Dancing with all of the twists and turns of trauma in our lives takes us places we never dreamed of. Some of them turn into adventures that bring us great delight and healing. Others take a dark turn that we need to endure to see the other side. As we learn to dance through the flow of it all, we find our way.
In a 24-hour period I can hit such a wide range of emotions that I am shocked. Many days, the flow happens at such a fast rate that I cannot keep up with that wild range of emotions. On good days I can actually find a chuckle over the twists and turns.
Finally, I have learned to flow with the emotions, treating it like a dance.
I cannot dance to save my life so the mental picture of me dancing is quite unique to me, oh my!! It is a mix of my blue jean jacket and my tulle evening gown along with my two left feet. They all wrap me in a sense of familiar safety that I do not feel any other way.
We are all so incredibly unique and special, only in the way we can bring to this world.
We cannot change one thing that has happened in the past and our futures are quite unknown.
There is a dance in the twists and turns of today (and every day) that I would not miss for anything. It has brought growth and understanding. Sometimes it brings an understanding of the simple fact that I will never fully understand certain things.
This dance has shown me grand forgiveness for others and for myself. As I allow the twists and turns instead of fighting it, the forgiveness flows more freely.
Trauma and chronic illness is messy. We can fight the twists and turns of it all or we can accept that we are being released from the conformity of others desires for our lives so that we can be ourselves. Live our own lives with the freedom to dance our dance and be who we were created to be.
What is your mental picture of how you “dress” in the messiness of trauma and chronic illness? I can guarantee you are beautiful simply because you are uniquely you.
Maribeth Baxter, MBEC
Donations are accepted to serve others on their chronic illness journey. Maribeth Baxter, MBEC provides voluntary certified health coaching services to the financially limited during their time of crisis.
