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author

Gone back on Facebook, was just having a bad, over reflective day, as you do…..

This morning I’m good😊

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I think your poetry is wonderful!!

I'm not a writer so I wouldn't really know about your question regarding that. I personally don't think that the trauma industry is very healthy as it seems to produce an obsession with suffering. But I guess that's not necessarily how others see it.

Sorry you're going through a tough time lovely. I'm all over the place myself, closing FB can be a relief although you will be missed by all your friends there.

But do what gets you through. ❤

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author

Yes that’s how I see it a “trauma industry” - and it seems to be a big industry too doesn’t it? I think it seeks to replace what friendships would have traditionally done too, listening, helping.

Glad to have you around x

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I think a lot of people will understand this piece very well. Writing is definitely therapeutic for me as it is totally absorbing, like an intricate puzzle. Personally I would find it very hard to do more than touch upon past trauma when I write. As you say, it can sometimes keep ripping open the wounds. Others may feel differently. Feel better soon Julie. All things must pass.

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author

Yes, sometimes writing things down enables you to make more sense of them, certainly. Offer clarity. Thank you x

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founding

I was quite influenced by a book when I was younger. “Against Therapy: (Emotional Tyranny and the Myth of Psychological Healing)” by Jeffery Masson. I found it quite insightful until I gradually realised that there was nothing wrong with therapy as a concept. It was the therapists. It was us, with our egos and our power trips, even if we were well intentioned, when interfacing with the delicate and vulnerable - potentially perpetuating trauma through our fumbling efforts. At least with writing, you are primarily working on yourself. Writing is powerful. Words are spells. Yes, it can be cathartic, temporarily at least. It can be catalytic, if it spurs you or others on to action or change. If you’re not careful, it could serve to lock you into a pattern where you pick the scabs of your emotional pain so meticulously with your words that you create more scar tissue. But if you have a talent for it, that has meaning in itself. Maybe it’s not about making yourself feel better about anything. Maybe it’s just purpose. Just life force expressing itself through you as a vessel. Maybe it’s not comforting to think of it that way, but I hope it’s empowering. Keep at it.

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author

I think I was just having a bad day that day.

I also think everyone is different and different things work for different people.

It can be useful to see what you’ve written years later to remember how far you’ve come, and also remind yourself that whatever you were worrying about X years ago no longer has the hold on you it did back then.

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April 22, 2023
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author

Yes maybe writing it is okay to do and you just shouldn’t reread it. Maybe that’s where I go wrong!

Thank you :)

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