Beyond Survival After Intense Stress

In Basic Needs For Self-Care During Intense Stress, we delved into tackling the basics after facing intense stress or trauma using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid. During that time, which I may have been stuck in for years but truly found myself spiraling in for several months after recent trauma, the focus becomes tackling the basics for survival. Food, water, shelter, warmth or comfort, and the thing we often miss more than not, rest.

Now that we can manage our survival deficiencies — eating and drinking without begging our bodies to hold it down and taking comfort in a decent night’s sleep, even if it comes with the help of a sleep aid — it’s time to level up our thriving game and step away from mere survival and into feeling safe and secure both inside our personal spaces and with ourselves.

Safety can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s having a roof over their heads at night, so they can rest and refuel away from the world. For others, that roof is (and may always be) above their heads, so safety is job security, freedom to live within individually set boundaries, available healthcare, stability within their place in the world... this list is long and extremely individualized. Broken down by individual, safety and security differ so greatly it’s crucial, especially after trauma, to find a safe place to grow without judgment.

Physical safety is imperative for mental clarity. If you feel physically unsafe, please seek help, starting with a local crisis center. Please.
Once your physical safety is secure and you’re fulfilling your basic physiological needs, it’s time to focus on mental security.

Moments of intense stress can certainly stretch far beyond a moment. Even the shortest of moments can feel never-ending. Tackle one moment or one event at a time. Breaking the elephant in the room into bite-size pieces is the only way to tackle the whole thing. This means prioritizing, planning, and committing to not stepping outside each bite-size piece.

Schedule a small time frame and set a timer to deal with each stressor at a time. Safety and security overwhelm can be mind-numbing and action-stopping. Remember to take on what is in your complete control first. Keep track of the…

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