Breathe Deeply!
Travelers will know that if a plane is in trouble, when conditions supporting normal life are suspended, the pilot calmly says “place the oxygen mask over your face and breathe normally.” And then “Do not attempt to help anyone else until you have secured your own mask.’ If you have managed to arrive at the stage of EXhale, you know first hand how life got very strange as you moved through the stages of EXile, EXpress, EXorcise, and EXplore. On the journey, you clutched any life support that you could find and just kept on breathing as normally as you could. Sometimes you slipped into a coma, other times you just gasped for air. Now thankfully, you have worked through your despair, dismissed the demons and find yourself ready to truly move on. EXhale.
The Journey Continues
The plane is cruising comfortably at 30,000 feet and normal life support conditions have been restored. However, you can still expect turbulence along the way as you move from here to “there”, wherever “there” might be. You may still be several thousand miles and pools of tears from resolution, and you might even circle back through EXile or EXpress again. You may live in a state of EXplore for years! But remember what it feels like to breathe on your own. You made it; you’ve paid a high emotional price for your freedom. Remember I told you all things would pass. After one year, I finally started to feel human again. I was taking deep breaths that energized me with a life-force that for months had totally eluded me. I felt alive again.
Time to Reach Out
This is the time to remember friends and family who helped you keep that oxygen make firmly planted on your face as you stumbled and lost all faith that you’d ever make it through the night. I remember the scene in Under the Tuscan Sun when one of the characters said after a breakup – “When do you think that I’ll start to breathe again?” Thank your girlfriends who reached out and listened and sympathized and stroked you. Thank your children for being there for you, unconditionally. Tell them you’ll return the favor one day and mean it. The next time someone calls you with a story of a sad ending – well first of all tell them about exinthe city.com or the other great websites we mention, then tell them you understand. Because you do. Deep down. Reaching out to others will complete the circle and you will get a great perspective on how far you’ve come.
