How Unresolved Trauma Shows Up in Your Life—and 5 Ways to Release It
Last week, I released an episode from my podcast, Bent Not Broken, that discussed unresolved trauma and its impact. Having dealt with some trauma in my own life, I was surprised to learn how unresolved trauma can manifest itself in our bodies – physically and emotionally – and I wanted to learn more.
Unresolved trauma isn’t just a memory from the past — it’s an emotional imprint that lingers in the body, the mind, and the nervous system long after the event has ended. Trauma can come from a single moment or years of emotional neglect, gaslighting, betrayal, abandonment, or chronic stress. And for many women, especially after divorce or emotional abuse, that trauma becomes the silent weight shaping how we think, love, choose, and show up in the world.
What Unresolved Trauma Really Is
Trauma is not the event itself — it’s what happens inside of us because of the event.
Unresolved trauma occurs when our system never gets to complete its natural healing process. Instead of integrating the experience, we store it. It becomes stuck energy, living in our body as tension, fear, emotional triggers, perfectionism, people-pleasing, shutdown, anxiety, or hypervigilance.
How Unresolved Trauma Affects Us
Unprocessed trauma shows up everywhere:
In our relationships: We question ourselves, settle for crumbs, silence our voice, or fear abandonment.
In our emotions: We feel numb, overwhelmed, or reactive to things that seem “small.”
In our body: Headaches, chronic fatigue, digestive issues, insomnia, functional symptoms, and anxiety are common.
In our identity: We forget who we are. We shrink. We disconnect from our own needs and desires.
Trauma doesn’t disappear — it shapes us until we consciously choose healing.
How We Begin to Release It
Healing begins with awareness and naming what hurt.
Then, slowly and compassionately, we can:
Reconnect with the body through breathwork, grounding, or somatic practices
Challenge old beliefs created in moments of fear
Speak our truth instead of staying silent
Seek support through coaching, therapy, or safe community
Rewrite the story of what the trauma once meant
Releasing trauma isn’t about “getting over it.” It’s about reclaiming the parts of you that were never broken — only buried.
You deserve to feel whole, steady, and free again. And healing is possible.
Until next time,
Coach Deborah
Website: www.brokentoboldness.com
Email: deborah@brokentoboldness.com