Thank you for this. I was particularly interested in the quotes you selected after wondering why we feel compelled to re-present our stories. I think you answered it well: to help us listen to ourselves because we need courage to live. The stories might give us hope when previously we would have despaired that suffering so great will break us.
I remember feeling that way about The Choice by Edith Eger - I might not be as strong as her but it made me feel that I could bear more than I usually give myself credit for. It can always be worse. As long as I don’t focus on gratitude or hope to the exclusion of feeling my entirely valid feelings, even grieving the loss of something I was never entitled to, I find that’s a useful thing to remember.
This is such a great take. You're right about that one should not focus on gratitude or hope so much that you squash down your own valid feelings. It can be quite a thin line to negotiate. (Also, I don't know The Choice, but will go and have a look-see.)
Edith Eger is a Slavic Holocaust survivor who became a psychologist and lives in the US. If I recall correctly, she chastised her younger brother for something like a missing shoe when they were being transported like cattle, not knowing what they were heading towards, and she never saw him again. She decided on that day never again to say anything that couldn’t stand as the last thing she said to someone.
Since primary school I’ve always been riveted by any book about the Holocaust and anything tangentially related. I have no idea why. I do remember that one of the first books I read about WW2 was When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit but I have no recollection of the book any more. Perhaps I should reread it.
That's good to hear. Sometimes one doesn't know the whys and hoes of the writing either, so it's good to know when thoughts found a home somewhere in someone else's head/hrart/body.
Thank you for this. I was particularly interested in the quotes you selected after wondering why we feel compelled to re-present our stories. I think you answered it well: to help us listen to ourselves because we need courage to live. The stories might give us hope when previously we would have despaired that suffering so great will break us.
I remember feeling that way about The Choice by Edith Eger - I might not be as strong as her but it made me feel that I could bear more than I usually give myself credit for. It can always be worse. As long as I don’t focus on gratitude or hope to the exclusion of feeling my entirely valid feelings, even grieving the loss of something I was never entitled to, I find that’s a useful thing to remember.
This is such a great take. You're right about that one should not focus on gratitude or hope so much that you squash down your own valid feelings. It can be quite a thin line to negotiate. (Also, I don't know The Choice, but will go and have a look-see.)
Edith Eger is a Slavic Holocaust survivor who became a psychologist and lives in the US. If I recall correctly, she chastised her younger brother for something like a missing shoe when they were being transported like cattle, not knowing what they were heading towards, and she never saw him again. She decided on that day never again to say anything that couldn’t stand as the last thing she said to someone.
Since primary school I’ve always been riveted by any book about the Holocaust and anything tangentially related. I have no idea why. I do remember that one of the first books I read about WW2 was When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit but I have no recollection of the book any more. Perhaps I should reread it.
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Thanks for all the reminders about movie sound tracks & movies. I have never watched Alone.
This was so lovely to read
That's good to hear. Sometimes one doesn't know the whys and hoes of the writing either, so it's good to know when thoughts found a home somewhere in someone else's head/hrart/body.