Trauma Recovery: Balancing Business and Healing
- Updated: October 31, 2024
As an healing and leadership coach, I’ve witnessed firsthand how critical trauma recovery is for those who have faced challenging experiences. Whether you are recovering from addiction or trauma, having support is essential. Balancing your recovery journey with your business responsibilities can be a significant challenge, but it is definitely achievable.
That’s why I’m here to fully support you if this resonates with you. First, let’s discuss why someone might struggle with addiction. It’s not simply a matter of poor impulse control or willpower.
Next, I’ll share some fictional examples of business owners who have successfully navigated similar challenges. Their stories highlight the strategies and mindset shifts that can lead to both personal healing and business success.
Finally, we’ll explore practical self-care routines. As you read through each example, consider which self-care strategies you could integrate into your current wellness routine.
Alright, let’s begin by discussing trauma and how it can lead to addiction.
What Causes Trauma?
Trauma is when something really bad happens that can leave deep emotional scars. Understanding how trauma affects your mind and brain is crucial for getting better. Trauma can change how your brain works, especially in areas that control stress, emotions, and decision-making.
Let’s dive into more details about how trauma impacts different parts of the brain.
Here’s how trauma impacts your brain:
- Amygdala: Located in the limbic system, this part of the brain detects danger. After trauma, it can become overactive, making you feel anxious all the time.
- Prefrontal Cortex: This helps with decision-making and logical thinking. Trauma might make it less active, making it hard to plan and control impulses.
- Hippocampus: Located in the limbic system, this part helps with memory. Trauma can affect it, causing problems with remembering things clearly and learning new information.
You can try to run away from the past, but the past will still keep trying to resolve itself in your present. Deal with it now before it ruins what is most important to you.
Two Types of Trauma
There are two types of traumas. The big and little Ts of trauma. Whether it’s a big event (Big “T” trauma) like a car crash or ongoing tough stressful situations (Little “t” trauma) like bullying or neglect, can deeply affect a person.
Trauma can bring intense feelings of fear, sadness, or feeling helpless. These feelings can be so strong that a person might try to find ways to feel better. And just because it happened years or even decades ago, doesn’t mean it is still not hurting you today.
One way some people try to cope is by using substances like drugs or alcohol. They might use these to numb their painful feelings or to forget about the trauma they went through. This can lead to addiction, where they feel they need these substances to feel normal.
The Hidden Path: How Trauma Fuels Addiction
Nobody wakes up one day and says to themselves, “I’d like to blow my monthly income on drugs and porn!” It’s a slow process involving many small steps. Next, we will talk about what happens to someone with unhealed emotional hurts who tries to ignore, deny, or suppress their feelings.
Trauma can make people feel anxious or on edge all the time. After trauma, some people turn to drugs or alcohol to feel better or forget about what happened. This gives them a temporary pause from the discomfort.
Unfortunately, the mind actually needs higher and higher doses to get the same relief. This is why drug abusers seek higher doses even after their physical wounds have healed. It’s why gamblers return to the table even though it costs them their reputation and potentially their life savings.
On top of that, because of the trauma, the brain lacks a safeguard to say, “Hey buddy! You are going too far with that.” This makes it harder for a trauma survivor to stop using substances or engaging in addictive behaviors.
I can tell you with confidence that you don’t have to self-medicate or use drugs or people to feel better about yourself. You can face your path without fearing it will rip you apart. Now is the time to face it before the pain causes you to do things you will later regret. Unfortunately, I have talked with too many people who made serious decisions with life-changing consequences in an attempt to run away from their unhealed hurts.
In the social media post below, I share the story of a sexual assault survivor who developed a sex addiction as a result of her past trauma. Click the link below to join the conversation.
You know what makes sexual trauma so icky?
— Denise G. Lee (@DeniseGLee) October 31, 2024
Besides the incident itself, of course.
It’s the lies you come to believe about yourself and the world as a result.
Let me explain.
