Are you a survivor?

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates

Everyone has had something traumatic happen to them. Everyone. There are the obvious things: surviving a murder attempt, rape, torture. But what is important is not what happened to you, but rather how it affected you, and how you have responded to it.

Their are many people who have suffered what most would consider terrible tragedies, but who put the negative behind them and get on with their lives, living happily and fully despite the event. We know those, too, who seemingly become crushed and immobilized by things we consider inoccuous, like their goldfish dying, or getting a "C" in a class they worked really hard at.

I have known quite a few people in my life who have recovered from alcohol and drug addictions...and some who haven't. A few of these people were so hopelessly gone that they were at one point pronounced dead. Serious shit. Deadly serious. And what may sound very odd to some of you is that many of these people are now grateful for those experiences, because those were their "wake up calls" that enabled them to start the road to recovery.

So what's my point? There are several, actually.

1. Don't give up hope. There is plenty of hope to go around; it's just a real cocksucker to find sometimes.
2. Your perception of your trauma or problem has more to do with whether it will ultimately be a roadblock or an asset to you than the facts of the problem or trauma itself.
3. Nearly any past trauma can be "overcome", and often turned to advantage...if you know how.
4. You're not alone: this is a part of the Universal Human Condition.

This also has something to do with why "self help" programs often fail to improve people's lives. But more on that later.

Phil