Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

NEW and REALLY COOL: You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@karenkmmonroy “If you thought it was impossible to walk,
would you consider trying anyway, or never try?
Now apply that to your other impossibles.”

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@LillyAnn “Every new destiny requires a different past. Choose to live a new future and aspects of your past must change.”

@zebraspolkadots “Just as I was taught that I was powerless and learned to be helpless in abuse, I can learn to discover and live an empowered life today.”

@BreneBrown “My mantra when I’m trying something new and feeling awkward + goofy: Effort + the courage to show up = enough.”

@_StaceyChapman What you can be, is true to yourself.

@soulseedz “If only you could see yourself with complete acceptance, you would fall in love and never stop falling.”

@karenkmmonroy “Try very hard to listen to your heart because it doesn’t shout.”

Linked Tweets

The Art and Science of Saying ‘No’

@zebraspolkadots Finding My Voice
[SEO: “I knew I had to start somewhere — but I was so afraid of conflict of any sort that I would begin to shake and panic even at the IDEA of speaking up about what I wanted, needed or to voice an emphatic ‘NO’ to someone who I viewed to be more powerful than I was. So — I began with finding my voice in places where there was no personal entanglement…asking for this table instead of that table at the restaurant, telling someone ‘this isn’t a good time’ instead of taking a phone call when I was doing something else…understanding that I did not need to explain my thoughts, feelings or actions to anyone, that I did not have to constantly be apologizing.”

@LillyAnn Letting Stress Go to Voicemail (by @YogaHopeSue via @elephantjournal)
[SEO: A detailed look at the chain of connection between not saying “no”, which causes release of stress hormones which do major long term physiological damage (not to mention emotional issues) — and what to do about it. “By regulating the emotional reaction, we can head-off the stress response and save ourselves from possible long-term, and even deadly, illness; but how do we do that? The answer is practice. This practice is not as simple as learning how to say no. This is the practice of mindfulness. To practice mindfulness is to cultivate an awareness of your inner experience, or your inner sense. Only by noticing, acknowledging and suspending judgment of your inner experience can you choose what is right for you.”]

@heykim Zen and the Art of Saying No (via @CarlaYoung @ShellyKramer)
[SEO: More on learning to say “no”. “For every ‘Yes’ you say to some random request, there is a corresponding ‘No’ to a potential future opportunity that you can’t take advantage of because of overload. And for every ‘No’, there’s a corresponding future ‘Yes’ in the form of space for the universe to fill in with opportunity. So when you say ‘Yes’ to something that you know isn’t the right fit or that you don’t really want to do, what are you saying ‘No’ to? Is it even possible to know what opportunities you fail to see while gazing in the wrong direction?” Article lists five ways to practice the art of saying “no”.]

The Rest of the Best

@goodthingZ Coping With Grief on Valentine’s Day — 7 Tips to Make the Day More Manageable
[SEO: “Anniversary reactions occur on the anniversary of an important event or holiday. These times remind us of the person who’s no longer with us, which can cause the pain of grief, he said. ‘Even the most resilient people have this.’ With its focus on love, relationships and romance, Valentine’s Day can be especially difficult.'”]

@kseniaoust Telling the Truth
[SEO: Poignant and achingly honest… I can’t think of any trauma survivor who would not identify with some part of this blog post. “We thought we can lead the perfect existence right under the nose of the underlying truth — always escaping the facing of it, always maneuvering in and out, walking on eggshells, balancing day in and day out. Why are we so afraid of it? Because. Because when we do spill, we get punished, we get judged, we get ousted, we get diminished. I learned it the hard way. I told the truth, and look what happened. The fake got ripped off and I saw my family as it really was, I saw people in my life as they really were, but the worst of all was — I saw myself for who I really was.”]

@intuitivejournl Learning to Love Yourself (via @patriciasinglet)
[SEO: A tough challenge for many people, including trauma survivors. Article details the consequences of not learning to love yourself, and offers suggestions regarding how to heal by learning self-care and eliminating negative self-talk. “Overall, have compassion for where you are at. Self love is not something that is going to turn around in a day. There will be relapses and high and low points along the way. Remember that each low point is peeling back another layer on the way to healing.”]

@DrCilona Creative Expression — Instrument of Healing
[SEO: Article describes benefits and healing powers of creative expression at the various stages of life. “‘Creative activities can be highly beneficial in the management of stress,’ he believes, ‘particularly the stressors associated with chronic life issues, such as coping with physical illness, a demanding job or troublesome relationships.’ As a result, he says, ‘Individuals can experience a decrease in stress, anxiety and uncomfortable physical symptoms and improvement in symptoms of depression.'”]

@psychcentral 12 Foolproof Tips for Finding Focus
[SEO: “Focus isn’t all or nothing. It’s not something we either have or don’t have. It’s a skill that we can cultivate. And practice makes perfect (or at least good enough).”]

@catatonickid When Everyone Else is Perfect Except You (via Treating Anxiety Blog)
[SEO: “One of the cardinal cognitive distortions of anxiety: Thinking everyone else has it together 100%. That everyone else in the nearby vicinity’s better than you because, well, it just seems obvious at the time. For the same reasons my self-esteem’s been dented along the way to wherever I am now. Thinking like that not only increases the likelihood I’ll panic, it increases the amount of pressure I put on myself, and the degree to which I’m then able to recognize what is and isn’t anxiety talking.”]

@goodthingZ 5 Strategies to Survive the Winter Doldrums
[SEO: “It’s early February and the winter already feels long, cold and confining. When you crave sunshine and warmth but are facing another winter blizzard it’s easy to get stuck in a negative mood.”]