After the initial shock
Have you made it? How are you? Do you feel less alone? Right? Reaching Phase 2 is worth it, isn't it?
«It still hurts a lot», you'll tell me. I know. Here the pain has changed and you may even notice it deeper, as I tell you in my experience about when the body stops surviving and starts to feel. But remember: you're here. Now it's harder to fall into Phase 0 because you start to understand things; you start to read everything that happened from another point of view and with another perspective.
This is an important moment because you've managed to endure the pain and you've been compassionate with yourself.
Detecting the system failures
Now is the moment when you can truly take responsibility. It's time to observe and detect everything that was happening: how you reached Phase 0, why it happened… It's the moment to realise that, deep down, you already knew you were heading straight there and that, even though you knew it, you had no strength to brake.
But I repeat: you're here and that's an excellent sign. It's not that everything is over, there's still a lot to travel, but you're starting to be in a safe place.
The recovery of the ability to listen
It no longer costs you so much to leave the house (or if you used to go out a lot out of anxiety, you no longer have that need to flee so much). You no longer get those very strong attacks. Now everything starts to be less intense but deeper, above all because you're coming out of the state of shock. Here you still lack strength, but you're recovering it little by little.
In this Phase 2 you can start to listen, accept and integrate more things when people talk to you. In Phase 1 you felt no one understood you (and the vast majority of the time that's how it is), but here you already have more capacity for reflection.
The bridge towards Phase 3
You're approaching Phase 3: the phase of integrating the learning. That will be the productive stage, the one that will help you leave the deep pain behind. Everything will start to become more integrated; painful memories will still exist, but you'll be aware that you're getting closer and closer to coming out of the dark tunnel.
Even if you see it as far off now, you're about to feel the relief and the light.