not long ago i went to some garage sales with my mother. i picked up a book i was interested in and went to ask the woman running the garage sale a question about it. after i looked at her for a moment i remembered…i remembered that i knew her. that odd feeling of recognition mixed with confusion swept over me…followed soon after by panic.
the panic came from the realization that i had gone to high school with her. high school was a living hell for me. a war i went through…walking away with many deep wounds and scars that have haunted me my whole life.
i have run into people from high school before…and usually i run…quite literally run. if i can’t run, i hide and run as soon as i can. i have post traumatic stress disorder. i acquired this condition from the traumas i lived through in high school. and while i am quite sure i’m not delusional, it can feel like life or death to me…like i’m in vietnam and i’m not sure which one is charlie. it could be any of them. so i’m sorry if you’re not, but i’m not interested in finding out who you are, what i meant to you, what we did together in high school…you all are the enemy…you all are going to stay far away from me or you’re all going down. that’s what ptsd feels like to me.
i spent my high school days hiding from those who had traumatized me. but they found me…every day they found me for a year and half and re traumatized me…and it was hell. i wish i would have had the self worth to fight back…but i did not. i didn’t have the self worth or support of others protecting me. so i went inward and hid. it was very damaging to me. i still struggle with the the beliefs about myself i created because of that abuse.
so when i realized the woman at the garage sale was from high school, i started to fill with shame…and for a split second i thought of running…but then something happened that has never happened before. i felt a little space open up in me…another option…a choice i had never seen before. instead of running, i looked at her and began talking to her. and as i talked to her, something very surprising started to happen… i started to feel connected to her.
we talked about what a hard time junior high and high school was. she shared with me that she doesn’t like talking about or thinking about that time period either. we talked about ingrid, my best friend who died in junior high. she remembered ingrid. she remembered how close ingrid and i were…and how horrible it was when she died. she told me that she had just been talking about ingrid with some other friends, remembering that time and how tragic it all was. this was very healing for me to hear. as odd as it might sound, it never occurred to me that anyone else from high school was affected by ingrid’s death…or affected by anything at all really. i never really thought about it in these terms, but i guess i felt i was alone in all that…the only one was was wounded by that time period, as illogical as that idea might be.
we talked about that time bit…how devastating it all was. and then i did something previously unimaginable to me…i asked her for her email address…i asked her if she wanted to get together and talk. before that moment, i never would have thought a time would come that i would want to talk to someone from high school. a while back my therapist suggested that i might want to talk to someone from high school at some point. my reply to her was “why the fuck would i ever want to do that?!?” she said because i will get to a point that i won’t be triggered anymore. really? i had never even considered that idea before she said this…that this might ever happen in my life…but it has.
soon after the garage sale i started emailing back and forth with my new/old friend from high school…getting to know each other a bit. i don’t find it ironic that she and i seem to be the same kind of people…have similar beliefs and outlooks on life. have gone to the same church, same groups, experienced similar things in life. i don’t find this ironic, but i do find it comforting. connecting with her feels very comforting and familiar…like an old friend. so much so, that i have kind of forgotten i went to high school with her. we have plans to go to a concert together…for both of our families to hang out. how wonderful it is to have friends. we made plans for me to come over her house last night and hang out…talk. i was looking forward to this.
while i was driving to her house last night i was not feeling particularly excited or anxious. i just had that good content feeling of looking forward to an evening with an old friend…and then it hit me. i was about to spend time with someone i went to high school with. and for a fleeting second i panicked and thought i should turn my car around and go back home. luckily i have healed enough to be able to observe that feeling…to look at it rationally, know where it comes from and usually make a decision about what i want to do based in reality…the here and now…not the past.
so on i drove to her house. and when i got there she said she had been wondering if i was feeling nervous about coming over. we talked about that…and about high school. we spent the night talking mostly about the past. we talked about the things we experienced, and although we experienced different things during high school…we do have similar feelings about that time period, which was very eye opening to hear. i am not the only one who went through that time period. and while i did have a uniquely horrifying experience, we all were just trying to get through it with as few scars and wounds as possible. some of us did better then others, but we all were scarred to some extent i think.
then we did the unthinkable…we broke out the year book. i joked with her that this was kind of like immersion therapy for us. in immersion therapy when someone has a fear…say of spiders…the therapist will try to desensitize the patient to spiders. first maybe talking about spiders, then maybe showing the person a picture of one…until finally…a real live spider. the point is to realize that you are safe…to become desensitized to the spider and not be so triggered by it. so we immersed ourselves in our yearbooks with an odd mix of humor and horror.
