Survivor Stories: "Thoughts from my Desk, 3"
"When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves." -Viktor E. Frankl
THOUGHTS FROM MY DESK
Charlotte
Change. The only permanent thing in life.
As cliché as it sounds, it is the truth. The only thing we can always count on in life is change. Whether it be ourselves, our surroundings, or other people, our world is constantly changing. However, just because it's frequent doesn't mean it gets any easier. Change is a bitterly hard concept to grasp no matter your age.
When something life changing and traumatizing happens to you, change quickly follows suit. Any victim and survivor of gun violence can clearly attest to this. No matter how much one tries to deny it, gun violence changes a person's life. More than that. It will flip, shake, crumble someone's world, bringing all the walls down with it.
Bad change is painful. It makes you miss the version of yourself before, and often brings resentment towards what changed your life for the worst. However, what people often forget is the blessing and fundamental principle that is good change.
Good change is what strikes the ground beneath us. It's what tears down the bad and builds up the good. Good change is taking what happened to you and using it to grow.
This takes time, however. Learning to heal, grow, and use your experiences to help others is a painstaking task. It takes all the willpower to do it.
However, when you do, you will change lives.
Moreover, you will change your own.
Once again, I appreciate you joining me in reading "Thoughts from my Desk." It has helped me so much to share my story and the wisdom I have gained from it, and I hope it has helped you too. Never forget: it is not what happened to you, it is what you do with it.
Change. The only permanent thing in life.
As cliché as it sounds, it is the truth. The only thing we can always count on in life is change. Whether it be ourselves, our surroundings, or other people, our world is constantly changing. However, just because it's frequent doesn't mean it gets any easier. Change is a bitterly hard concept to grasp no matter your age.
When something life changing and traumatizing happens to you, change quickly follows suit. Any victim and survivor of gun violence can clearly attest to this. No matter how much one tries to deny it, gun violence changes a person's life. More than that. It will flip, shake, crumble someone's world, bringing all the walls down with it.
Bad change is painful. It makes you miss the version of yourself before, and often brings resentment towards what changed your life for the worst. However, what people often forget is the blessing and fundamental principle that is good change.
Good change is what strikes the ground beneath us. It's what tears down the bad and builds up the good. Good change is taking what happened to you and using it to grow.
This takes time, however. Learning to heal, grow, and use your experiences to help others is a painstaking task. It takes all the willpower to do it.
However, when you do, you will change lives.
Moreover, you will change your own.
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Once again, I appreciate you joining me in reading "Thoughts from my Desk." It has helped me so much to share my story and the wisdom I have gained from it, and I hope it has helped you too. Never forget: it is not what happened to you, it is what you do with it.