When something tragic happens in your life it changes everything.
You spend your whole
life, every moment of your day trying not to remember, trying not to relive
those horrifying minutes that changed your life.
You begin to realize that your
life was simple, joyous uncomplicated before the tragedy.
That moment when your life
became split ... before the event ... after the event.
From that moment on it became a
survival of your mental health and well being.
At first your mind won't stop
replaying it over and over. It hurts so bad that you can feel the pain in
your stomach, back and most definitely your heart. Often sure that there
is something wrong, heart attack, ulcer, but it's only the unbearable hurt of
your loss.
Then you slowly realize that
you are stuck here and have no choice but to deal with what is left. In
order to survive and live again you have to train your brain to stop
replaying the event in your mind. In the beginning it's hard because it
will just creep in unexpectedly, surrounded by other people that are living
their life carefree and your emotions sometimes get the best of you. They
don't understand what is going on with you. Some of them try, others
don't and then eventually they want you to just get over it.
So, you begin to develop the
skill of pushing those thoughts and "the" scene back, back, back far
into your brain. Where it can't resurface at just any time. It's
still there but you become really good at keeping it there.
If you allow it though
"it" will come back with a vengeance and those feelings of sickness
will hit you.
Determined to survive you
continue to push that moment in my life back so that I can enjoy the life you
are left with.
This is my life and there are
so many reasons I am grateful for what I have now regardless of that
tragedy. I won't allow myself to feel guilty that I can still find some
joy in my life even without my son. The memories we had together before he was
gone are what I will continue to allow myself to replay but that tragic moment
will have to lay still. But it continues to be a mental struggle
everyday. A struggle that only I know exists regardless of how long it
has been.