Dear Sylvia,
I posted a thread, that basically said
“A substitute for therapy, is talking to someone who’s going through extreme loss..
Loss of a spouse,
Tragic accident,
Terminal illness,
And if you can convince them to be sad,
Go ahead and be sad. “
This thought came from a conversation with a woman named Sylvia, (won’t include her last name for obvious reasons)
But she was coming into the gym, and was saying it’s where she thinks she can get some healing from.
I asked “what’s been going on Sylvia?”
She then explained 2 months ago the loss of her dear husband of 40 years..
She said it happened so fast, we had all these plans, and now she doesn’t ever want to leave the house.
And I’ve gone through my own version of loss, many of them actually.
Matter of fact as I’m writing this, I’m on Day 1 of the road back to recovery from a fully blown patellar tendon in my knee..
With surgery on my mind, with physical therapy on the way, and a long road ahead,
Her voice rings through, and it’s one that should ring through for you too.
She was telling me “you’re so young, you have so much life to live and things to experience, I’m old now, I don’t see my kids much because they’re married, and I lost my only reason to live.. I’m well off, but the memories don’t matter as much as the memories I can make, and now that I’m old I feel like I don’t have much more to make.”
And it was hitting me really hard as I listened to her speak.
Oddly enough, 20 minutes after saying goodbye to Sylvia, I come across a post from a hospital chaplain of 8 years, and he had this to say..
And so, if you’re just like me, have the full stack of pain, bs, false beliefs, trauma, problems..
Coming from one’s that are at deaths doorstep,
Don’t be so afraid, life is meant to be lived.
All parts of it,
All aspects that come with it,
I think I’d say, that letting pain and situations actually digest,
Only make the good times that much sweeter,
Make you that much more present and accepting.
Nobody wants to rush into that lifestyle of being wealthy, famous, and what they were after,
And realize it’s not what they actually wanted,
Or they’ve peaked at level 10 and have no more happiness to have,
Fulfillment is the North Star.
Fulfillment comes with knowing you’ve had bad times, and still made your way to where you are.
