The B-Sisters Project

04/08/2026

That was some heaviness in the last post, now here have so inappropriate humor... Kim and I are always joking that we have the darkest sense of humor because we've been through that much darkness -- there will be balance...

04/08/2026

It takes work everyday to keep myself from looking back-- because of the strength of our Sisterhood, I do so much better now 🙂 thank you to everybody who has ever helped me, behind me, next to me and ahead of me. And your trauma response is validated, it's not fair to you either, and we got you keep your head up!

What CPTSD Actually Is

CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) comes from prolonged, repeated trauma, especially in relationships, not single events.

It’s not about one accident.
It’s not about one incident.
It’s about being unsafe for a long time, especially when escape isn’t possible.

Typical origins:

• Childhood emotional abuse
• Psychological abuse
• Narcissistic parenting
• Chronic neglect
• Coercive control
• Long-term domestic abuse
• Captive environments (emotionally or physically)
• Identity suppression
• Chronic invalidation
• Being trapped in unsafe relationships

PTSD vs CPTSD (simple)

PTSD:
“Something terrible happened to me.”

CPTSD:
“Something terrible happened to me for a long time, and it changed who I had to become to survive.”

Core Features of CPTSD

1. Nervous system dysregulation

Your body doesn’t feel safe even when nothing is happening:

• Hypervigilance
• Startle reflex
• Chronic anxiety
• Freeze response
• Shutdown
• Fatigue crashes
• Panic without clear cause

2. Emotional flashbacks (not visual memories)

You suddenly feel:

• Small
• Ashamed
• Trapped
• Worthless
• Helpless
• Overwhelmed
• Unsafe

No images. Just emotional states.

3. Identity damage

You don’t fully know who you are because you were shaped around survival:

• People-pleasing
• Fawning
• Perfectionism
• Fixing others
• Over-responsibility
• Self-blame
• Shame-based identity
• “I am the problem” core belief

4. Relationship trauma

You learned that love equals danger:

• Trauma bonding
• Fear of abandonment
• Fear of closeness
• Hyper-independence
• Tolerance of mistreatment
• Attraction to unsafe people
• Confusion between intensity and intimacy

5. Nervous system exhaustion

Long-term survival mode leads to:

• Chronic fatigue
• Pain syndromes
• Autoimmune patterns
• GI issues
• Brain fog
• Sleep disorders
• Somatic symptoms
• Fibromyalgia patterns
• Dysautonomia

The trauma adaptations (not flaws)

These were intelligent survival strategies:

• Fawn = stay safe by pleasing
• Freeze = stay safe by disappearing
• Fight = stay safe by controlling
• Flight = stay safe by escaping
• Fixing = stay safe by stabilizing others
• Perfectionism = stay safe by being flawless
• Hypervigilance = stay safe by scanning
• Dissociation = stay safe by numbing

None of these are character defects.
They are adaptations to danger.

CPTSD healing includes grief for:

• The childhood you didn’t get
• The safety you never had
• The self you couldn’t be
• The life that might have been
• The love that wasn’t safe
• The years lost to survival
• The version of you that never got to rest

This grief often feels like:

• Anger
• Sadness
• Regret
• Emptiness
• Mourning
• Longing
• Bitterness
• Confusion

All normal. All human.

Healing CPTSD is not about:

• “Moving on”
• “Forgiving”
• “Positive thinking”
• “Letting go”
• “Being grateful”
• “Reframing everything”
• “Staying strong”
• “Just calming down”

Healing CPTSD is about:

• Building internal safety
• Nervous system regulation
• Trauma-informed therapy
• Somatic healing
• Boundary repair
• Identity rebuilding
• Grief processing
• Safe relationships
• Learning what calm feels like
• Relearning trust in your body
• Learning rest without guilt
• Separating danger from memory
• Self-compassion skills
• Learning agency
• Learning choice
• Learning “no”
• Learning safe connection

04/06/2026

Monday Morning Motivations into the week-- You GOT THIS!

