When I started writing my Let Go and Be Free series back in November 2019, I wanted to share my experiences of growing up in an alcoholic and dysfunctional family with people. I also wanted to share the skills and tools that I learned over the years that helped me recover.
But what I didn’t know is that in March 2020, the world would have to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. I have kept writing through lockdowns, loss of my job, rising virus cases, schools closing, great political and social upheavals, but there is good news today.
Margaret Keenan, who will be 91 years old later in December, became the first person outside of a clinical trial to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. There is hope on the horizon. The challenge is that will take many months to roll the various vaccines out, coordinate who gets the vaccines, and to distribute them throughout the world. In the meantime, the work that all of us need to do is pretty straightforward: Practice social distancing, wear our masks, and wash our hands thoroughly.
There isn’t a magic cure. The vaccine took hundreds of people working together to find a solution. It took hard work and sacrifice, testing, and rigorous investigation. But we can’t snap our fingers and magically 7+ billion of us throughout the world can be vaccinated. Even with the Pfizer vaccine, it needs to be given in two doses and kept extremely cold (-75 degrees Celsius).
As you go about your day and you are trying to come to terms with how to move forward with overcoming the trauma from your past, there are times when you will want to give up. But when you keep on moving, and work on doing what’s healthy for you, you will build up habits of function. What do I mean by that?
When you each well and take care of your body, you’re building up the strength and health of your physical body. The same is true when you focus on your mental and psychological health.
By practicing the skills that will help heal you, you’re building the foundation for a better tomorrow.
When you read affirmations, exercise, meditate, and live the 12 Steps of Adult Children of Alcoholics, you’re learning the skills that will help you learn healthy behaviors instead of repeating dysfunctional ones.
All of this takes time.
You can’t snap your fingers and all your past trauma is gone. Healing is a process.
Give yourself that time and embrace it.