When we go through difficult experiences or trauma(s) that happen early on in life, are very intense, or are prolonged in nature (lasting months or years), we often lose our sense of safety within our own minds and bodies as a result. If we have suffered from chronic illness or chronic pain over the years, feeling safe within our own bodies is often even more compromised due to the reality of frequent internal discomfort or dis-ease. This loss of internal safety then causes us to become further and further disconnected from ourselves, others, and the world around us.
This can also cause us to struggle to feel our emotions altogether, or to consistently feel overwhelming emotions such as anxiety, fear, grief, or hyper-vigilance. We may also find ourselves feeling unsafe in relationships too - thus creating an increased sense of loneliness. We may notice that our thoughts feel intrusive or negative, and are mostly focused on the past or the future - without much ability to get out of our minds and into the present moment. We may additionally feel very stuck or frozen throughout the day, despite everything we've tried to help ourselves feel better.
And the Four Main Areas of Life Affected by Both
Understanding Your Nervous System's Responses to Chronic Stress & Chronic Illness
The 4 Main Areas of Life Affected by Chronic Stress & Illness
These are all signs of your internal sense of safety being compromised due to the difficult experiences you've endured. If you are experiencing this currently, please know you are not alone and it makes so much sense. This is why somatic (body-based) nervous system work is often so essential when we've gone through hard things like illness or trauma, because it helps us to come back to the present moment - so we can gently process through the overwhelm of what happened back then (or may still be happening to some degree), and help it to release from our bodies once and for all.
And when you're able to process the past in this way, you'll begin to feel less stress, anxiety, or fear in the present - which then opens up your capacity to feel into things like safety, goodness, joy, connection, purpose, passion, excitement, playfulness... and many other positive emotions that can be so difficult to feel into when there's still a lot of suppressed traumatic stress in our systems. But building our internal sense of safety through regulating our nervous systems is what allows us to start to feel fully connected to ourselves, others, the world, and our lives once again - even in the midst of chronic illness or other difficult experiences.