The trauma of reality …

A breaking news item caught my attention today. It read: “A bus driver had a seizure and hit four cars while driving in the Lincoln Tunnel; no life-threatening injuries.”

What a sad story. Can you imagine how life quickly changed for that bus driver? Not only does he now have a very real health issue to contend with, this incident could possibly cost him his job. He won’t be able to be a bus driver if there is any possibility he will continue to suffer from seizures. In just a moment today, his life got turned upside down.

How the bus driver deals with the trauma he is now facing depends on a few things.

First is the answer to who God is in his life. If he has a personal relationship with his Creator, he will have all the power a human could hope for in dealing with anything life can throw at us. But if he doesn’t, he’s on his own to try to find peace in a world freshly broken for him.

Whether or not he has true support in his life will matter. Does he have family or friends who see and respond to his new needs? Are there people in his life to help him face the fear the health issue will likely bring? Does he have a spouse who can help with a potentially changing financial situation? Are there friends who will come alongside and offer love and comfort in a moment of turmoil?

Will his employer see a good employee who has a personal difficulty to overcome and offer reassignment in a different position that would be safe for him, and he’s capable of succeeding at?

And finally, but certainly not least, how flexible is his mind about life? What I mean by that is, many people live their lives in “cement.” They are so entrenched in everything staying the same, it is significantly traumatic when changes come, especially if it’s sudden and unexpected. However, others have learned to live life with a flexibility … they don’t mind taking a new route to work every now and then, they’ll try something different for dinner, they don’t keep the same style for 30 years, or insist on sitting in the same place at church every Sunday. They flex with the times, and even the moments, and welcome the changing scene as life’s daily little adventures. This type of person will be better equipped to absorb the impact of sudden change.

Life can change in a moment. And at some time in our lives, each of us will have a moment of trauma when what we previously put out of the realm of possibility in our minds suddenly becomes our new reality. How we deal with that trauma will depend heavily on what we believe, and the existing relationships we have developed. That combination will be key to recovering from the trauma.

Have you made life a matter of walking in cement … of being stuck in the same ways all the time? Or have you embraced life as a constantly changing series of experiences to be lived fully? Have you developed solid relationships that will withstand the tough events of life? Are you ready for change, or will you collapse when the unexpected becomes your reality?

Scotty