How to Begin Healing Relationship Trauma
"Clear the past. Rewire your patterns. Create relationships that feel safe and real."
You don’t have to relive your pain to release it—but you do have to meet it with compassion.
Here are a few supportive ways to begin your healing journey:
1. Recognize the Patterns
Notice the ways your body responds in moments of conflict, intimacy, or vulnerability. Immediate tension, nausea, tightness, or heart palpitations to name a few. These are called nervous system stess responses. These reactions aren’t wrong—they’ve kept you safe. Awareness is the first step to healing.
2. Rebuild Self-Trust
Start showing up for yourself the way you wish others had. Keep small promises. Listen to your gut. Validate your emotions. Healing begins when you stop abandoning yourself. A great practice is to start saying NO. Although it may feel uncomfortable, try it once and feel the reward. This is building trust within so you feel more comfortable to keep standing up for yourself.
3. Use Nervous System Tools
Gentle practices like EFT tapping, grounding exercises, and breathwork can help calm overactive stress responses and create a sense of inner safety. Try these before and after saying NO to keep yourself in a calmer state to act and recover.
4. Explore the Story Behind the Pattern
Ask yourself:
When did I first learn that it wasn’t safe to be fully myself?
What did I believe I had to do to be loved or accepted?
What am I still carrying that’s not mine to hold?
You don’t need to do this alone—but you do need to be witnessed, understood, and supported in a safe way.
✨ Final Thoughts: You’re Not Broken
Relationship trauma isn’t a life sentence. It’s a call for deeper emotional care and self love.
You’re not broken—you’re carrying a brilliant nervous system that learned how to protect you. Now, it’s safe to teach it a new way.
Healing is possible. Peace is possible. And love—the real, healthy kind—becomes possible when you learn how to give it to yourself first.
Sending Hugs,
Meryl