Flashback!

[Elisabeth]

I had a flashback, and it was an ugly one!:( I wasn't doing much, just playing with the computer, and I all the sudden remembered how I felt inside back then. Made me feel like throwing up.:( I feel better now, but, boy, that flashback sure wasn't pleasant.:(

[SpinningHead]

Just your system purging a left-over feeling that doesn't serve you anymore. Good riddance! :)

[abbey]

your not alone! im certain all of us have experienced flashbacks as well as ---for me especially---nightmares!


it gets better!

Love ab

[ex-shep]

Sad to say, they are part of the recovery process. They can be disarming.
Sometime there is no rhyme or reason to the trigger. Sometimes there is. We had a former Catholic priest who was sensitive to the triggers in his addiction. He had to go frame by frame to see what was going on and brought the trigger about. What happened the microsecond before the trigger. The AA slogan of

H ungry
A ngry
L onely
T ired

was for me a healthy point of reference. I have had to sometimes be real deapan about the triggers to deflate the power they had over me. I love to impersonate the MGM cartoon character Droopy, "You know what? I'm triggered".



Congratulations for recognizing it and checking in right away. Good job. Next latte on me.

[Elisabeth]

I realized something after this flashback. I feel safe enough now to feel them.:) For a long time, I would just try to squash the flashbacks and the attending feelings, and get depressed. But I now have enough of a support system with my family, church, and this forum that I think it's okay to process these feelings. :) That's a good thing.

[ex-shep]

I realized something after this flashback. I feel safe enough now to feel them.:) For a long time, I would just try to squash the flashbacks and the attending feelings, and get depressed. But I now have enough of a support system with my family, church, and this forum that I think it's okay to process these feelings. :) That's a good thing.

Sounds like you have a good handle on them. Keep up the good work.

[Ladybug]

Elizabeth,

Glad to hear you are doing okay. Yes, it's okay to feel emotionally.

[ex-shep]

Elizabeth,

Glad to hear you are doing okay. Yes, it's okay to feel emotionally.

Painful as it is, it best to process the emotional pain as it hits. Not to do so will hinder the recovery process and bring about more pain. It does pass, even though it may not feel like it at the time.

[Elisabeth]

I can now face the most awful, destructive teaching that I was given at that time. The teaching was that I was closer to God, that the only way I could get close to God, was by having sex with that pastor.:mad: He never actually said so in those words, but he did say that he was "helping" me. Anyway, I'm not entirely sure what facing this teaching will do, but I do know that, like you said ex-Shep, it's better to process things as they come up. I also know that when I face things, I realize other things that were just below the surface and "thoughts that are not in obedience to Christ Jesus" come crashing down. Also, the more I face about my past, the clearer my thought processes become, and much more stuff becomes clear to me.:)