One of my favorite faith-based musicians is Mandisa and her song “Overcomer” has become a go-to anytime I personally need a boost and reminder that we are all overcomers. In life none of us doesn’t face a challenge, trauma or set back. You’d not be living if that was the case. Life was not meant to be easy…ever. If you’re faith-filled, you know that higher power didn’t design life to be easy; then there’s the devil and all that will try and draw you off course and make you veer towards victimhood. But, you’re an overcomer!
Overcoming childhood trauma is probably something more of us have to do than not. Every household / family has their dysfunction in some way or another. And sadly, we’re seeing a lot of grown adult parents acting less emotionally intelligent and strong than their adolescent kids at times — myself included. I’ll be the first to admit that my emotional intelligence quotient muscle needs work often. Awareness is key to making lasting change…I’m aware of that. Growing up we had quite a bit of evil lurking around our house and not one single person is to blame for it all. Over time you realize the pain and trauma is like a recipe passed down from generations before you, and there are many ingredients that concoct that recipe.
Then there’s trauma from toxic relationships and from experiencing a family member or friend battle an awful cancer. Trauma from toxic work environments or a lay-off can be devastating as well. And then you’ve got a global pandemic thrown in the mix. If you focus on it, it can all be so overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.
So how do you overcome?
That’s different for each individual and even two siblings that experienced the same trauma in a household won’t necessarily overcome it the same way. And the help of a professional in the therapy / counseling arena is absolutely a starting point.
Personal experience — the recipe for overcoming anything in my life to date has always started with a foundation of faith, then counseling, then forgiveness and gratitude. Daily! Gratitude absolutely does change everything. I’ve been keeping a daily gratitude journal and have a gratitude jar that we’ve kept in our kitchen for years now. Taking a few moments each day to sit and think about what blessings have been gifted to you is incredibly helpful for how you can approach a day and that energy transfers to all around you.
Did you wake up? That is a gift. Are you breathing? Another gift. Can you see, hear, taste, smell, feel? More gifts. Do you have two hands and two legs? Gifts!
From one Overcomer to Another
This world of ours needs to get to a place where mental health practitioners are just a part of our regular individual health and wellness toolbox; like visiting the dentist every six months. That’s a step in the right direction. It’s okay to need to talk things out with a professional and it’s okay to not be okay.
May is Mental Health Awareness month and this resource is a good starting point for anyone https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month
*I am not a professional in the field of mental health. I can only share what I know as an overcomer myself and my belief that our world needs everyone to be open and honest about this crisis.
