The Trauma Brain: Powered by an Automatic, Unstoppable Engine

Trauma brains and overwork—my absolute favourite topic to write about because I've lived through it. Sometimes, I continue to live through it, thanks to immediate work or life issues, or lingering grief from my late husband. The point is, whatever the trauma, I wake up the next morning with a smile so bright that even a high-voltage Surya bulb would be terrified of me.

Ex-colleagues from my previous organisation were bowled over to learn that I had lost my husband just four months prior to joining the company. It was during that period I realised I have Deadpool inside me, and I was doing a far better job than Ryan Reynolds in real life—no disrespect to Mr. Reynolds, of course! My personality suddenly got amplified from funny to funnier, and loud to louder, and I had absolutely no control over it. I remember calling myself "the wild widow"—in my own head, of course. If I had said it out loud at that moment, I might have been taken straight to an asylum.

The point is, my trauma brain erases pain so quickly that I could put ISRO and NASA's space rockets to shame. Even before those wonderful machines can reach their destinations, a smile wider than a lunar crater is already plastered across my face. This ability came to me naturally five years ago, and now there is no going back. I call it the "trauma brain"—an automatic switch that flips on and off, an engine that is always running and ignites all on its own.

How wonderful is the human brain, honestly? The way it helps us adapt to any and every life situation is simply amazing.