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Regain Your Sense of Normalcy |
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Even
before the tragedies of Sept. 11, most of us were dependent
upon a healthy sense of denial in order to function on a
daily basis. After all, we wouldn't be able to go about our
normal activities if we couldn't deny the potential dangers
lurking on highways or on school playgrounds. |
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Feeling normal
again is about regaining control |
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To some extent, we were even able to deny the magnitude of other
people's feelings, hastily and prematurely reassuring others
that "everything is going to be all right" when they were upset,
without giving them a chance to fully express their emotions.
But the terrorist attacks on our nation have blown away the
protective mantle of denial that everyone needs to function. If
it was enough to make George W. and Dan Rather cry on
television, it was enough to shake you and me to our core. Being
shaken to the core is exhausting and debilitating and also makes
daily routines seem meaningless.
Add to this the continued stories of people who survived -- and
people who didn’t. How chance saved some and doomed others. How
firefighters and police went into ground zero to save lives,
then lost their own. As each of these stories unfold, we
identify and relate and know that it could have easily happened
to any of us. And if it didn't happen to one of our own loved
ones, it seems that many of us knew someone who knew someone who
perished.
All of these factors make it difficult to return to business as
usual. In particular, many of us working people are struggling
to get back on track in our professional lives.
However, just because most people say that life will never be
the same again doesn’t mean that it will be entirely different
than what it once was. To help yourself return to some semblance
of normalcy, reach out to others and ask them how and what they
are doing to try to get past the tragedy in their own lives.
Also recognize that you can use this time as an opportunity to
become a more balanced person, to stop work from having such a
strong hold over your day-to-day existence. Most workaholic-type
personalities turn out to be more successful in their careers
than in their personal relationships. Yet if there is one thing
that this tragedy should teach all of us, it is that at the end
of our lives, it is less important to have money than to have
loved and have been loved. Living well is about loving well.
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