The other day, I spoke with a nurse who’d been sexually assaulted by someone she knew while in…
You can try to run away from the past, but the past will still keep trying to resolve itself in your present. Deal with it now before it ruins what is most important to you. Next, let’s talk about some fictitious business owners who have been able to deal with their trauma issues and resulting addictions.
Stories of Trauma Recovery
Running a business takes a lot of time, energy, and focus. Recovering from addiction or trauma needs those same things. When these two parts of your life mix, it can feel like too much. Let’s look at some of the problems people face and how they’ve turned them into progress.
Codependency and Business
Codependency is an emotional and behavioral condition that affects an individual’s ability to have healthy, mutually satisfying relationships. It’s often characterized by a focus on other people’s needs and problems to the detriment of one’s own. Let’s see how Sarah handles this issue as a business owner.
Challenge: Sarah, a small business owner, struggled with codependency. She used to be too involved in her employees’ lives, which hurt her own well-being and her business. This came from things that happened to her when she was young, making her feel like she had to help everyone else.
Triumph: Sarah decided to get help from a therapist. She learned to set limits and focus on herself more. At work, she set up a better system so she could trust her employees more. This made her feel better and also made her business work better.
Sarah’s story shows how setting limits can help you in work and in life. When she made it clear what she expected from her staff, she could focus on her recovery without feeling guilty. She found out that caring for herself didn’t make her a bad boss—it made her a better one.
Next, let’s talk about someone who has struggled with food addiction.
Food Addiction and Business
Food addiction is a condition where individuals are unable to control their consumption of certain foods, leading to distress and inability to function well. The tricky thing about food is that we all need to eat to live.
Unfortunately, people who struggle with food are living just to eat. Often, they use food as a means of feeling comfort or control. Let’s talk about a business owner who struggled with this type of addiction.
Challenge: John, an entrepreneur in the food industry, battled food addiction. He had trouble controlling how much he ate, especially when he was stressed about work. This hurt his health and made it harder to make good business choices. And on top of that, he spent too much time lying to his wife about his eating habits. When stressed, he would park himself in their basement office and eat junk food throughout the night.
Triumph: John joined a support group and started working with a trauma-informed nutritionist. He learned better ways to eat and handle stress. By dealing with his eating problem openly, John also made his workplace better. His journey inspired his team and made his business feel like a stronger community.
John got better by knowing what made him eat too much and learning better ways to deal with stress. Instead of eating when he felt bad, he learned to do short exercises to calm down. This helped him handle stress better and showed his employees how to be healthier too. On top of that, John gained enough strength and energy to qualify for a local half marathon. Go John!
Domestic Abuse and Business
Survivors of domestic abuse carry deep emotional scars that can affect every aspect of their lives, including their work. The trauma from such experiences can lead to issues like anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Challenge: Lisa, a tech startup founder, had survived years of domestic abuse. She went through years of being hurt by her verbally abusive ex-husband. This made her feel very anxious, which made it hard to handle her business. Lisa wasn’t sure about her choices and found it hard to trust others, which made leading her team tough.
Triumph: Lisa sought help from a trauma therapist who specialized in domestic abuse recovery. With the therapist’s help, she learned ways to handle her anxiety and feel good about herself again.
Lisa also started caring more about her employees’ mental health. She made rules that made it easier for her workers to stay well. Her way of leading got better, and so did her business.
Lisa’s story shows how important it is to care for mental health at work. She let her employees choose their work times and have days off when they needed them. This way, her employees felt less stress and worked better. This way of doing things helped Lisa feel less anxious and made her business work better.
Workaholism and Business
Challenge: Mark, a corporate lawyer, was a self-proclaimed workaholic. He used work to keep away feelings from his past childhood hurts. But working too much made him very tired and sick.
He had no sense of work-life balance. And all the constant pressure he put on himself made it harder to do his job well and made his company suffered alongside him.