and the thing that stuck out to me the most looking at the yearbooks was this…i was looking at children…pages and pages of pictures of wounded children. insecure children who wanted to feel safe…who wanted to feel important…who wanted to feel loved. and the ones who didn’t feel those things in their lives…well they hurt others or themselves in their confusion. for most of my life i have blamed myself for what happened to me during that time period…but i was a child. i am just starting to wrap my mind around the idea that it wasn’t my fault…that i wasn’t responsible…that people should have been protecting me in all areas of my life, and they weren’t. the fact that i made it through that time period at all amazes me. the fact that i came out of it a person who at age 16 put myself in therapy and alone came up with the goal that i would go on to college, and did just that, makes me proud of myself. the fact that i didn’t die of alcohol poisoning or in a car accident leaves me grateful. i’m grateful to be here.
i’m grateful to finally feel i am not running from my past anymore. i’m grateful to have a new friend. my friend is still friends with a few people from high school. she told them about her and i meeting…talking…connecting. one of her friends said hearing about us connecting was healing for her…that she had a lot of pain and wounds related to that time period and hearing about us connecting was the first time she felt good when thinking about anything related to high school. that was very healing to hear and it kind of blew my mind. i have been running from this for so long, and when i stopped running, i inadvertently helped others from that time period. in making peace with my past, it seems i have helped others make peace with their past…and that’s a beautiful thing.
Mahra dear,
I devoured this post, finding so many analogies to my own childhood, and I find hope in your experience as an adult, facing the fears that tormented you through this new friendship. I particularly liked the way you said you were choosing an option you didn’t know you had before, and how that made all the difference. I am often encouraged by your blogs and always look forward to reading what you post!
Dom
Mahra,
Thank you for this share, for reconnecting, for making peace & always sharing your inner compassionate truth.
You are a kindred spirit & I admire your honesty greatly….
A story came to me that I had heard years ago from a tape of Caroline Myss’s. It is of the story of David Chethlahe Paladin. I found it a compelling story when I first heard it & for some reason it came to mind again. Possibly as a reminder to you, or myself or any person healing the past & choosing something different . Thought I would pass it along.
http://theheraldedpenguin.com/call-back-your-spirit-or-die/
I could relate to so much of what you wrote, here. High school was hell for me, too. As much as possible, I didn’t go. I have lamented the gaps in my education more than you might imagine.
To me, the only thing worse than high school was junior high – it was not possible to ditch middle school. They kept careful track of all of us. I felt like a prisoner all the time and didn’t develop any meaningful relationships during the entire time.
Did you ever ask yourself why high school was so bad for you?
I know I used to look at my past and think everything was my fault. Why couldn’t I just be normal?
The truth is, it was not your fault, or mine. We didn’t have the tools to connect with our peers – and a lot of them didn’t have the tools, either. I always thought I was the only one who felt like I did… I’ve learned that isn’t true.
I think it’s awesome that you overcame your fear and have now connected with your past in an affirming way. I hope the relationship continues to be healing for you.
I can very much relate to your experience as high school and pretty much every grade before was hell for me. Quite honestly, I avoid thinking about it too much. But, in the past couple of years I have reconnected with a handful of “friends” from my past. And after a short time realized I was falling back into my old self-deprecating cloistered ways, so I severed all but a couple of those connections. I am glad that the likelihood of bumping into any of them is minimal at best. I am thankful that my mother and sister moved from that town so I only need to visit by choice, not obligation. And in many ways I feel lucky for having experienced those issues, so if nothing else, I am aware and can help my own children, if or when they need it. It is wonderful that you have been able to find an unlikely connection. It builds faith.
Shen,
Thanks for your great comment. I guess I didn’t wonder why it was like that…probably because deep down I felt I deserved it. I’m not sure. I think only in my adult life have I asked that question…and I think that came from a place of realizing it was really really not ok, you know?
Arla, Dom and Ellen…thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, my story seems to resonate with a lot of people…hopefully the healing part of it will too.
Love,
Mahra
Mahra,
What courage it took to write this! What I think about those of us who loved Ingrid and tragically lost her is that each one of us needed help to cope with it. But flooding a school with counselors in the aftermath of a tragedy wasn’t done then. Your growth and strength is pure miracle. You amaze me. Thank you for what you’ve written here. I’m grateful to call you friend.–Jolin