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Being Broken

Beautiful short about being broken and the power that comes with it. Got me thinking about broken-ness that is not visible, that did not leave scars that are easily seen. A person can through years of emotional distress and come out the other end looking normal, doing mundane, everyday things like others who have not had anything close to the emotional equivalent of being amputated. This person has no signs of being broken, so much so that they can convince themselves they are not. 

That can be a trap because as Jon Wilson in the short says, there is such a thing as post traumatic growth. Not acknowledging the trauma and being broken beyond repair from it is going to prevent the opportunity for growth. Watching this was very timely, given my life long struggle to make real and lasting peace with my parents. I am likely seeking that growth without accepting I am broken and have been for a very long time. I need to accept my life before J was an absolute ghost town because the all the significant people present in it were broken and could not be family for me. I carried all of that into my motherhood and failed J in ways that I cannot undo but I also made amends along the way, allowed her room to forge her own path. That was the only glimpse of "growth" I had. 

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