January 24, 2015
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery
abuse survivor, emotional strength, facing fear, finding freedom, healing, personal growth, recovery, Transformation, truth
***On a blog sabbatical until July 2015***
Keeping secrets, not telling. The truth was strangled in my throat for so many years.
Once I became strong enough to tell my truth to one, then another, I found increasing healing and empowerment in my words. Getting the awfulness out in the open helped make the darkness flee.
Over time, telling my truth to safe people strengthened me to be able to speak my truth to anyone -even if they didn’t believe me.
Starting this blog nearly 3 years ago has been such an incredibly important part of me speaking truth in a whole new way. Recently, I’ve discovered More
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December 31, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Personal Growth, Recovery
A Lady in France, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, healing, Jennie Goutet, Reading, Transformation
It’s satisfying to know I reached my goal of reading 24 books this year. I like saying goodbye to 2014 with a tidy check-mark on my list.
Some of the books were ones I’d meant to get to over a long period, and others I simply stumbled upon. More
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December 20, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Family, My Journey with God, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
childhood trauma, Christmas Memories, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, facing fear, Family, forgiving dad, Forgiving My Father, healing, Letting Go, Mental Health, recovery, Spiritual Journey, Transformation
Dad’s birthday is today; gone now nearly 5 years, he would be turning 92.
He hated Christmas. Apparently his birthday was forgotten every year in the midst of Christmas preparations when he was growing up. The pain of being forgotten never seemed to leave him. He would not allow us to put up a tree until his birthday had passed, and even then did so grudgingly.
I know now Dad’s Christmas experience is only a tiny window into his life story. More
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October 22, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
abuse survivor, childhood trauma, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, finding freedom, getting help, healing, Mental Health, personal growth, recovery, Transformation, truth
With Halloween around the corner, ghoulish decorations are beginning to pop up alongside gargantuan pumpkins, bumpy gourds, and colorful leaves.
A plastic skeleton swinging in the wind recently reminded me of the saying about keeping skeletons in the closet.
My closet is no stranger to skeletons. Some have represented things done to me, others symbolized things I’ve done. Shame and fear were the hinges on my closet doors. Strong and secure, they kept my secrets tucked in the dark.
Or so I thought. More
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September 2, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
Blogging, emotional strength, finding freedom, getting help, gratitude, healing, Joe Pote, Lori Lara, Mental Health, personal growth, PTSD, recovery, Spiritual Journey, The Presents of Presence, Transformation, truth
When I started my road to recovery, I felt incredibly alone. My circle of friends at that time were not interested in things like feeling pain, speaking truth, or self-reflection. Who could blame us, really?
I had myself tightly knit with people who lived in denial, thus allowing me the freedom to do the same. I didn’t even realize the cocoon I lived in until I took several steps away. It felt natural, and safe. Little did I know just how wrong I was…
Joining the blogging community has been such a completely different experience. I’ve found so many people who are interested in growth and healing of all sorts. Some from physical issues, others from emotional, mental, or spiritual ones. My own journey of healing and recovery was catapulted with the discovery of such a rich world of genuinely caring and tremendous people.
There are several such bloggers I’d love to highlight on this ‘blog hop’ I’m on, but today I’ve narrowed it down to two, plus a thank-you for the invitation to join in The Hop.
As part of The Hop, I’ll also answer 4 burning questions at the end! 😉
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August 7, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
abuse survivor, childhood trauma, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, facing fear, finding freedom, Forgiveness, getting help, gratitude, healing, Letting Go, personal growth, PTSD, recovery, Spiritual Journey, Struggle to Forgive, Suicidal, Transformation, trauma, truth, wearing masks
Feeling better seems to be a universal goal of humankind.
When we’re experiencing physical, emotional, or spiritual pain, the instinct to feel better can take on a life of its own. Most of us don’t even realize our subconscious is in overdrive doing whatever it takes to avoid bad feelings.
The problem is this: what makes us feel better usually isn’t what makes us get better.
Feeling Better More
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June 14, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Family, Personal Growth, Recovery
abuse survivor, childhood trauma, emotional strength, Facing Adversity, facing fear, finding freedom, healing, Lessons from Dad, truth
His lessons about life taught me no one is trustworthy.
His lessons about love taught me to control or be controlled.
His lessons about tolerance taught me no one is smart enough, good enough, or fast enough.
His lessons about security taught me danger is around every corner.
His lessons about confidence taught me if I didn’t think his way, there was hell to pay.
It’s taken years to undo the damage from those lessons.
But it was his lessons about stubbornness that backfired on him.
It was the one trait he taught me that actually saved me from him.
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June 3, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
abuse survivor, anger, childhood trauma, emotional strength, facing fear, finding freedom, getting help, gratitude, healing, personal growth, recovery, Transformation, truth
Anger with a D is Danger. That’s the kind of anger I used to have. The Destructive Kind.
Anger was my best friend. Always accessible and purposeful, it was my go-to response to many of life’s situations. It didn’t take much to justify unleashing on all the irritating people of the world. And those irritating people were everywhere!
Anger suited me well –I felt strong and powerful when I was angry. People kept their distance and I was safe. I got kudos growing up for being angry; as long as it wasn’t with anyone in our house! I’d come home with stories of mouthing off at teachers and be commended for it. Dad would laugh and give me the rare praise I coveted.
It wasn’t until I finally heard myself More
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May 29, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery
Blogging, emotional strength, gratitude, Transformation, WordPress Express
In the last two years I’ve been in about 150 countries with nary a stamp in my passport!
How did I evade the TSA and customs so effectively, you ask? I’m really not a criminal, but I do have my ways… More
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May 20, 2014
Zoe Hisey
Alcoholic Parents, Facing Fear, Personal Growth, Recovery, Trauma
abuse survivor, alcoholic parents, childhood trauma, emotional strength, finding freedom, getting help, healing, recovery, Robert Frost, Transformation, truth
Robert Frost
March 26, 1874 -January 29, 1963
I used to plead with my therapist for an easier way to process and heal my past. Feeling the feelings is really hard work, and incredibly painful. I wanted a short-cut, some magic wand to fast-forward me to the finish line. I Wish.
Turns out Robert Frost had it right all those years ago. The best way out really is through.
If we don’t feel the feelings and process them –at least enough to heal and move forward– they will continue to haunt us in hidden and mysterious ways.
I’ve learned and re-learned the frustrating truth that we can know something in our heads, but if don’t know it in our hearts it doesn’t translate to change.
Without a doubt it has to start in our heads. We need to think, consider, and chew the facts a while. But the only way I’ve seen knowledge migrate from the head to the heart is through feeling the feelings. Processing emotions like loss, anger, and truth is draining, even excruciating at times, but it’s eventually very freeing.
The most tangible way I’ve seen my life changed
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