NO TOPIC/THE JOURNEY

I am unsure as to how to start. I’ve been writing blogs for more than a year now and when I first sit down to write either I have a clear picture of the topic or, as in today, I have a need to write, but no topic. Stephen King once said that he writes for a minimum of 3 hours a day, every day, whether he has anything to write or not. I am sitting here with the NOT.

Thinking back to my week so far, I find that in my work I have met some very interesting people. In Psychiatry, one does meet quite interesting people. Some had sad stories. Like the 69-year-old woman with Schizophrenia that stated the same sentence over and over again to any question I asked. The blankness behind her eyes was so terribly heartbreaking. Or, the woman in the hospital that was so very suspicious of my presence that even her nurse couldn’t convince her that I wasn’t a devious spy for the government out to rob her of her identity.

Most of us tend to take our sanity for granted. We go about our day to day lives with little thought on how fragile sanity really is. Some are born with a mental illness that they live with. Some develop an illness due to environmental causes or from severe trauma and tragedy. Many of us experience what is called situational depression. This is where an event in a person’s life has caused incredible sadness and sorrow. Many are able to move past the sadness with the help of friends, family, and professionals like me. Others sometimes do not see their sadness rooting deep inside them and slowly become negative.

There are others that meet with sorrow and tragedy and can overcome the odds and become amazing people. I was watching reruns of Season 2 of MasterChef. The winner of the competition was an Asian woman. Attempting to win this competition is, in itself, a very trying and difficult endeavor. This woman standing before all the other contestants, their families and the judges, is blind!

I watched her journey often with tears in my eyes. I listened to her story. How she had developed an immune disorder that over the course of three years robbed her of her eyesight. That’s the true point of her tragedy. She was able to see before this illness. She was able to earn degrees in creative writing. Watching her use a chef’s knife, and watching her create dishes worthy of the title was awe inspiring.

What I have found working in this field is that when someone faces tragedy, there are two distinct roads they can choose to take. One is an abrupt dead end filled with sadness and self-loathing. The other is a long, windy and often bumpy uphill trail that is filled with trials and little rewards. And if you choose to travel on that road, you may find like Christine did (yes, that is her name) a greatness both personal and otherwise that inspires others and most importantly realizes the reason for choosing the long and bumpy trail.

Here is an important key to success: none of the people that found peace and happiness after the tragedy took the journey alone. They were able to ask for help and importantly, they were able to accept help and guidance from others. When we choose to make the journey alone, we tire easily and become disillusioned to what may lie ahead. The guidance and help from others hold our hearts and provides an immediate purpose for continuing on.

Continue your journey, love and help your supporters, and keep to the long trail. This is where the journey is as important as the destination.