Addressing Trauma and Finding Closure

Moving on from past traumas can be very difficult for people. It’s like a window left half open at night, letting in the noise disturbing your slumber. But you’re too afraid to close it, so you ignore it.

For years, you ignore it… and survive without peace until it appears on your body, heart, and soul.

Closing it is difficult because it has been stuck this way for ages. The noise will take time to fade away and for you to find peace again. If there had been someone to lend a hand, it would have been easier. Don’t you think?

It’s because most of you think it’s your fault and deprive yourself of feeling hurt, angry, and frustrated. It’s like you are numbing the wound, not healing it, acting like you don’t see it and everything is normal when, in fact, the wound is visible and needs care to recover. Our emotional injuries are also like that. Although they are not visible, they still need maintenance, and the best way to heal them is through closure.

Closure: Coming to Terms with Your Trauma.

Closure’s way of happening is very confusing, given people’s different responses to trauma. But the most straightforward definition would be a satisfying end to a traumatic experience. It is associated with empathy, acceptance, justice, and forgiveness. And all these responses come from the environment they’re surrounded with. If the people around them are emotionally intelligent, understanding, and open to conversation, the closure process becomes easier than expected.

When someone loses a loved one or a treasured part of life, they get overwhelmed with negative emotions. Following the trauma, the affected always look towards the people closest to them to enlighten themselves. In such instances, family, friends, and relationships play an instrumental role in helping individuals come to terms with their trauma.

Closure with Conversations

It means acknowledging what went well and what did not by exchanging meaningful words and finding ways to continue with the acknowledgment in the future. It’s often observed that people avoid open conversations about grief and loss with their family or friends, which leads them to build false narratives and twisted views about themselves, affecting their personal and social interactions.

Conversations help you organize your thoughts and understand your emotions better. Mourning your loss is better than bottling it up. It provides the answers you’re looking for and the necessary time to reflect on them.

Closure conversations are not abrupt. It takes effort and strength. If you see someone reaching out to you for closure, value it, help them find the answers they’re looking for, and acknowledge their struggle. Discover how conversations and closure help people in the beautiful story of Lydia and her family in “Coming Home.” Authored by Kay Tobler Liss, Coming Home is a story about a family that learns to heal from losing a loved one and find happiness in that process.