An effect of trauma
Exhaustion
This is not tiredness. This is the bone deep depletion that comes from years of a nervous system running on high alert. From surviving things that should not have had to be survived. From hypervigilance that never got to turn off. From carrying more than any one person should carry for longer than anyone should have to carry it. You sleep and wake up tired. You rest and do not feel rested. Your body is not broken. It is depleted. There is a difference and it matters.
Depletion this deep took years to accumulate and does not clear with a good weekend. It lifts the way it fell, gradually, as the nervous system spends less on defense. Rest becomes actual rest only when the body believes the watch can end. Safe people, met regularly, are part of how it starts believing that.
It can sound like
If any of those sentences live in your head too, you are in good company here.
Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.
You do not have to carry this alone.
Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.