Thought for the day…The sun came out today! Often in England it gets cloudy and wet. It can stay cloudy for a very long time! We can forget how warm and beautiful the sun is. It is easy to forget how green it is and to forget that those cloudy wet days are likely what brings us such beauty when it is sunny. Our colours are so bright because it is usually so dark and yes…dreary. We appreciate the sun in all its glory, and appreciate the joy it brings to everyones hearts. Why bring this up today? I wonder if we forget about our good days?
When we parent traumatised children there are a lot of cloudy and stormy days. There are days filled with struggle and exhaustion. I think that we can forget how far they and we have come and we can forget that there will be “sunny” days. I know that if I just look at a bad day that I feel like rubbish. I feel sad, lonely, and frustrated if all I look at is our storms. The times that it seems nothing is right loom large in my vision. I forget how amazing it can be and I forget that the storms used to be much much worse. Where there once was violence there is now shouting. Where there was once running away, there is now hiding in the room. There has been so much growth! When we have a storm though I forget to remember how much sun we have had…how many actual good moments. I begin to just look at what has been and still is difficult. When I instead choose to look at the whole weather system…good days and bad…it makes me value how far we have come.
You will have sunny days, in fact it is likely that your good days are lengthening while your stormy days are becoming less and less. If in the middle of a stormy season you remember how much it has changed… If you remember that sunny days have happened and are coming again…then it helps you to feel better during the storm. During these times remember how far you have come because as most storms…this too shall pass and the sun will shine once again (and it may just bring an amazing and beautiful rainbow with it).