Try to Write Through Trauma
One of the more powerful scenes I witnessed on the news as the devastating fires roared through my hometown of L.A. recently, was of a young man so shocked and troubled by the events unfolding that he was going to simply sit in an outdoor park in Santa Monica overlooking the Pacific and write about his thoughts. Just write. Journal entry galore.
A safe distance now from the fires, he’d been evacuated and didn’t know if he’d have a home to return to. Casually dressed in a loose-fitting T-shirt that flapped in the Santa Ana devil winds that still raged, the man looked tired, confused, and bewildered. Who wouldn’t? I struggled myself to get through the days of the active fire storm even though I knew I was at a far enough distance to not have to think about loading up my car with prized possessions in minutes or running away from the flames with the clothes on my back.
Like so many thousands of others, this man knew life had instantly changed and there was no going back to the “before” times of these historic fires. I’ve been incredibly moved by the reels and written posts from friends and strangers alike online sharing their grief, trauma, and distressful experiences. There’s an odd mix of horror and humor as people do what they can to get through the tragedy. Social media captured a lot over those horrifying weeks as Mother Nature pruned her garden:
A man calling out across a scorched property to his lost dog that leaps out from the rubble five days later. “You’re alive, you’re alive!” his owner cried out to ash-dusted Oreo.
The older dude with his scuba diving gear at the ready beside his backyard pool where he planned to stay and defend his property for as long as possible—to hell with the evacuation orders.
The woman who finds chilled drinks in an outdoor mini fridge that miraculously survived the fire despite everything else around it burnt to a crisp, including her nearby house. “Cheers,” she announced as she cracked open a can of beer while surveying the destruction.
We often talk about writing about trauma but not writing through trauma.
You might be surprised by what pours out of you during such a tormenting time. It’s one thing to sit with those ugly thoughts and it’s another to let them out on paper or some digital device. You might record some spectacular emotions, perceptions, and even abstractions that you wouldn’t otherwise ever be able to articulate. And maybe you’ll eke out some surprising humor that offers profound, unexpected buoyancy.
I wonder what that guy in the park wrote.
Credit: Photo by Mesha Mittanasala on Unsplash