Seane Corn’s Comeback Story - Embracing Your Shadow To Find The Light

Seane Corn shares her experiences with childhood trauma and sexual abuse, and how that put her on a path of self-discovery. Listen to Seane’s story of growing up as a hypersensitive child with obsessive-compulsive behaviors that she used to manage her anxiety, pain, and grief, how she learned to process her emotions, and the teachers along the way that showed her how to release her anger and allow Seane to help others do the same.

• For Seane, growing up was complicated. On some levels, it could be considered the ideal childhood and at others, she felt unsafe, unprotected, and ungrounded. As a young person who was hypersensitive to the world Seane could feel when something was off.
• Due to the lack of support for her sensitivity and feelings, her natural reaction was to shut down and dissociate and create compulsive behaviors to try and regain control. Seane wouldn’t change her experiences because those complexities were what made her do the work to become who she is now but she would prefer people like her had more mentors to show her the way.
• Seane’s earliest memory of trauma was a sexual assault at the age of 6. As a result of that, she developed an obsessive-compulsive disorder which only became more exacerbated as she got older. What she wasn’t aware of was those compulsive patterns were a way for her to self-regulate her nervous system. Any time she felt anxiety, the patterns helped her feel calm, and this self-regulating effort developed into drug and alcohol consumption later on in her life.
• These survival mechanisms were a response to a trauma that wasn’t allowed space to discharge. 
• It was once Seane moved away from home and lost her family support system that her random partying became more intensified. The patterning no longer staved off the anxiety and isolation, and drugs and alcohol became the only way to help her feel comfortable socially.
• Everyone in Seane’s life has been a significant teacher, including her abuser. The reason that Seane has so much self-awareness at this point in her life is that she went into therapy at the age of 18 and did the work.
• It wasn’t until she was in therapy that Seane even realized that the trauma of her childhood was the source of her compulsive behaviors. It was then that she understood that she was going to have to stop drinking and using drugs, to commit to sobriety at every level if she was going to heal.
• Your coping mechanisms work for a while but eventually they turn on you. They became the biggest obstacle from living the life you actually want. For Seane, the anxiety was always living in her body without ever being discharged or processed. This led to her always being triggered and seeking more control, which resulted in a vicious cycle of compulsive behavior.
• Sobriety is a lifelong journey. Seane’s patterning still comes up, but when it does, she recognizes it as anxiety and a need to breathe through the grief that’s underneath.
• Seane’s low point occurred when she was bartending and high on drugs to the point where she was genuinely scared she might die. She never wanted to experience that again. Seeing other people die from overdosing became a vivid visual example of her destiny had she continued down that path. 
• Seane’s narrative continues to grow and evolve, even now. As a young person she just wanted to be liked and accepted, and love and hurt became synonymous. She had to work very hard to reclaim her love and beauty and separate it from her pain.
• The more that cultivate self-esteem, the more in relationship we will be to spirit. Otherwise, we look to the external world for validation and will never feel fulfilled.
• All the moments that invoke the shadow is what gives us fodder to learn about the light that teaches us patience, acceptance, and love. Life is a constant process of dismantling our identities so that we can continue to move into the right relationship with our highest essence. 
• Your identities and narratives aren’t bad. They serve a purpose and a part of the essential journey we are all on.
• Once we own our wound we can write the ending of our story. Until then, the wound will hijack your life.
• Seane is deeply grateful to be part of a community that is helping break the shame and pain that many people have. In a world damaged by trauma, many people are responding to hate with hate, and it’s an important time to be able to show the world another way.
• If Seane could send back 140 characters to her younger self her message would be to simply cry. Her suppressed grief manifested into rage and other problems and she often wonders that if her younger self had space to cry would her path have changed. She would also want her to know that she will be okay and that pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice.
• Seane has two comeback story shoutouts. The first is her mother, as someone who showed her what a strong, independent, fiery woman could look like. The second is her teacher Mona Miller, who was the first person to teach her anger work and help Seane develop her relationship with God.

Mentioned in this Episode:

SeaneCorn.com

Revolution of the Soul by Seane Corn - https://www.amazon.ca/Revolution-Soul-Through-Radical-Conscious/dp/1622039173