Quote from Fragile Sanctuary

Sometimes, the only way to stay alive and breathing is to pretend it never happened. Over time, you can let it in, piece by piece, but if you do it all at once, you could drown yourself in grief. Fragile Sanctuary by Catherine Cowles

In her book, Fragile Sanctuary, Catherine Cowles writes, “Sometimes, the only way to stay alive and breathing is to pretend it never happened. Over time, you can let it in, piece by piece, but if you do it all at once, you could drown yourself in grief.”

This resonates with me for the grief that comes from loss.

This loss might be of a person or pet.

This loss might be of how you thought your life was going to go.

This loss might be of health, functioning, and ability.

This loss might be of the idealized version of your parents or partner.

These losses can feel so big and so overwhelming that we can’t take it in all at once. In trauma work we talk about realization of the trauma and this is what we are talking about. Often that realization of the full meaning and impact of a trauma only comes over time and in pieces. This happens until there is a fully embodied knowing and acceptance of the reality of what happened.