Physical Wounds!
Wounds that are visible to us i.e physical wounds are so easy to spot because we can see them. We can see the blood, we can see the broken bone. Because there’s physical evidence of the injury. If you have ever been in such a situation like this, you know how it feels, you experience the anguish externally. You may even scream or shout in pain and everyone else becomes aware of everything you are feeling.
Emotional Wounds, The Scariest!
But emotional wounds, they are different. Sometimes the experience is completely inward. The depression, the anger, the stress, the pressure, the anxiety. So much of that is experienced within when we are dealing with an emotional wound. Whether someone we trusted broke our trust, whether someone just broke our heart, whether we have just been rejected from something we have spent days and month and years working for. Those wounds are hard to spot because no one can see them. They are so much harder to see because they have been hidden. Or maybe we have denied them for so long and they are not apparent to anyone around us.
The Process Of Healing.
When we have a physical wound like a large cut, we notice straight away because we are experiencing pain. The next step is to clean up the wound, stitch the wound up if needed, and finally bandage the wound. We have to make sure that we clean out the wound effectively and the good thing is we can see it so that it does not get infected.
Healing from an emotional wound works in the same way, apart from the fact that sometimes we ignore it for a long time. This means it has the possibility of getting infected more. It means it has a possibility of growing without us knowing. Emotional wounds are just not as obvious as blood pouring out of our bodies, but they have familiar signs. It could be the death of a loved one, it could be abuse from a partner, it could be a car accident, a divorce or an unexpected situation in our life. The common signs of emotional wounds are depression, anxiety, isolation and the loss of determination.
Realizing you are wounded is step one. The second thing you need is to ask your self is, is this something you can deal with yourself? Or is it likely that you will need someone help? When it is an emotional wound, it’s so easy to really miss the intricacies and the detail of the experience. We have to really live through it again. We have to really assess and become aware of every part of the challenge. Cleaning an emotional wound is mean revisting the traumatic event and allowing yourself to feel that emotional pain again and again. It is gonna be painful. It is going to be hurtful. But in order to clean it properly, we have to go through it again! And sometimes we know that physical wounds require stitching.
Asking For Help Is A Good Decision
When we are physically hurt, it is obvious whether we need help or not. We might need help walking around. We might need help opening a door. But when we are emotionally hurt, it feels like a weakness to share that with people, to tell people what is going on? When actually it is a sign of courage. If you are on crutches and you need help opening up a door or walking through, you would not feel embarrassed. You know you need to ask for it. An emotional wound is exactly the same. Ther is no need for us to feel embarrassed or less worthy if we need some support in our lives. It’s a sign of courage. And when we have a physical wound, we immediately go to the doctor. We’d immediately go to the hospital. You would waste no time in taking that step. But sometimes in emotional wounds, we wait days, months sometimes even years, before we approach anyone.
The Time Taking Part.
Bandaging your wound is the last step. Emotionally speaking, banaging your wound takes time. It includes forgiveness, acceptance and letting go. This is the longest part of the healing process. Just as the physical wound may leave a scar, the emotional wound can leave an internal scar. We can’t expect it to just disappear just because we could not see it in the first place. The point I am trying to make is, we have to treat our emotional wounds with the same care and attention, if not more than our physical wounds. We have to become more aware of knowing how we feel and the people we can share that with because it’s up to us to monitor how we are healing. Don’t be mad at yourself, if it takes time to heal. Feel every part of that wound and work through it.
