache. You might have feelings of anger and resentment towards this person and feel as though they don’t deserve your forgiveness. But remember, forgiving someone can be about you and not them. Forgiving them in your heart allows you to let go of resentment and move on. 

Of course, there are other types of forgiveness. The offender might approach you to apologize and ask for your forgiveness, in which case you can start to rebuild a relationship with them. You might also choose to approach them to discuss the situation, which can lead to forgiveness and resolution that can improve your quality of life. But remember, it’s your emotions that count.      

Practice Self Care 

If you have recently suffered a traumatic event, such as jail time, you need to practice self-care and self-love to readapt to your life on the outside. Now that you have found your freedom using Bail Bonds – the fastest and most effective way to remove yourself from incarceration – it’s time to spend more quality time with your friends and family and do more of the things that you love. 

Self-care strategies can be simple, but they are extremely important. These strategies range from getting enough sleep to staying active and eating well, but they also include various forms of personal inspiration. What makes your heart light up? Is it a beautiful landscape, a favorite hobby or interest, or a person in your life? Bring in inspiration to help you heal from trauma.      

Thought Patterns 

The average person has between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day, according to some studies. Of these thoughts, an incredible 80% of them are stressful, and 95% were the same thoughts as the previous day. Thoughts happen automatically; they are a natural part of our inner life, but there are skillful ways to work with them to improve our health and wellbeing. 

Mindfulness is one of the best ways to work with thoughts and thinking patterns. Using awareness, we can notice the thoughts coming into our experience, whether they are positive or negative and allow them to pass on without following them or attaching ourselves to them. Negative thought replacement is also effective. Consider the opposite of your negative thought. 

Small Steps 

There is a famous quote from Lao Tzu – the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This wisdom is relevant in many walks of life, but it’s very useful when it comes to processing trauma and getting your life back. Again, there is a tendency to strive towards the end goal, but taking small steps is a better approach. Use the quote to frame your attitude. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed by thoughts, feelings, and sensations about the past, take a small step. It helps to have an emergency plan in place for when you feel the effects of past trauma; then, you can simply take a walk, go for a run outside or in the gym, or contact a friend or therapist. In many ways, the journey to perfect healing is not linear and is more holistic.    

Trust Life 

Traumatic life events can shake our trust in people and affect our life quality; because of that, it can be difficult – although by no means impossible – to learn how to trust people and communities once again. However, there are some best practices to follow when attempting to bounce back from trauma. Start the healing process by removing yourself from toxic situations. 

When you are attempting to rebuild trust, you need to eliminate the negative elements and enhance the positive ones. Again, forgiveness is important, but more for your own wellbeing. You can’t be around people that could set you back on your quest for a better life quality. If you can’t trust anyone, find a compassionate therapist. Remember to rebuild trust in yourself first.     

Positive Community 

When you have come through trauma or encountered a difficult life situation, you need the right people around you to support and nourish you. Of course, finding the right community can be challenging. Some people might have a circle of friends or some close family members they can rely on, but others might have to try communities first to discover what works best for them.   

A positive community is full of people who think along the same lines and feel the same way about certain world issues. A positive community will also help you to work through your difficulties and challenges without judgement. There will still be a lot of personal work to do, but you will have the support and commitment of a community which can make a big difference. 

Practice Acceptance 

The trauma from stressful ordeals can create intrusive thoughts and memories that affect someone’s quality of life, work life, and relationships. But there are ways to work through traumatic experiences that prevent intrusive thoughts and memories from taking root in your consciousness and preventing you from living the life that you want. Acceptance can help. 

In mindfulness, acceptance means non-resistance to the thoughts and emotions that arise in your mind and body. If there is an unpleasant thought or feeling that comes up, we tend to look away, but if we turn towards the feeling and accept it as a thought or feeling that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, it will integrate into our human experience and resolve quite quickly.  

Practice Gratitude 

Finally, practice gratitude to enhance your life and find more happiness. It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut of negative thinking after a stressful event; after all, 80% of our everyday thoughts are on the negative side; but there is a lot in our lives to be grateful for, so it’s nice to take time to appreciate them. 

Where would we be without our friends, family, and loved ones? Where would we be without an earth to support us and food to eat? We can even be grateful for the small things in life, like the small comforts that make our life easier and more enjoyable. Use a gratitude journal or an app.     

Bouncing back from a stressful ordeal is challenging, but it’s very important. It’s important to recognise that you are experiencing trauma first, then use techniques to work through the challenges. Mindfulness is one of the best practices to try; it’s simple to learn and effective.