Most people I’ve ever met have had some sort of traumatic experience in their life. Some worse than others. Nevertheless, pain is pain and everyone experiences it in their own way. Sometimes, you feel as though nothing will ever be right again. The memories don’t ever seem to disappear, like you’d like them to. Sure, you can get on with life and do the things you need to do, but somehow the left over pain never seems to leave completely. It shows up in different areas of our lives. Certain smells, images, sights can trigger the whole event in our minds again. We push it aside because we know that it happened long ago and we had no control over it.
But oh how we wish we could erase it and replace it with something pleasant. But on the flip side of it, in a weird way, it gives us this sort of extra strength to get through the inevitable difficult times still to come. We think to ourselves, “heck, if I got through that I can get through anything else that comes my way.” It also gives us greater insight and compassion for others. We can empathize with others emotions during their difficulties. We also gain a new sense of gratitude for the simple things in life.
So, while tragedy and trauma are not pleasant, they sometimes can be a blessing. That may sound crazy unless you choose to look at it in a different light. I’ve told people along my path that while enduring sexual abuse as a child created a host of emotional issues and robbed me of a normal childhood, I still feel blessed, and that I still love and forgive my abuser. They look at me like I’m an idiot. But that’s just because they haven’t learned how to step outside of themselves and look at the bigger picture of things. They only see black and white.
Life after trauma- it’s all in how you choose to look at it.
In the Positive Zone
In the Positive Zone 