Seismic Shifts

When I captured this photo, my oldest daughter and I were hiking through one of the many trails in Sedona, Arizona. We loved to pause to appreciate and give thanks whenever we discovered a landmark that was remarkable. Needless to say, we stopped a lot.

This was one of those moments. I have no background in geology, but I believe that this fissure in the ground may be due to some sort of seismic shift in the earth. Or perhaps it could be due to weather and Mother Nature just running her course. Either way, the shift in the earth occurred, creating this gap yet allowing new foliage to grow, while allowing rainwater to collect in the pockets of the fissure.

How remarkable that even though this piece of ground went through something traumatic, it can still grow from it and be considered beautiful.

Living with PTSD is so much like this. You have a life, an identity, a circle of friends and family. And then in a matter of seconds or perhaps over a course of time, your life shifts due to a traumatic event. As if your internal tectonic plates shift in an earthquake and they will never quite line up or be the same again. You may slip into the abyss or black hole that is left behind by the trauma. You may claw your way out of it, but it may take years, or even an entire lifetime to grow from what has happened.

You try to navigate through this fissure that is left behind from the trauma, or you might avoid it at all costs.

But it never goes away.

Over time, you might seek help to learn how to live it with through therapy, medication, reading books or talking to others to cope with your seismic shift.

But it never closes back up to what it was before.

Instead, you learn how to live with it and as time goes on, you slowly begin to heal. You grow from it and find a way to live a new life with the fissure.

You may never be the person you were before the trauma, before the seismic shift. But you will slowly adjust and live your life to include it and perhaps, to even find beauty in it.