Welcome to this 5 min podcast...
I am spattered with scars. Does that imply I have suffered or that I have healed? Or, does it indicate both are true? Do my scars create a pattern of beauty that showers me with grace. Or, do my scars define my existence, and the very essence of my being, as flawed and damaged. What is the story I am telling myself?
For many years, the theme of my story was…I am broken. After I experienced a traumatic brain injury, I saw a psychiatrist to receive a consultation to document the neurological and psychological impacts of the injury. When I read the first line of her report, “her whole life was bad”, I was both shocked and giddy. Finally someone affirmed me and my view of the world. However, by this point in my life, the affirmation was of no consequence. I had moved past my world view that …I am broken.
My perspective…or story…began to change after my eldest son was killed. The grief was so all encompassing…so overwhelming…that I felt I was loosing myself in the process. And the only way I could reclaim my sense of self, was to use…what is commonly referred to as person first language. So, instead of saying I am a depressed person, I would say I am experiencing symptoms of depression. In the first scenario, the depression defines me as a person. In the second scenario, I am a person experiencing one of a thousand different feelings available to a member of the human race...
