In 24 hours…

…everything can change.

You go to bed living your life a certain way, just going through your day as if nothing can happen to you, and then…

Wham!

Everything changes.

I mean, life-altering, earth-shattering, changes. Maybe your address changes, your loved one is gone forever, or you break up with someone. These changes, my friends, are called traumatic events. Your brain responds to these traumatic events differently each time, but it has to respond somehow.

Could be:

1. Fight

When you do this, you push your loved ones away by saying anything and everything. Maybe if they hurt enough they’ll stop? I don’t know why we fight but it is a sickness in my opinion.

2. Flight

You run. Simple as that. Maybe you even hide. I do this when I’m overwhelmed; I’ll ignore my mail and let it build up for an entire month. Laundry…oh laundry. I’ve learned that if I wash AND put away a load of laundry a day, I don’t get as overwhelmed, but let’s be honest who can keep that up???

3. Freeze

You’re frozen. You can’t think, you can’t move, maybe you do move but it feels like an out-of-body experience. You’re just…numb.

I know you know this, dear friend, but sometimes we forget when we are currently enduring a crisis. And I have so many friends and family going through crisis after crisis. I need my house to be bigger so I can care for all my loved ones at once. This world is sucking the life out of us.

Because in the last 24 hours, everything changed.

A relationship ended…

A life was taken too young…

A life is hanging on for dear life…

And two young women who just experienced traumatic events at the same time in the same 24-hour period are leaning on each other. Their brains need time to heal.

As we experience traumatic events, our brain has to heal somehow. It does the best it can so be patient and give yourself grace. I know I make it sound easier than it actually is, but that’s because I’ve done all of the above. But you will make your way through this and will be wiser for the next traumatic event.

Yeah… sorry for the “Debbie Downer” of news, but there will be more traumatic events in your life. So gear up! Pray, meditate, take a warm bath, zen out, find a new band to listen to, try new foods, take nature walks; whatever you gotta do, but this world needs us to be strong.

Just, hang in there everybody. We will get through this.

Love, Jes