CW/TW: trauma and mentions of panic attacks
“Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, of migration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bones know.”
‘What My Bones Know’ is Stephanie Foo’s memoir of reeling and healing from trauma. Even with a sharply successful career, and has a deeply loving relationship, Stephanie feels stuck, grappling with panic attacks. She’s soon diagnosed to be living with complex trauma, also known as C-PTSD. This book is about Stephanie’s journey of understanding the make and break of her trauma, and everything that amplifies the extent and effects of this trauma. And the book is about healing – fully, acceptingly and with tons of hope.
I live with C-PTSD and this book has been life-altering for me. It made me feel so, so, so much. I cried throughout the book, laughed because of the grace it allowed me and felt full because of the hope it made me see. I read it when I was going through something terribly tough. I was initially hesitant that reading about trauma, back then, would just be a cesspool of despair and defeat. But reading this book actually ended of holding space for my grief and my unapologetically cruel brain that refuses to quieten.
Pick this book up, and read it. And then read it again. And nourish yourself with tons and tons of kindness.
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