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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · 14h

set me alight
reduce me to #ash
tell me you’re nothing
without me

punish me as often
as you believe you can
tell yourself that
you don’t think about me

just never forget
I held you as you cried

and I’ve seen exactly
what you are inside

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

I tried so hard
not to #clash with you
but just as naturally as
a wave smacking the cliffside
our stubborn walls collided
we couldn't see the sun
for the clouds, instead
we watched it all
come crashing down

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · 2d

it is a day to be celebrated
the day you finally #associate love
with safety, warmth, and caring
rather than defiance, sadness, and fear

when that day comes
we should celebrate you
because you got yourself here
as close to 'the other side'
as it is possible to be

#vss365

4 19

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Aug 23

I just adore how the wind whipping through the forest trees outside my bedroom window mimics the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

2

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Aug 13

I used to write for the right reasons, but I think I've been losing that recently.

As a result, I've stopped writing.

How do you reclaim the reasons you started writing? How do you quiet down the noise of everything else?

I miss it, but I just can't find the energy to do it.

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 30

The guilt trap: When 'fun' starts to mean 'self worth'.

'Because the truth is that trauma is not linear. I know we hear it and we say it all the time, but we need to start believing it. I need to start believing it.'

Read it here: buff.ly/BTwLe3G

2

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 23

The Trauma Grief Process: On the feelings you will encounter as you heal.

Different types of grief come when you're healing from trauma, and they're all joined by the usual five stages. But then there are the extra stages.

Read all about them here: buff.ly/bDXFJcq

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 16

#substack #essay #trauma #recovery #ptsd #grief #guilt

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 16

I just love hanging out with my best friend 🐾

An adorable black cat sat on a pink bedspread, looking up at the sky

1

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 16

You are entitled to your grief: On the other feelings that grieving can bring up.

A reflection on the emotions that come from bereavement in a dysfunctional family.

Read it here: buff.ly/IKSpcdl

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 11

if trauma was a career field
I'd surely be a #savant
I can expertly read into
every muscle twitch
every despondent sigh
every single movement
to see if you're mad at me
and if there is a trigger looming
I'll greet it like an old friend
but trauma isn't a career
so I'll fix myself instead

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 10

We've entered the time of the year where I spend 85% of my time squinting against the sun and double-checking I've actually put my sunglasses on. What a time to live.

#microverse #microtography

Microscopic image of a leaf that is half sun exposed

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 8

I thought I longed for summer, but now it's here, I realise I'm longing for a summer I already experienced.

#microverse #microtography

Microscopic photograph of a green plant that looks like underwater moss

5

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 4

I try to be tender to myself
to radiate compassion through my bones
the way I would for someone else
when I remember how you taught me
to love someone is to feel like a #boxer
losing my most important match
cowering in the corner
needing to escape
yet knowing that
I never could

#vss365

1 5

Reposted by Rae 🦋

Eric Lahti @ericlahti.bsky.social · Jul 4

The irony of it all was my #hamartia was obscure Greek words.
#vss365

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Reposted by Rae 🦋

Cottage in the Woods @cottageinwood.bsky.social · Jul 3

mood.

You deserve a break.
Stop healing.
Choose violence.
go batshit insane.
do it for the plot.

190 1.9K 9.9K

Reposted by Rae 🦋

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · Jul 3

why did this make me laugh

620 2.5K 20K

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 3

I always thought
my Achilles #heel
was that I was too
sensitive, too emotional,
too much and yet
not enough.

Now I know
my true weakness
was opening my heart
to those who did not promise
not to break it, but expecting
that they wouldn't anyway.

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 2

I never felt at home
in the place I was born
it never made me feel safe
or warm or comfortable
I could never revel in the fact
I knew every street like the
back of my hand; it made my skin
feel it was stretched too tight
so, like the #patriot I am,
I fled to find a life elsewhere.

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jun 30

#Nostalgia does not comfort me
It does not serve to spend my time
dreaming of days I happily left behind

I don’t want to recall the pain
of the subcutaneous ‘love’
that still circulates my veins

or fantasise about what I often would
use to numb myself completely
away from my childhood

#vss365

1 19

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jun 16

take it easy, one day at a time
it's even better if you make it rhyme
ignore the #primordial need to fast grow
instead, inhale long, then exhale slow
can't yet 'treat yourself like a best friend'
but I promise we will get there in the end

#vss365

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Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jun 13

as each day goes by
I feel myself #shed away
the remains of you

as each week goes by
I feel the hold you had on me
begin to diminish and die

and as each month goes by
I forget why I even loved you at all
and why I would ever let your words
dictate the way I feel
about myself

#vss365

5 24

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jun 12

most days
I find myself
having to #scrape
together the effort
to even make it
out of my bed

but that's alright
I know it won't be
forever
I know that one day
I'll be back

until then
I'll stay, waiting here
understanding
that really I'm
slowly making
my return

#vss365

1 8

Reposted by Rae 🦋

Dan Guachione @sounddepartment.bsky.social · Jun 6

950 5.2K 28K

Rae 🦋 @raehrpalmer.bsky.social · Jun 6

May we both gain the energy to learn to swim again. ❤️

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