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Breakthrough With My 3 Year Old Self!!

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@Bedbug I did start reading it. I got to the infant chapter, but could not bring myself to go further to my 3 year old self. It seemed too dangerous. If I roused that part, she was too much for me to handle. Might be ok to go there now, though I find I still feel nervous about it. It's difficult to believe that my fragmented 3 year old is really gone, even though I don't feel her there anymore.
 
What first I denied and then later kind of freaked me out a little was literally feeling "inner" children. I know it can fall under either derealization or depersonalization - I can't remember which - but I always try and understand my reality, whatever anyone else wants to call it - what is my system, my body/mind/spirit trying to tell me?

The first time I consciously remember being stopped in my tracks with this was taking a shower once in my 30's and though I am 5'-7", suddenly I was 3'-4". I literally was seeing from that height, at the same time the rest of me - the extra 2'-3" was obviously still there above, but faint. If it were drawn, you would see the outline of me with the little girl filled in, and the 30 something me above that height very faint. It only lasted a few seconds and then it was gone. So bizarre. Of course I dismissed it, but it happened more as time went by.

I woke up from naps and would again feel shorter heights when I stood - solid inside and seeing from that height before they dissolved and the me above filled in.

When I got off meds completely two years almost ago - OMG! There was no stopping the feeling of different sizes. Primarily waking and my left hand feeling tiny and my right adult size, one leg shorter than the other. Other stuff like this. Really discombobulating.

In my life, I always felt separate from the me's I had been - mostly from 2-24. The me's between 2 and 24 felt separate from each other too. I would look at pics of me and see me as her or that little or young girl.

Discontinuity of self. Every times trauma peaked and it was intolerable to continue as me with that trauma - knowing I would sustain more - I split off.

Not in multiples though. They are all me and look like me - just younger.

My only black outs were under tremendous stress and when severely sleep deprived. And I didn't act with another personality.

Anyway, so when I got off meds and daily felt these other me's who I could feel as they were at that age especially while listening to the music they loved or doing stuff they loved, I read about soul integration and the idea of selves splitting. They are there or out there, but they had to leave so that the chronological me could go on, could survive mentally intact.

I wrote letters to some of them. They felt so close yet not exactly within. I missed them and felt compassion for what they went thru. I created a safe place where we could all hang out and talk and do what we wanted. Meditation was vital to this. There were 13 plus two protectors that really never said anything but watched over the two littlest.

This is getting too long so I will just say a little more.

I read some books on soul integration. I found someone who studied how to bring them back. She was a shaman. I felt she brought three back. I literally felt the integration in the heart chakra and an incredible sense of coming home.

Part of the process was asking each What made you leave? What would make you happy? What can I do so that you will stay?

I want to go to another shaman as time goes on. In the meantime, I check in with everyone every day.

Tomorrow I get my driver's permit. It's been 30 years. My 16 year old self wants to get my license, take long drives and blast tunes!

I haven't felt whole since I can't remember. I want to feel whole again. That's a little of my experience.
 
@macca - I hope it was okay I did a long comment on my experience of splitting on your thread. We have had several threads going on this subject and I said I would post a little about my splits on one of them if it was okay, but I can't remember which one. It's hard to maneuver on my iPhone. Don't want to hijack! Just contribute. Since a kid, always afraid I am overstepping.

Thank you for this wonderful thread.
 
Thanks @macca, I'm encouraged by your breakthrough. I've recently discovered a very young part of myself - the youngest so far of my three parts. I'm happy to know she's there but the more she's around the more I realize what a fix she's in.

Your story feels very validating to me, helps me believe in my ability to help this part of myself.
 
I've changed my avatar, to reflect the big change that has occurred for me. I find myself really feeling so sorry for my fragmented part, now that she's gone and not taking over anymore, as she carried the weight of that horror for decades, always stuck at 3 with nobody's comfort, support or understanding. I had trouble feeling sorry for her before, because she was too much for me then.
 
My heart warms for you, @macca. I like your avatar. I admire your willingness to share the bittersweetness of this moment in your journey with us.

I had trouble feeling sorry for her before, because she was too much for me then.
I'm starting to acknowledge that this is the case with me, in spite of my ongoing attempts to interact with her. I can't do it by myself yet. I need my therapist to help me. And I continue to look for validation of the reality of this experience. Thank you for your post @franciemarnie and for your willingness to share this thread @macca.

I realize that I have been feeling so weird these past days because my little self has gotten very, very big in my consciousness...big in her need and fear and sadness and loneliness and frantic desire to be held and made to feel safe. So big that I thought I couldn't find her, but really she is just in so close that I couldn't sense her. I feel, like @franciemarnie describes, the adult me is faint. Still there, but in the background. It is a surreal experience right here in this moment of reality.
 
So big that I thought I couldn't find her, but really she is just in so close that I couldn't sense her. I feel, like @franciemarnie describes, the adult me is faint. Still there, but in the background. It is a surreal experience right here in this moment of reality.
Yes, this is how it was for me too. For the last 6 months very much so.

I find the very idea of dealing with the child incredibly threatening
I get that. My child part was suicidal, and I was afraid of doing something in that state when at other times I had no desire to do that. I would also punch myself in the head at times when triggered, and I suspect she was responsible for that too. I never tried to access her, she would just take over. However, once I started to accept that she was real, I started asking her to show me what happened. It was a bit too much at first, as it brought on flashbacks, but later I learnt to ask her to try to show me more gently, which was still scary but helped. I got shown a face. Freaky. I never did work out what she wanted on my own, my T did, but in hindsight I can see it.
 
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