Post-traumatic growth

Never heard of that before yesterday. My psychologist came up with the term after questioning me about what I’m passionate about lately, and how I wanted to create a fulfilling life for myself. At first she said I didn’t have post-traumatic stress (say WHAT now?), then corrected herself by saying I do (that’s more like it), to then add that I also have post-traumatic growth. Assuming it was another thing on the long list of what is wrong with me, I sighed and looked defeated. She understood there was a miscommunication and assured me it was a good thing. A great thing even.

So with a little bit of pride I can announce that my psychologist thinks I’m not likely to fall into a depression, something she expected me to after such a huge trauma (thanks, I guess..). Even more, she concluded that I want to use my trauma to achieve something good with it, for myself and for others. And that’s what she called post-traumatic growth.

Am I happy with that conclusion? Hell yeah! Do I know how to do it? Uhm, no f*ing clue.

So let me start by telling how my week went, and let’s go from there.

Three steps forward and one back. That’s how I describe it lately. Because that’s a lot closer to the truth than telling everyone it’s going great. For example, I aced some tests with my current prosthetic, my request for a customized wheelchair got approved ànd I get to test a foot that is adaptable in height so I can wear heels. WOOHOOW!

But they also found that my bladder doesn’t function properly so I get rewarded with extra therapy sessions which include stabbing a nerve in my foot with a needle and running electricity through it. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but still, FML.

But if you think I want to use this blog as a wailing wall, you're wrong! I also saw a beautiful sunset from our apartment last night, had a blast spending some time with my favorite nephew and got up today without any pain. So in the end, every day is a good day because there's always something to be grateful for (barf for the cliche), and there's always a tomorrow to start over (double barf for the cliche).

See ya!