Truthsgiving: When Your Body Tells the Story Others Won’t
Each month in my free newsletter, I share an exclusive video answering a community question about holistic, intuitive, or intersectional healing.
This month, A Therapist Answers:
“My anxiety is through the roof about seeing family for Thanksgiving. What should I do?”
As we enter the holiday season—with what many of us in the liberation and healing space call Truthsgiving—I want to acknowledge with truth and tenderness the bravery it takes to ask the question so many C-PTSD survivors struggle with:
“What do I do when my anxiety skyrockets because I have to see my family over the holiday?”
If this is you, breathe. It is very common for us C-PTSD survivors to feel apprehension about anticipated, and often misunderstood, harm. The confusion, obligation, and pressure to adapt in a way that is not true to our lived experience is real.
These uncomfortable and painful thoughts are your body remembering the stories of harm, and for many of us in marginalized bodies, remembering the intergenerational trauma that has been internalized and passed down from generation to generation in the U.S.
Let’s walk into this as the incense cleanses the space and preps our spirits to settle more in our bodies, enabling us to open our hearts and minds to a fuller truth.
When Anxiety Speaks the Truth Your Family Doesn’t
Anxiety—in its pure form—is a messenger about how we feel about our current environment.
Although anxiety has a bad rap because the experience of this intense emotion is paired with survival—even if “survival” is defined according to the construction of a capitalist, post-colonial society, which includes its unofficial caste system and social perceptions thereof—when extracted from the exacerbating experiences of oppression, anxiety in its natural form is here to communicate with us.
Anxiety rises because something inside you already knows the truth: you are preparing to walk back into the place where rupture once lived, or you are seeking to live more fully according to your divinity.
As an intuitive holistic psychologist, I’ve learned that anxiety is rarely irrational. It often appears where the truth has been minimized. Many of us have been conditioned to suppress that inner alarm, to override our body’s knowing for the sake of family, politeness, or “keeping the peace.” But peace that forces you to leave yourself behind is not peace—it is performative.
To understand your anxiety, you must first understand your history. C-PTSD doesn’t arise out of nowhere; it comes from repeated harm, invalidation, neglect, racism, marginalization, and emotional erasure. Your body learned to survive environments that never accepted you. So when you think about returning to those environments—even for a holiday—your nervous system responds in alignment with preservation.
Understanding context anchors us in a more true reality.
Truthsgiving: Remembering What This Holiday Asks Us to Forget
Truthsgiving is not only about family.
It is also about the collective truth that this holiday asks us to dissociate from.
Truthsgiving, as widely celebrated, is built on a mythology that erases violence. Indigenous communities remember it as a Day of Mourning, as their communities were eradicated in the name of postulating religion and manifesting majority culture. Black communities know its origins were used to distract from the brutality of slavery. Marginalized people understand its rituals often require us to silence our pain and amplify someone else’s comfort. This collective reality echoes in our communities and family affairs, as consumerism is used to gloss over the devastation of our country’s past.
When you feel anxiety approaching this holiday, it is not just personal—it is ancestral, communal, historical. Your body is not just carrying your own memories, but the stories of oppression that this country tries to celebrate over, which ultimately inform the trauma we see in families today.
And so we approach Truthsgiving with open eyes. Acknowledging the interconnected factors—which include our family dynamics, our interactions with society, and our nation’s past—let’s normalize how our mind, body, and spirit are interacting.
Letting Your Body Lead: Boundaries, Rituals, and Safety
You may find yourself already tense before these gatherings—preparing to shrink, rehearsing responses that will not start conflict. You may notice your heart racing, your breath shortening, your mind bracing for impact.
But what if this year, instead of overriding those signals, you honored them?
Our truths and bodies—taking cues from anxiety—will help us know what is safe and health-centered. Our truth might say:
“I can only stay for one hour.”
“I cannot go this year.”
“I need a grounding ritual before and after.”
“My healing requires boundaries that others may not understand.”
And that is okay. It is about refusing to gaslight your own body in the name of tradition.
Let that guide you into rituals that feel affirming and safer, such as a walk outside, energy cleansing, calling a trusted friend, stepping outside mid-gathering, or holding your boundaries without apology.
Truthsgiving is not a day on the calendar—it is a commitment to honoring what is real, especially when the world asks you not to.
And if you need support navigating the season, I am here. My work is rooted in care for the intersectional, intuitive, sensitive, empathic beings who feel everything so deeply. Through Integrative Holistic Therapy and Intuitive Healing Sessions, we can help your nervous system come back into safety, clarity, and empowerment.
But even without me, remember:
Your body is telling the story others won’t.
Your boundaries are your liberation.
Your story matters—especially during a holiday that asks you to forget.
So, beloved, here’s to you.
Standing with you, and among you...
For Those Navigating family during the holidays
I offer Concierge Integrative Holistic Therapy and Intuitive Healing Sessions, designed for intersectional sensitives and empaths navigating complex life transitions. You can learn more or schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
Your healing matters. You matter.
✨ Your health is resistance. Your rest is power. Your healing is revolutionary.