🧠💪Start Healing with This Powerful Self-Reflection Tool: Think Organize Choose Worksheet: https://mentallystrong.ac-page.com/thinkorganizechoose
Sometimes, a movie can hit you harder than you ever expect, unearthing emotions you thought were buried. That's exactly what happened to me with Tyler Perry's new film, Straw. As a grieving mother, it brought up so much, and I want to share my raw, honest experience with you, hoping it helps you feel less alone in your own journey with triggers and loss.
In this video, I talk about:
Triggers & Confronting Pain
The movie Straw was a huge trigger for me. I teach that we need to learn to respond to our triggers, not run from them. How do we confront our pain? Triggers are just a reminder of our pain.
I didn't think Straw would trigger me. I wasn't a single mother, which is how the film was presented. But it delivered a huge punch to my gut, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We all feel overwhelmed by life sometimes, like we could snap.
A Grieving Mother's Perspective
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and more importantly, a mother who has lost three children and my husband, my experience comes from real life. When I watched Straw, I empathized with the single mother, but I didn't realize it would be a trigger.
Running Into the Storm
You can't control grief triggers; they will come at you. But you can learn to expand and confront that pain.
Dissociative States & PTSD
When our pain is intense, like losing a child, we can experience dissociative states – moments of lapsed time, where we don't know what's real. For a year after finding my child had died, I'd relive it every morning. This movie is a powerful example of a dissociative state, and the separation from reality that can happen when you break.
My Healing Journey & Helping Others
I reach out to others who have lost children, like a beautiful girl named Michaela, who died in her sleep, just like my Miah. By pouring my heart into that mother, I'm confronting my own grief and hoping she can find some of the healing I have found.
The Work is Yours
Just like a caterpillar pushes through the cocoon to become a butterfly, the muscles gained by pushing through pain allow us to fly. No one can rescue you from your pain. While a strong support system is vital, the actual work of confronting and working through your pain is yours. If you can work through that pain, you can find beauty and joy in it. My journey led to a new spiritual awakening, a realization that time and space aren't real, and that my loved ones are still with me.
Don't Run From Your Triggers
Don't run from your triggers. If you know they're coming, prepare for them, just as I do when connecting with a mother who lost her child in the same way I lost mine. This movie was an unknown trigger, but that's life. It hit hard because I wasn't expecting it. This film's power comes from its unexpected reveal of a dissociative state – that feeling of having snapped, a reality for many who have experienced profound loss. Please don't give up on yourself or your purpose. It is possible to find joy and purpose through the pain.
If you're navigating loss and seeking to understand your triggers, I hope my story resonates. You can learn to build strength and find purpose, even in the deepest pain.
#mentallystrong #PersonalGrowth #Empowerment #MentalHealthMatters #CristiBundukamara #PainandPurpose #MentalStrength #mentallystrong
#Straw #StrawMovie #StrawTylerPerryMovie #StrawEndingExplained #StrawMovieReaction #StrawMovieReview #StrawTwistExplained
18 min