Yes trauma is painful and we need to pay attention and do some work looking at the impact it has had on us. Multigenerational trauma, Cultural trauma, Family trauma, etc. etc.

Yet I am seeing a lot of simplistic views out there and a weird sense that there is such a thing as having a life without difficult challenges. So let us say for instance you did manage to have a childhood without any difficult challenges, you may find yourself not equipped to handle injustice. I guess I could say this another way. I see again and again that there is some truth in the saying that  “whatever doesn’t kill you can make you stronger.” 

Growing up in a household where I may get rewarded or punished for the same behaviour depending on the whim of my career. I do not have fixed views of the way the world ought to be. This is best exemplified in an example of crossing the street or driving in india (probably many other places), I do not expect or get distressed when the drivers drive on the wrong side of the road. I have watched westerners get hit, expecting drivers to obey the rules. 

Another way to look at trauma is not as how it is “not trauma”, as measured against some fictional norm but as what did you learn from it? What resources did you develop? How has that aided you in the world and in life? And of course what sensitivities did it leave you with both positive and negative. 

What skills have you developed in working through your trauma?

You may be sensitive to your enviornment and know what is going on in a room?

You may sense into other people and know what is going on with them?

You may even find yourself with psychic skills?

You may not be rigid, knowing how to navigate change.

You may be a risk taker?

Maybe you do not pedestal authority thinking it is automatically right?

On and on. Think now of how you have adapted. What special skills do you have?