“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.”
I have a friend who, in one quick fell swoop, lost his job, medical benefits and most of his retirement. In his fifties, you can imagine his concerns.
Another was sexually abused from the age of 6 through the age of 14. She has never told anyone, as she still suffers from blaming herself.
Another lost her only son when he was in his mid-twenties. I remember a mother, long ago, who was in a support group I facilitated who told me that losing her husband was like losing a limb. But losing her son was like losing a lung.
How, we ask ourselves, does someone bounce back from that kind of pain? How do they loosen the controls of their nightmare?
We can’t know until we know. But consider this: our taking a minute to smile, or offer a kind word or deed, may help that person heal today’s pain.