E A's true story of survival, hope & healing.
This is a true story. It is my story. I am here, today, because of grit, will, and the intervention of those who caught me as I fell into the abyss at the darkest point in my life.
I still wake screaming, panting, and scrambling out of the bedcovers, trying to escape the phantom of the one I once loved coming towards me, menacing, hateful, desiring nothing more than to break me, to end me. To hurt me. To destroy me.
The Lost Letters is my story. Every word is a chronicle of solitude, strength, survival. This is who I am. This is who I was. This is who I will never become again.
Elizabeth Anne Carter 🌺
A father's wise words in a dystopian world...
Everyday I struggle with the negativity and bleakness in society since COVID-19 took over our lives.
To not be able to see each other, touch each other, even be near to each other is wearing. No...it's exhausting. It's hell.
A deep loneliness is ripping society apart fueled by alienation, fear, and pessimism. It hurts. A lot.
It's a dark time. And the fight is real. At times I flounder so much I feel like I have lost my compass. Lost myself.
I asked my father how to cope with this unprecedented dystopian situation and he said:
"Give service to others. Think of others more than yourself."
At first I didn't understand, wrapped up as I was in my own miseries. But then I started a little thing. I began to observe others for ways to express my appreciation or complement them.
And then I gathered up my courage and said something intended to make them feel nice, not really sure it would be ok.
Give service.
Total strangers. Shop workers. Table servers. Dog walkers. I couldn't see their smile, because of their mask, but I saw the light ignite in their eyes. The lowering of tension in their stance. The warmth awakening in them. The connection, stolen by COVID still there, longing to return.
And I felt the weight of their burdens lessen, just for a heartbeat.
Words are magical. Powerful. And unlike a hug, they can remain with the receiver, nourishing them and encouraging them long after you have forgotten what you've said.
My father is a wise man. I need to go tell him that. Right now.
❤️