Recovery from Trauma – Red Tent Living

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I am a 5-star general.

By: redtentwomen July 22, 2020July 19, 2020

Day to Day, Faith, Monthly ThemesComplex Trauma, Counseling, Faith, Megan, Recovery from Abuse, Recovery from Trauma, Trauma Recovery12 Comments

I haven’t been deployed to another country for battle but have been in my own combat zone. I’ve had to run, hide and plan ingenious strategies to survive. I was not trained for this war. I was thrust into it and like a savage I had to build my own artillery.

Birthing

By: redtentwomen May 27, 2020May 25, 2020

Day to Day, Faith, FemininityAdoption, Faith, Haitian Adoption, Megan, Recovery from Trauma, trauma4 Comments

My heart beat rapidly in my chest as I opened the email from our adoption coordinator. In just hours, I would be boarding a plane with my husband and two boys to fly to Haiti. The message included a picture of our daughter. Baby Girl – Christine T. three months old, no birth weight, no…

Keeping Watch

By: redtentwomen February 17, 2020February 16, 2020

Faith, FemininityBirth Trauma, hysterectomy, Pelvic Floor Damage, Pelvic Floor Surgery, Pelvic Pain, Rachel Blackston, Recovery from Trauma6 Comments

“I don’t want to die,” I say with a mix of terror and fortitude, my voice quivering as I look into my counselor’s kind eyes. I am processing a consultation with a urogynecologist over a proposed reconstructive surgery intended to repair my prolapsed bladder and remove my uterus, the space that has nourished and held…

Erasing Shame

By: redtentwomen March 19, 2018March 18, 2018

Day to DayAnna Smith, Marking Redemption, mental illness, Recovery from Abuse, Recovery from Trauma, Schizophrenia6 Comments

Dusk settled onto Santa Monica’s streets as I hung up the phone. Everything inside me cringed as blood rushed to my face, tears welling up in my eyes. I tucked my phone into my pocket and briskly walked, pretending to go somewhere. Confusion stammered each thought as the dark smog of shame hedged over my…

Once When I Was Eleven

By: redtentwomen March 7, 2018March 6, 2018

Day to Day7 Years, ACE, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Eleven, Khaled Hosseini, Lukas Graham, Madeline Bialecki, Recovery from Trauma, Sandra Cisneros, The Kite Runner4 Comments

Through my work at a cancer support center, I have met a number of people who ponder why they got cancer or why they got a particular cancer. So many cancers seem to be random.

Hope in the Gap

By: redtentwomen May 12, 2017May 11, 2017

Day to Day, relationshipsDeath, Easter, Eggs Benedict, Ellen Oelsen, Family, family traditions, Hope, Recovery from Trauma, Resurrection7 Comments

For most of my children’s lives Easter included the excitement of dying and hunting eggs and candy brought in the middle of the night by the Easter bunny.