04/05/2026

Strength on Sunday-- This is a very difficult weekend for our sisters, please join me and send strength out today 🪶🕯🌄🌅☀️🌻⛅️🐝 and so so much love 💗💓💞💓💞❤️‍🩹❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🖤🩶🤍 Because holidays can also be excruciating 🪽🐰

04/04/2026

We must take care of ourselves first-- You Come First!

Self-Care Saturdays, so I love these little pages, some can seem off, take with a grain of salt... Lots of Love and Light out to everybody today!

03/20/2026

Friday night drinks...

03/19/2026

We haven't done mid-week Ha-Ha's in awhile...

03/15/2026

Passing strength to you my darlings into a new week 😊

03/15/2026

Love you 😄💖💝💓💞💕

03/08/2026

She's a Bee Sister--

Ms. Amy Hassman Thieme there is a good story that leads up to meeting this lovely woman (to which I am writing a blog about), but for now I would like you to meet Amy. She has a multimedia business in the town I live in, in Cedaredge. We share the same talents, ambition and drive! She does so many wonderful things for the community and is a major player empowering women-- both online AND in her community. She takes care of our community the best she can, utilizing her creative skills, services and shop space, just to start; she is only 3 miles from my home 🥰

This second piece of history between us is VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. This detail about where we came from is crucial understanding the significance or our meeting, she's family! To my 3-Dog and Highlands friends, she worked at THE RITA ROOM 😳😳😳🤯🤯🤯🤯! That was over 20 years ago people... It is likely we knew each other then, in 2004 and on! It is likely we served each other and hung out!!! It is even MORE LIKELY that we took classes together! We're close in age!

The actual most important piece of this is being a Bee Sister, she's B- Sister. Only minutes into our interaction and it was easy to see that we have the same heart--- THAT IS WHAT A B-Sister is!!!!!!!

Please kindly take a moment to see what her and her shop are all about, and Thank You!

03/07/2026

I have some good news to share!!! This last week was the fourth week I offered Jewelry classes at Arts On Main in Delta, I had my first two students this week!!! We met two other women perusing the gallery and made Jody a cat necklace! We exchanged stories of our beloved animals and an instant bond was formed between the 4 of us! It's all about kindness, and this did indeed happen the first time and in this way-- teaching jewelry!!! And now I have a better idea how to structure things. My first friend Linda, also just newly hung her artwork with us, it's so Sassy and Spicey and Fun and Adorable and I MUST HAVE THEM ALL!!! The first pics of art in this post are hers, the necklace shown was what she made, her very first necklace ever, and it is IMPRESSIVE to say the least! She was a natural and Linda you really blew me away!!!

My second student was a young man named Ben, so full of wonder and excitement about creating everything, it was an honor having these beautiful souls share a table with me 😄

Connection with art, we are just starting to discover the potential we have at Arts On Main, and it is SO EXCITING!!! and Self-Care, and for Saturday and Sunday I want to challenge you all to write or sketch something simple and give yourself just 10 minutes to quiet your mind in this way 💖💝 and I'd really love for you to share with me, and with us, and this for Kimmy our President who has shown my bravery in more ways you could ever imagine!

SELF-CARE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY THIS WEEKEND PEOPLE'S, I am sending you lots of love and light and I am so ecstatic you've taken the time to roll through the gallery and give us a go! Thankyou so very much everybody ☺️

03/07/2026

Good evening all!! Couple things-- for all my friends-- I had this setting on the group and I didn't really remember setting that toggle for the B-Sister group, and many of you my supporters showed up! There are four lessons here:
1. I got the Page and Group mixed up, pay attention LeeAnne!
2. I saw how many women and men who have been supporting us, y'all SHOWED UP!!!! SERIOUSLY WOW GUYS! I am super lucky for all of you!
3. Although there are many groups for PTSD survivors, I didn't see any groups that are exclusively for men.
4. Perhaps the universe has indicated this needs to happen--

So what's next guys? Love and light out to you all y'all... we shall see 💗💖💝💓💞