Post Traumatic Growth
We must all realize that if it ain't life or death, then we will be okay. For real. I was fortunate to be living in New York City during 9/11 and my higher power put me uptown instead of at work which at the time was on Wall Street. While that wasn't where the plane crashes occurred, it was only a couple of blocks away from the World Trade Center. The whole downtown area was covered in smoke, debris, and terror. People ran uptown for their lives covered in black dust. Public transportation was closed down and the whole city was on lockdown. It was quite scary, a scene out of a movie.
I say I was fortunate because it changed my life forever. With this tragedy came so much personal growth and perspective. 9/11 took a very dear friend John Perry and over 3000 lives from others. While we will never forget this tragedy, it’s best that we grow from it. It was the only way for me to heal, and to this day when 9/11 passes, I still cry. But I do want to share how I grew from 9/11/01.
1) I do not sweat the small things. I asked my mentor once, well what do you consider small? And he stated, “EVERYTHING.” From this point on, I realized that if it isn’t going to kill me, then I need to face it and I need to face it head on. Fear is our disconnect from faith so sometimes it is as simple as checking in with G-d to know that He has our back.
2) I moved to Cali, which is living my dream. As a little girl I dreamed about living in Southern California with the palm trees, sunny climates and beaches all year round. Once 9/11 happened, I realized I have to follow my dream because none of those folks will ever have a chance to follow theirs. It broke my heart to know this, but it reminded me that we simply need to live life to suit our dreams every single day, and that is what I did and continue to do.
3) Have deeper faith. While these tragedies will never have an explanation, we must believe that faith shall always carry us through these dark incidences to get us to the other side. I know that no matter what happens in my life, my number one responsibility is to share love and be the light for those I come in contact with. That is my purpose and I live by this through everything I do. I was never much into this prior to 9/11, but I began interviewing people who underwent tragedies as I felt 9/11 was mine. After suffering severe depression from 9/11 and getting sick, I started aligning with faithful practitioners and they were able to heal from the worst; including terminal diseases, horrific abuse, and former addictions.
4) Face my fears. I am scared of heights, yet I went sky diving. I was fearful of walking certain places in Los Angeles because of my past experience of getting hit as a pedestrian, so I walked that path I feared the other day. I was so proud of myself, cause it wasn’t that bad. In my mind, I feared getting hit again since I have to cross by the freeway where cars race off the ramp. Facing the things that draw fear into your life will only derail the delusion in your head. If you live a life of fear, your enjoyment and opportunity will run past you. A fearless life is the only way to keep that true connection to your faith AND live a fulfilling life.
5) Be vulnerable. I have become very vulnerable where I was raised to not be. Vulnerability opens us up to good things. If we are closed, nothing will be welcomed into our sphere. With the good comes the bad, so as long as you can set your boundaries and be clear of what those are, you should be fine. But people need to relate to you, so if you are always trying to protect your image or your ego, then you will never receive the genuine vibrations from others. You might get hurt on occasion, so be sure to be open to learning how to not get hurt a second time with various things in life. Vulnerability is a beautiful thing and a necessary place for people to find optimal connection amongst each other. This is what I witnessed in New York City, the toughest city in the world, after 9/11. Tears, support, embrace and vulnerability. No matter what color or religion, we all came together as a city to heal. And we did. But we were vulnerable which is how we did it.
Please listen to the Fit Because podcast Episode 28 with Dave Sanderson who talks about us all having our own personal plane crash in life. He survived flight 1549, the one that landed in the Hudson River. He is amazing and so are YOU.
And if you haven’t subscribed to the JZ Fitness Times, please do so, please! :)