Feeling Split

[RisingSun]

Today I've had experience where I feel like I'm partly living in my past and partly in the present.
Part of me feels afraid of some things, while another part feels everything is o.k.
It's hard. I feel ungrounded and I get easily overwhelmed.
Has anyone else had this experience?

[Butterfly]

That might be what I call 'being off kilter' and usually grounding techniques do help. I hope you feel better today.

[keepfighting]

My T once drew the image that recovering from CPTSD is like trying to build a skyscraper starting on the second floor: No matter how well you construct it, since there's no foundation underneath, you'll always have to do some ground work as well, every step of the way, to make the new floors safe and sustainable. (She said this in Dutch and in Dutch the image is very powerful since many houses are actually build on wooden poles hammered into the wet and elusive soil)

To answer your question: The feeling of often working on a very shaky foundation is certainly familiar to me. I think it's part of CPTSD - occasionally feeling split, feeling shaky, feeling like you're at two different time zones at once. It's very disconcerting and when I am 'in' such an episode, I feel like I've failed somehow somewhere and like I'm back to square one. So my T taught me to take a 'helicopter view' of my life in such a situation and look back and see for myself that these episodes are actually getting less often and less intense over the years.

I wish I could offer you more than just letting you know that you're not alone. 

Today I've had experience where I feel like I'm partly living in my past and partly in the present.
Part of me feels afraid of some things, while another part feels everything is o.k.

That sounds a bit like your Inner Child is afraid while your grown up self is doing okay.

Have you done IC work yet? Maybe it's a message that you need to address and soothe the fears of the IC with your grown up self?

(I myself am not very experienced in IC work but some others here on this forum have more experience and great tips)

and best wishes! kf