After
the first stage of recovery where we find safety and stability
(things we sometimes must learn about for the first time), we find
ourselves in a place of revisiting trauma to see it for what it is.
Awareness
in Grief
For me,
though, the experience is more than that, and I find it to be more
spontaneous. The best analogy that I have is that of driving home
from work after a busy twelve hour shift as a nurse in critical care.
I don't know how long it took for my body to become self-aware after
a hard day, but I know that by the time I hit the ten mile point, I'd
suddenly have acute awareness that I hadn't emptied my bladder in
quite some time. Epinephrine or adrenalin suppresses function of the
gut and the urinary tract, and for me leaving work, its effects
lasted until I'd driven ten miles from my workplace. My brain would
become magically aware of the needs of my body. I'd race in the
house and retreat to the bathroom, and then, I'd remember that I was
hungry, too.
