TBI Survivor Blog Series 2021
Loving Ourselves Through The Process
"...I decided to look at myself more tenderly and more gently and discovered the beauty, the attributes and the gifts that were emerging..."
So many years of education yet nobody ever taught us how to love ourselves and why it’s so important.
One of the silver linings of my Traumatic Brain Injury recovery journey was learning to love myself and to discover who I was in this new chapter of my life.
This transformative journey was unlike any others... I wasn’t me anymore... something inside had altered, had shifted. The inner pattern had shuffled the programming of my whole being and I didn't have a road map to access the emerging new self.
Frustrations, fears, discouragement, numbness - all were repressed emotions that were holding me down to the ground in a state of lethargy, despair and confusion for many years.
Rejecting the new me wasn’t an option, I had so little energy at first when I had this altering life event. As the days passed, the weeks unfolded and became months, I decided to look at myself more tenderly and more gently and discovered the beauty, the attributes and the gifts that were emerging from time to time.
I learned to nurture my body and my emotional disturbances with kind and loving words. I kept taking care of my own needs and did not sacrifice my well-being to please others.
I keep recording in my journal the elusive and nonlinear transformations I was experiencing, rather than the ones I was expecting.
I found my voice, but at first my attempts were hesitant and were often perceived by others as demanding and unnecessary. I appeared needy to my loved ones. I was lost and afraid of the unknown. I had a deep feeling of sadness at the idea I would never get back to who I was.
Loving myself required letting go of people who weren’t there for me or weren’t capable or comfortable travelling with me to the next level of my rebirth.
I became a disciple of self-love and self-compassion due to that unexpected tragic situation.
It took a Big Bang to start this inner love affair with myself.
I know you can rely on your compassion and tenderness in my invitation to meet yourself lovingly. You are worthy of loving yourself and being loved, dear ones.
I dream of a day when we will all accept self-love as a valuable and essential currency.
Kindly,
France Theriault
*You can follow me on Instagram at Standing by Your Side65 where I share inspirational stories, sharing insights of living a beautiful & meaningful life 8 years after having had a TBI from a cycling accident.