Triumph: Mark knew he had to change after stomach issue forced him to stop working for nearly two months. He started talking to a therapist about his past and why he worked so much. Then he continued to work with a coach to keep himself accountable to his wellness goals.
Mark also changed his company to let others do more work so he could have more free time. This made his business better and made him feel better too.
Mark saw that working all the time was bad for him. So he started letting others help him more. This let him think more about big decisions and made his company work better. This also helped Mark take time off to rest, which made him feel better too.
All of these examples from Mark, Lisa, John and Sarah are their work with a coach or therapist. However, if your healing has to expand beyond just talking with the pros. In the next section, we will talk about how community can help you heal.
Being part of a healthy community can make a big difference in how well you recover from trauma. In addition to finding someone who is relatable, you can practice healthy communication skills with others who are learning to be safe with themselves and others.
The Role of Community in Trauma Recovery
Being part of a supportive community can really help when you’re recovering from trauma. It gives you emotional support and practical help that makes a big difference.
For example, Tom owned a retail store and felt very alone after losing someone he loved. This made it hard for him to focus on his business. He felt lonely and had trouble connecting with others, which affected both his personal life and his work.
But things changed when Tom joined a support group for people who had also lost loved ones. This group became a safe place for him to talk about his feelings and get support from others who understood. He also started joining local business groups, which helped him feel more confident and connected with other business owners. These connections not only made him feel better emotionally but also brought new ideas and partnerships to his business.
Being part of a healthy community can make a big difference in how well you recover from trauma. In addition to finding someone who is relatable, you can practice healthy communication skills with others who are learning to be safe with themselves and others.
Next, let’s talk about some tips to help you balance your business with taking care of yourself.
10 Tips for Balancing Trauma Recovery and Business
Are you are business owner who wants to improve their wellness after dealing with some hard situations? If so, here are ten tips that will help you in your trauma recovery program.
Set Boundaries: Learn to say no and ask others for help. Also, guard your time with those who are emotionally disabled. Save your time and energy for your recovery.
Seek Professional Help: Talk to therapists, join support groups, and get advice from coaches like myself. They can give you the tools you need to recover.
Create a Supportive Work Environment: Build a workplace that understands and supports mental health. Encourage open conversations and provide resources for employees.
Practice Self-Care: Focus on activities that improve your physical and emotional health, like exercise, healthy eating, and hobbies.
Mindfulness and Stress Management: Use mindfulness and stress management techniques daily to stay calm and focused.
Develop a Balanced Schedule: Set specific times for work and recovery. Keeping a balance is essential for maintaining your business and health.
Educate Your Team: Provide mental health and trauma recovery training and resources for your team. This raises awareness and creates a supportive environment.
Leverage Technology: Use productivity tools and apps to manage your time efficiently. Tools like Trello, Asana, and Slack can help streamline tasks and communication, reducing the stress of managing everything manually.
Build a Strong Support Network: Surround yourself with supportive people who understand your journey. This network can include family, friends, colleagues, and fellow business owners who have faced similar challenges.
Stay Patient and Compassionate with Yourself: Understand that recovery is a process. Be patient and kind to yourself, and know that setbacks are part of the journey. Treat yourself with the same compassion you would offer to others.
I hope these tips on trauma recovery will help you. The image below summarizes these ideas. Next, I will share my final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
Balancing recovery from addiction or trauma while running a business can be tough, but it’s also very rewarding. People like Sarah, John, Lisa, Mark, and Tom show that with the right help and plans, you can overcome these challenges and succeed in both your personal life and your business.
Understanding how trauma recovery works and using practical strategies can lead to a healthier and more successful business.
If you’re a business owner facing these challenges, I’m here to help. As a life coach, I specialize in guiding people through the complexities of managing their business while recovering from trauma. Together, we can create a plan that fits your unique needs and goals.
Also, I invite you this listen to this episode from my entrepreneur podcast where I talk finding a new normal after loss. You’re not alone in this journey, and support is here for you.
