Tragedy is part of life.
I wish it wasn’t, but it is.
At some point we are all going to lose someone, get a phone call we weren’t expecting, watch someone we care about struggle, or go through something that just doesn’t make sense.
And somehow, life around us keeps moving.
We still have to go to work.
We still have families that need us.
We still have responsibilities.
We still have to get up the next morning.
So how do we deal with it?
I think we have to attack it from a few different places.
Logically.
Control what you can control.
You can’t change what happened. You can’t go backwards. And you can drive yourself crazy asking “what if?” over and over again.
What you can control is what you do next.
Eat. Sleep. Move your body. Talk to someone. Take care of the things that need taken care of.
Sometimes getting through today is enough.
Emotionally.
Feel it.
You don’t have to be the strong one every second of every day.
Be sad. Be pissed off. Cry. Talk about it. Sit quietly if that’s what you need.
There isn’t a perfect way to handle pain.
But pretending it doesn’t hurt usually isn’t the answer either.
Spirtitually
This is probably where I’ve changed the most.
I don’t believe faith means we are supposed to understand everything that happens to us.
Sometimes we won’t.
Faith is trusting God even when we don’t understand the plan.
Sometimes prayer is asking for answers.
Sometimes it’s asking for strength.
And sometimes it’s simply, “God, I don’t know what to do with this.”
That’s still prayer.
Tragedy isn’t something we always “get over.”
Some things stay with us.
We just learn how to carry them differently.
Give yourself some grace. Lean on the people around you. Lean on your faith.
And when today feels like too much, don’t worry about next week.
