Skip to content

Weekly dose of self-improvement

Sign up
the power of forgiveness

20 quotes to help with adult and childhood trauma

It’s not therapy, but these quotes to help deal with trauma are collected from my writings, Twitter, and other social media accounts.

Ed Latimore
Ed Latimore
Writer, retired boxer, self-improvement enthusiast

Because I’ve written so much about the traumatic events in my life, I’ve said many things to help people deal with the bad things that have happened in their lives.

Some of my writing was intended to help people with their healing process.

Other pieces of content and advice were not meant to do anything in particular, but I’ve received feedback about how many of my words have affected people’s mental health.

There are many different types of traumatic experiences we go through, but they all come back to the same idea: a negative emotional response to a terrible, harmful, and personal event. How is this different from typical negative events that millions of people experience daily?

In my opinion, emotional traumas are unique in that whenever the victim is reminded of the event, they experience it as if it’s the first time it happened. With normal memories, time eventually distorts and attenuates them so that they lose their power, but not trauma.

What happened to you stays with you. The slightest reminder can turn a good day into a bad day and seriously disturb your inner peace. Traumatized people suffer the same, no matter how much time passes unless they do something about it.

People recommend therapy, and I think that’s a good idea. Unfortunately, we don’t all have access to that tool for many reasons. This collection of trauma quotes is my attempt to help spur any emotional healing and quell any emotional pain.

It’s not therapy, but these quotes to help deal with trauma are collected from my writings, Twitter, and other social media accounts.. Some of them are tough love, but they’re all things I’ve figured out from working through my childhood trauma and getting to where I am today.

20 quotes to help with adult and childhood trauma

Some of us are born into shitty circumstances that forced us to grow up fast

Some of us have endured abuse and trauma that robbed us of our innocence

Whatever you’ve gone through, it’s not your fault. But it IS your responsibility to deal with it because the world doesn’t care. (Tweet it)


Trauma can be remarkably difficult to recover from.

I’m 34 and I had a breakthrough moment just this weekend on shit from my childhood. I’m STILL sorting through stuff from 20+ years ago.

You can’t expect to be fully healed so quickly–if ever. All you can do is make progress. (Tweet it)

[Read: How to forgive your parents]


Unresolved trauma is the real gateway drug. (Tweet it)


A lot of people are assholes on Twitter because they’re dealing with unresolved trauma.

Here, their words cause a reaction that gets them attention they can’t get in their real life…

And attention and love look the same to someone not used to receiving either. (Tweet it)

[Read: Why you have haters if you aren’t an asshole]


Trauma is life.

Why people think life is supposed to be without it is beyond me. The mere act of bringing a life into this world is so traumatic that it used to kill 25% of the women who did it.

We are spoiled because of technology. Most of human existence has been in darkness. (Tweet it)


When you see an addict, you’re seeing someone seeking relief from trauma the best way that they know how to.

Very often, they were never given the tools or support to cope and by the time they received them—if they did at all—it was already too late. (Tweet it)

[Read: 8 lessons from 8 years of sobriety]


No amount of material success can undo emotional trauma.

You will still have to get your hands dirty and sort your problems out. (Tweet it)


Pain is a gift disguised as distress.

Only those who have successfully dealt with their trauma understand the following:

One of the best things that ever happened to you is experiencing the worst the world has to offer–and surviving. (Tweet it)


Trauma never just goes away by itself.

You’re either gonna deal with it or it’s gonna deal with you.

And when it deals with you, it’s gonna choose the worst possible time. Every time. (Tweet it)


The more you learn about addiction, the more you learn about trauma. (Tweet it)


When someone is an ass to me for no reason, I just assume something bad happened to them as a kid.

I can’t return the ill-will to someone with that kind of trauma. (Tweet it)


Past trauma can reset a person’s “this is fucked up” sense to the point where they tolerate what would be intolerable to others.

The ability to endure through chaos is as much a weakness as it is a strength. (Tweet it)


The work you put into dealing with your trauma will keep you from being someone else’s traumatic experience. (Tweet it)


You can’t get over trauma until you can confront it.

Some of that shit is painful.
Some of that shit ruined you.

But you can’t even fight an enemy you won’t face. And if you won’t face it, you’ll never beat it…? (Tweet it)


You’re only as strong as your deepest trauma. (Tweet it)


When you get into trauma comparing contests, the only way you win is to lose. (Tweet it)


The most destructive relationships are the ones built on shared trauma, mutual degeneracy, and competing scars. (Tweet it)

[Read: 8 ways to get over someone you loved]


All good hustlers have dealt with hardship. Usually in youth.

I don’t know if hardship and trauma is a prerequisite, but if you channel it, then you can really kick ass in life.

However, if you let past trauma consume you, then life will kick your ass instead… (Tweet it)


Sometimes people dislike you for something you did. But sometimes, you simply remind them of someone who hurt them.

Because they haven’t worked through the trauma or forgiven, they take it out on you.

Don’t take it personally but don’t take it laying down either. (Tweet it)


I don’t have any magic formula to make it easier for you to swallow the difficult parts of life. I merely have the truth, and I hope that’s enough.

The truth is that trauma is a part of life. No one escapes it. Yours is not special and neither is mine. for better or worse. (Tweet it)

Ed Latimore
About the author

Ed Latimore

I’m a writer, competitive chess player, Army veteran, physicist, and former professional heavyweight boxer. My work focuses on self-development, realizing your potential, and sobriety—speaking from personal experience, having overcome both poverty and addiction.

Follow me on Twitter.