Childhood Trauma: Hidden Wounds That Silently Shape Your Adult Life (And How to Heal)

Childhood trauma is stronger than you think. So many people you see on the road today are in this shoe, but it’s just that everybody wants to button up their pain and their stories so that the person sitting next to them will not hear them. They also do this out of fear of losing respect from their colleagues at work, their neighbour in the yard, or even someone close to them. Yes, even many couples are so scared of opening up to their partner because they believe the story might someday be used to mock them. This is also a topic that people find so difficult to talk about. But today in this blog post, we are going to talk about it in detail. Hope you are ready? Now let’s go!

What childhood trauma really means

Childhood trauma, simply put, is the aftereffect of those terrifying and ugly experiences some people had when they were still little children or even adolescents. It really goes a long way toward shaping who you have become as an adult, without you even realising it.

In some cases, one can actually outgrow and heal from childhood trauma, while on the other hand, a lot of people find it so difficult to outgrow and heal from it. For instance, a child who experienced a lot of maltreatment either from the parents or guardian, I hope you know what I mean? I understand that parents are also guardians, but when I mentioned ‘guardians’, I’m referring to someone who is taking care of the child, not as the parents, but as a guardian. It could be other family members, like an uncle, an aunt or any other relative. It could even be a family friend, especially for children who lost their parents when they were still very little.

So, a child who experienced a lot of childhood trouble while growing up can still heal from it if whoever it was that abused this child now decides to turn a new leaf and start treating the child in a very loving and caring way, now that they have grown. Such loving and caring treatment can help that child to grow, forget and heal from those abuses of yesterday.

But in a situation where nothing changes, rather it keeps getting worse, this is where the childhood trauma will continue to harm this child even in adulthood.

Growing Up Feeling Unseen and Unheard

One thing about a child’s formation is that it shapes almost the entire person she becomes. A child’s formation, especially the domestic, home or parental formation, is all about who and what the child becomes in adulthood. In my previous post, I mentioned that many parents today raise their children in a very careless and reckless manner, without being mindful of what their parenting style could result in for these children tomorrow, when they must have become adults.

As I have already said at the beginning of this post, childhood trauma is stronger than you know or think; it can haunt you for the rest of your life if you do not work hard enough to take care of it and its aftereffects as you become an adult.

Growing up feeling unseen and unheard is a harmful form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from childhood trauma. This often manifests as low self-esteem. People who are going through this psychological challenge will continue to struggle with timidity until they can outgrow and overcome it. They always feel less than they are and can easily be intimidated in both public and private settings. They act dull and timid and even lack self-confidence all the time. You will see them always struggling to express their feelings, and all these are a result of childhood trauma.

How harsh words become your inner voice

Sometimes it feels like something you cannot control. It comes across as a very hurtful and harsh word, and it keeps ringing in your head from time to time. So, at this point, you have only one option, but you can treat it as an option only if you are not yet serious about healing and gaining your freedom. This is the only way you can stop those tormenting and harsh words from resounding in your head.

For this option, I am going to break it into 2 parts to make it easy for you to understand.

Part one: You should commit to intensive, serious study of how to heal from childhood trauma. You can acquire this knowledge by reading books, watching podcasts on YouTube channels and listening to audiobooks.

Part two: You must understand that anyone who has insisted on hurting you with their words from time to time, without considering how hard and harsh these words might sound to you or the negative effects they could have on your life journey and growth, does not love you in any way and should be considered a total stranger. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they represent in your life. Just consider them total strangers.

Living in Fear Instead of Feeling Safe

Have you noticed a situation where someone you know would consistently portray a worrisome character or attitude? Always giving you the impression that many fears live inside them. They never get bold enough in every situation. And no matter how you try to wake them up and remove that fear inside of them, they will still find it difficult to act freely and talk like a bold human being. This could be a result of childhood trauma.

What happened was that during their childhood, many fears were instilled in them, so they grew up scared of everything and everyone, especially their parents or whoever brought them up.

All these things can be due to a human being’s childhood upbringing. And this is why I mentioned in my previous post that a man and woman were able to come together and have a baby does not qualify them to be addressed as parents; what qualifies them to be addressed as ‘parents’ is their level and quality of parenting.

Summary

If you can relate to everything I have said in this blog post, or if just some of them resonate with you, I want you to bear in mind that the childhood trauma you went through while growing up could be a special way that has been designed for you to reach a greater height and actually become a great person in life. So do not allow it to keep you down any longer. Get up and remain strong. As I said earlier, read books and learn different ways to get over all those ugly voices you keep hearing in your head, and watch how you will become so strong that you could never have imagined.