Time helps heal...?

Everyone experiences life through different lenses. Each and every single person on this planet is unique and special. My story is not your story, which is different that hers, and contrast to his. So, how then does someone define healing? What does it mean to get better? Is a person healed when the physical bruises and scars are gone? Have you healed when you don’t think about it anymore? When you don’t cry? When you aren’t scared?

I believe that all of those are part of healing.

For me, the scars disappeared first. Then I stopped crying. I still think about it, 7 years later. I still get scared. That event is part of my life and it has defined part of who I am.

I was diagnosed with PTSD. I identified my triggers early on. I still have them. I went to see a therapist for years. I got a new job, I went back to school, I moved, I fell in love, I learned how to be intimate again. I found my voice and stood up for myself.

Every day that passed is a day that I moved towards healing. In the beginning, getting out of bed was a huge struggle, but I did it, and it helped me move forward. It helped me get better. Even the little things helped me. Every smile was a step in the right direction.

They say that time heals everything, but it’s not just the time that heals. It’s the time that allows us to create space, to gain some distance and clarity, so that we can process what happened. Time allows us to create a new life. It's the time that allows us to figure out who we want to be now that this is a part of life. Time gives us space to stand up and stand proud.

It is time that gives us a medium to take a journey towards healing.

Healing is a journey, just as is life. You don’t wake up one day to discover that you’re ‘better’. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens one little step at a time. And the journey never truly ends. Every time you smile, every time you stand up for yourself, every day you aren’t paralyzed by fear, every day you get out of bed is another day and another step you take towards healing.