What I did see at the recent retreat was a propensity to bare wounds and commiserate on the challenges of being a wounded soul. This is uniquely frustrating to me as I have learned that in order to get on with our lives, we must get over ourselves. Being a walking wounded is a choice and not a healthy one. We all have unique challenges, painful, even abusive experiences we have gone through. The point is what to do with those and the best advice I was ever given came to me at a low point. It was about two years after my Mom had passed and I never lost an opportunity to tell someone she had gone so suddenly. I was working as a Purchasing Agent for a Birmingham hotel and joined a food rep for drinks one night (Dutch of course!) He said he’d lost his mom too but that it didn’t serve me to wear it like a badge of pain on my sleeve for all to see. He said “get over it.” And I agree.
We can be a function of my mother died . . . my father loved my sister better . . . I was abused . . . we were poor . . . I’m fat . . . whatever it is that you are wearing on your sleeve, put it away. Get over your past to embrace your present, and delight in your future. The more you keep your wounds front and center, the longer they remain open and unable to heal. If you need extra help, by all means seek it. There is a difference between being an open book and being a walking wounded. We rarely know the true stories behind the most amazing people and often our own wounds would pale by comparison. It isn’t what you’ve been through that matters, but how you process it, wear it, and succeed often in spite of it.
Get over it to Get On With It!
