Is There Treasure Buried Under Your Trauma?

You're Sitting on Gold You Can't Access

There's a treasure inside you. I'm not being metaphorical or motivational-speaker fluffy. I mean it literally. You have gifts, potential, purpose, joy, and authentic greatness that's worth more than you can imagine.

But it's buried. Under layers of trauma or "undealt with stuff" you've spent years pretending isn't there.

And here's the thing that's uncomfortable to hear: what you're avoiding dealing with is already dealing with you. Every single day. In your reactions, your relationships, your job or career, your self-sabotage, your anxiety, your anger, your inability to trust, your pattern of choosing the wrong people, your fear of success, your comfort with chaos.

That's not just "who you are." That's undealt with stuff running your life while you pretend you're in control.

And all that treasure inside you? It's suffocating under the weight of everything you have not addressed.

The Dirt Is Heavy

Trauma doesn't just hurt you once and then leave. It stays. It buries things. It covers up the parts of you that were meant to shine.

Your talent gets buried under the belief that you're not good enough. Your purpose gets buried under the conviction that nothing you do matters. Your joy gets buried under the expectation that good things don't last. Your real self gets buried under the persona you created to survive.

And every day you don't deal with the undealt with issues, the dirt gets heavier. The treasure gets harder to reach. Your gems barely make it to the surface because there's too much weight pressing down on them.

You know what's exhausting? Living like that. Carrying all that weight. Wondering why you can't seem to access the potential everyone says you have. Watching other people thrive while you're stuck in patterns you can't seem to break.

It is exhausting because you're not just living your life. You're managing unresolved trauma while trying to convince everyone—including yourself—that you're fine.

Stop Putting Bandaids on Stab Wounds

Let's talk about the ways you're avoiding this. Substances aren't therapy. They're bandaids. And most of the time, they're bandaids on a stab wound. You're not healing anything when you're numbing yourself. You're just making it easier to ignore the bleeding.

Alcohol, pills, weed, whatever your drug of choice is—it's not addressing the real issues. It's burying it deeper. And burying it deeper means your treasure gets buried deeper too.

And before you think you're off the hook because you don't do drugs—sex can be a substance too. So can work. So can shopping, food, scrolling, binge-watching, constantly staying busy, serial dating, drama, chaos, or anything else you use to avoid sitting still with yourself.

If you're using it to avoid feeling, it's a bandaid. And bandaids don't heal stab wounds.

You know what heals stab wounds? Surgery. Going in, cleaning it out, stitching it up properly, letting it heal from the inside out.

That's therapy. That's real work. That's what most of us need and most of us avoid because it's uncomfortable as hell.

Therapy Isn't One-Size-Fits-All

Here's what I need you to understand: therapy is necessary for most of us. But traditional therapy isn't the only way, and honestly, it doesn't work for everyone.

Sometimes traditional therapy is too sterile, too robotic to be effective. You need someone who's going to cut through the bullshit and get to the root, not someone who's going to nod sympathetically for six months while you talk in circles.

Maybe your healing looks like a coach who challenges you. Maybe it's a spiritual leader who addresses the parts of you that aren't just mental. Maybe it's a support group where people who've been through it hold you accountable. Maybe it's a combination of all of the above.

What matters is that you do the work. Real work. Not surface-level "I'm working on myself" while you avoid the actual issues. Not "I went to therapy twice and it didn't help so I gave up."

Real healing requires you to go deep. To sit with the uncomfortable stuff. To confront all the stuff you've been running from. To do the mental and spiritual work that changes you from the inside out.

Because here's the MindShifting truth: you can't just address the behavior. You have to address the root.

You're Reacting Instead of Discovering

Your undealt with stuff keeps you in reaction mode. Something happens, and instead of responding thoughtfully, you react from the wound. Someone criticizes you, and instead of considering whether there's truth in it, you lash out or shut down because criticism feels like abandonment and that really hurts. Someone gets close to you, and instead of letting them in, you sabotage it because intimacy feels dangerous or like soon coming pain.

You're not discovering who you are. You're not building anything. You're just reacting to triggers and protecting wounds.

It's like constantly feeding a baby a bottle and never transitioning to solid food. Growth gets stunted. Development stops. You stay stuck in survival mode instead of moving into thriving mode.

And all that treasure inside you? It can't grow when you're stuck in survival.

What You're Burying

You think you're just managing behaviors. Just dealing with "issues." Just getting through the day. But what you're actually doing is burying your greatness.

That business idea you're too scared to pursue? That's treasure. That relationship you're too afraid to let yourself want? That's treasure. That version of yourself that you think is "too much" for people? That's treasure. That joy you used to feel before life taught you it was safer to stay small? That's treasure. That purpose you can sense but can't quite reach? That's treasure.

All of it. Buried under trauma and stuff you won't address. And the longer you wait, the heavier the dirt gets.

What Happens When You Dig

Let me paint you a picture of what's on the other side of this work.

Imagine waking up and not immediately feeling the weight of everything you're carrying. Imagine responding to life instead of reacting to triggers. Imagine relationships where you're not constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Imagine pursuing your purpose without the voice in your head telling you you're not good enough.

Imagine being light on your feet in daily life. Not weighed down by unresolved pain. Not dragging around fear like chains you can't take off. Imagine finally being comfortable in yor own skin.

Imagine accessing the gifts you've always had but couldn't reach. Using the talent that's been buried. Living in the joy that's been suffocated. Showing up as your authentic self without the armor you built to survive.

That's what happens when you do the work. When you stop avoiding and start digging. When you get therapized—in whatever form that takes for you.

The treasure doesn't just appear. You have to excavate it. Unbury it. You have to remove the dirt, layer by layer, until you can finally access what's been there all along.

But know this: it's worth it. Every uncomfortable moment of that work is worth it.

Because the treasure inside you? It's not just valuable to you. It's valuable to everyone who needs what only you can give. Yes, you heard that right. There are certain treasures that only live in you. And they can't receive it if it's buried under your undealt with stuff.

Stop Waiting

You keep thinking you'll deal with it later. When you have more time. When you have more money. When things calm down. When you feel ready.

But here's what's actually happening while you wait: your trauma is already dealing with you. Right now. In every decision you make, every relationship you sabotage, every opportunity you avoid, every pattern you repeat.

You're not postponing the work. You're just choosing to let the trauma keep running your life while your treasure stays buried.

And every day you wait is another day you don't get back.

So stop waiting. Get therapized. Do the real work. Go deep. Address the root, not just the behavior. Find the healing path that actually works for you, even if it doesn't look like what everyone else is doing.

Because you're sitting on gold you can't access, and it's time to start digging.

Your treasure is waiting. And the world needs the greatness you've been burying.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter