What is closure and how do you find it? I’ve heard this question many times. I’ve adopted Tuesday to your requests, questions, and comments like the one about how to have healthy sex after living through trauma. It’s Tuesday, so I thought I’d combine a few similar questions I’ve been asked.
Questions:
- How did you find closure?
- Is closure possible?
- How are you so happy after what you’ve been through?
- How did you move on?
Answer:
Those questions are very similar and all have the same answer so I combined them all today.
Ah, closure … Does that give you a headache? Make you think of all the things you’d like to have closure from? Do you need a fainting couch?
Most of the times closure is associated with rage and hurt which usually rolls into one anger ball. When you’re hurt, you are most likely angry about whatever happened as well. So, you’re angry, you’re hurt and you have rage pent up inside. You want closure.
Moving Beyond Anger
The most important thing I did to get closure in my life was to accept the fact that I was angry. Yep, I was seriously ticked off at the wrong that was done to me. Then after awhile the anger became all about me and nothing to do with whoever had harmed me. They couldn’t feel my anger. They really don’t care either. I realized that the anger I had was disrupting my own life, not theirs. And plus, if you’re on my site you’ve probably seen my videos and see that I don’t exude rage. I’m one of those people who wake up happy. I’m giddy most of the time and I really do not enjoy being angry like some people do. (It can be an addition, you know!) Plus, being an angry ball of grump is not very attractive and after awhile no one wants to hear the same ole pity party story.
So I’m going to say that word that a lot of people asking about closure don’t like to hear—FORGIVENESS.
There, I said it. But let me be clear that forgiveness has nothing to do with condoning bad behavior. Obviously if there was a great wrong done to you, it was not good behavior. On the subject of say, my bio dad, by forgiving him I am not saying I’m inviting him over for Thanksgiving and giving him babysitting duty! Hell no. You can’t be a nimrod. If someone is violent or prone to crazy behavior, it’s a good idea to remove them from your life or remove yourself from theirs.
When I say forgiveness I’m actually talking about forgiving yourself and deciding to no longer carry the anger and rage. Let’s face it, it’s heavy anyway. I’d much rather go about my day with a silly grin on my face than a grimace. Plus, there are so many crazy people in this world, and I mean SO MANY, that if you let every one of them ruin your day you’re going to be awfully busy coming up with new grimaces.
How Do You Do It?
I know you’re going to say yeah, yeah, yeah, that all sounds like a fairy tale story. So, how do you actually move beyond anger? I understand. You want steps. The best steps I took and I’ve seen others take are to remove the sword. What sword? Sword? I don’t have a sword? Sure you do. If you’re asking me about closure, you have a sword. I call it the sword of trauma. Being wronged, hurt, violated, victimized, stolen from, lied to, manipulated, assaulted etc is like being pierced with a sword. You can live with the sword protruding out of you for the rest of your life too. It’s called denial. Or you can remove it, heal from the wound and use your life experiences for good instead of bad.
