Untriggered by Katie Carlson

Untriggered by Katie Carlson

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Untriggered by Katie Carlson
Untriggered by Katie Carlson
I'm grateful for my trauma. (But that doesn't mean it was easy.)

I'm grateful for my trauma. (But that doesn't mean it was easy.)

We use the word "trauma" a lot. A quick primer on what that means for me in relation to politics.

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Katie Carlson
Jun 22, 2025
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Untriggered by Katie Carlson
Untriggered by Katie Carlson
I'm grateful for my trauma. (But that doesn't mean it was easy.)
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I’m grateful—in so many ways—for the trauma I’ve incurred in my lifetime. I certainly wouldn’t be who I am, or where I am, without it.

But just because I’m grateful for the person it made me doesn’t mean it was easy.

Here’s a very brief review of what I’m referring to when I talk about “my” trauma:

1.) Grooming and sexual abuse by a swim coach’s older brother around ages 16–17 (our actual coach had died a few months earlier in a car accident, so I was a teenager deep in grief).

2.) Violent sexual assault by another intern at the Statehouse at age 21.

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