Emerge from Trauma.
We are all survivors of trauma of one kind or another. Without diminishing the fact that some types of trauma are much more heinous and debilitating than others, we have all experienced it in varying degrees at some point in our lives. It seems to be part of the human condition.
The only way that we ultimately emerge victorious, in my opinion, is to find a way to use it as fuel to move effectively forward. For me, this always supersedes the process of simply looking back, processing and healing. That is undoubtedly important, but it should also include the conscious design of the life that we wish to create as we move forward.
Make no mistake: trauma is a powerful saboteur. The victimized, wounded ego inside of us will continue to play, rewind and replay the tape that says “You do NOT deserve it. You will NEVER have it. You should NOT have it. You CANNOT have it,” etc. It will continue to present a very strong prosecutorial case for why we are simply setting ourselves up for failure yet AGAIN. It is only when we are able to hear, process and ultimately reject the argument that our lives will begins to transform.
Most of us are living with negative inner dialogue, but it has no more authority than we allow it. It may never be silenced, but it is ultimately irrelevant. It can be minimized (or disempowered) by focused actions that diminish its influence. We can acknowledge that simply because we think it, it does not mean that it is true. We can begin to act as if that negative voice is like any other “Karen,” (always complaining about something!). We can move effectively forward despite its never-ending diatribe. We can make the evidence of our actions too compelling for the negative voice to maintain influence. It will eventually lower its pitch and lose its power.
Success or sabotage? There are two types of suicide: the one where the heartbeat is stopped and the one where we go thru the motions of living, but simply exist. From one of the two, we can always be revived and begin again. Every day is a blank page awaiting our “order.” We are the creator as well as the creation. We are also the judge, jury and (sometimes) executioner. We can choose to see that as a curse or a gift. We have to choose, every day. It only works, however, if we manage our lives rather than allowing it to manage us.
Is this going to be an incredible day? The wounded child that may be residing within is not the totality of our being unless we allow it. It’s only in that realization and the actions that contradict that voice that we are able to be the grown adult that is able to comfort and (eventually) heal that child.