Cold Water is Traumatic

        Have I ever mentioned I hate the cold? It is true: wintry weather, ice, snow, all that stuff makes me miserable. When I was looking for a place to church plant, I asked God only to send us to a warm place; I refused to go to Alaska… To me, Cold Water is Traumatic.

        Yesterday, I introduced the iceberg with two new external effects: Cold Water vs. Hot Water. Today, I want to talk about the cold water's effect on the iceberg. As I mentioned yesterday, the cold water represents trauma, which is always caused by an outside source of injury.

        If you look at the picture, you will see a list of traumatic sources. The source can be either neglect or abuse that resulted in trauma. All of these traumatic events occur apart from our own actions and, in general, are caused by another person's actions. 

        The last category is Natural or Environmental causes. This considers trauma that might have occurred unrelated directly or indirectly to human action. A house fire caused by old, faulty wiring, a car accident, a wildfire, or an earthquake are all events that can cause trauma or psychological harm, yet are not caused by human intent.

        Regardless of the traumatic cause, the effect on a person can be the same: hyper-vigilance, fight/flight/freeze mindset associated with fear. The trauma, if left untreated, will directly impact the parts of our well-being below the surface. It impacts our thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and core beliefs.

        One person might be in a room and say, “Man, it is cold in here,” and the other person says, ‘It feels just right to me.” This is because cold affects everyone differently; the same is true for traumatic events.

        For example, two people experience the same house fire or earthquake. One is unaffected by the event and is able to move on. The other person is paralyzed, unable to function, and suffers from PTSD. Being trauma-informed is to realize that no two people process the traumatic experience the same way.

        Cold only has one purpose: to freeze stuff. It is not just unproductive, but dangerous for a person to be frozen because of traumatic events. The goal is to change the water temperature to reduce and control the iceberg’s growth and, ultimately, your psychological well-being.

Tomorrow’s blog will take up the question of “what is not trauma.” Yes, there are things people calm to be traumatic, that are not traumatic at all, just poor decisions. 

 TTFN

Pastor Charles