On (Not) Writing Your Trauma
A Trauma-Informed Personal Trainer’s Approach To Sharing Your Story Thoughtfully
I spend a lot of time reading and writing about trauma because I am a trauma practitioner, educator, and writer. My book, Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time, is a guide to turning any movement practice into a healing practice. It combines personal narrative, research, and practical exercises. Despite being both niche and cross-genre, It reached number one on Amazon’s “Pain Management” and “Weight Training” lists and was among the top ten books for “Healing.” It was featured by NPR and has garnered international attention and support from trauma and fitness organizations. And yet, the thing that one might expect to find in this kind of book — my personal trauma story, the reason for my coming to this work and keeping up with it for seven years — is nowhere to be found. Instead, my trauma story takes up all of two characters, set against a beautiful blank page:
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There is a lot of value in sharing one’s trauma story in a safe way with people you trust. But that kind of disclosure is not my approach to teaching and coaching from a trauma-informed way, so I felt no need to change my routine in the context of a book. In that sense, I’ve come to attribute the book’s success in a large part to the…
