Often times our lives become defined by the tragic things that happen to us. That's the couple who got divorced. He's the guy that cheated on his wife. She's the lady who was in that horrible accident. That's the family who lost their child. The guy who went bankrupt. The girl who got pregnant. The addict. The person that....you fill in the blank.
Unfortunately, sometimes these moments become reference points that stick. The people who know us are often astounded that we survived at all and bring it up constantly. Even though they are intending to compliment us by saying 'look how you made it through', it feels more like they got stuck seeing us in that moment and can't get past it.
It's bad enough when others define our lives that way, but it's 100 times worse when we define ourselves like this.
So don't.
In 2006 my wife Tammy was in a major biking accident and broke her neck. The healing process was long and painful, but she got through it and is doing great. But sometimes when she runs into people that knew her then and haven't seen her in a while, they immediately go back to that moment, as if her life stopped at that point, frozen in time.
Her response is loving and brilliant: That one singular moment did not define my entire life. it's just part of a much, much bigger story.
Is there a moment in your life that you are struggling to get past? What are you doing to put it behind you and move on?
