Mia Valentina

Before I left, I’d never heard the term, ‘triggering.’ I learned mighty quick after my first panic attack in the hardware store.

If understood correctly, it’s a term for any experience which ignites an emotional reaction based on past experience, but rooted in current events. A trip to the pet store for kibble today may send a survivor running for the car, blowing into a paper bag  even when she’s thoroughly forgotten the incident  where her spouse blew up over the dog food  ten years prior.

This morning whilst attending my course, The Phoenix Program, a course designed to help female survivors of domestic abuse, I realised that it is OK to cry.  At first, as the tears started to roll, whilst flash backs to hideous memories played like video tapes in my minds-eye, I felt rather embarrassed.  As the tears streamed faster, I left the room to try to compose myself, something I only managed to do after being physically sick.