Facing our Demons

I had the occasion today to recount a very stressful time in my life.  In a lot of ways, it was good to put it out there so I can finally move on.  At the same time, I was reminded of how much the experience impacted me.  I ended up spending a good portion of the day feeling poorly.  Sometimes we don't realize how much something bothers us.  Avoiding our demons doesn't allow us to confront them.  Confronting our demons can be stressful, in and of itself, but it can allow us to achieve closure.  I think that my experience today reminded me that I still had some unfinished business.  It also told me how much this one experience has affected me.  Now it's behind me.  We have all sorts of demons in our lives.  It's so important to confront them.  It's also important to be prepared for what comes with that.  It's not easy.  But it has to be done.

I think that one of the things that affected me so much today was the realization that there are so many things that are unfair in the world.  It can be frustrating and disappointing.  In some regards, that's just life.  There are a lot of things in life that just aren't right.  We can't change that, but we can focus on the good things that matter to us.  In that respect, even our own demons are outweighed by any number of things.  For that reason, our demons shouldn't matter that much. What does matter are the things that are important to us and that we enjoy.

Today was a lot rougher of a day than I had anticipated.  But one thing that I've learned over my lifetime is that I'll wake up tomorrow feeling better than I did today.  I'm already moving in the right direction, because I was able to spend my evening watching this adorable 4 year old go trick or treating!  He even tried to face his demons at times, although some of those Halloween demons looked pretty scary.  We all have our fears, but facing them matters at any age.