In the aftermath of any catastrophe people and communities journey through a set of stages/states one of which I’ve labeled “reckoning”.

Over the past 15 years since I began studying how people go on after the unthinkable happens, I’ve heard many people describe a particular juncture – a painful intersection. When they reached this intersection they found there was no way to go on with their baggage of pre-disaster beliefs.

Those of us whose world has been upended, found carrying around mistaken ideas about how the world works, what we think we’re owed, what come to expect. What you believe possible. The people you thought were with you. You are stuck in the mud of all the inconsistencies and incongruencies. Trying to proceed on a path that’s been washed away. Being stubborn. Calling yourself being positive. Being positive about something that doesn’t exist is the definition of delusion. If you keep trying to go on as before, you’ll end up in a muddy ditch.

How to reckon with new realities:

What’s going on here? What am I seeing, hearing, experiencing? What I am seeking? What must I abandon? What am I compelled to recreate? What is there to work with? Who can I work with?

© Angela Blanchard