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Importance of a breakdown

 


Each one of us carries within ourselves a child who is confused, angry, hurt, and longs for recognition. The degree of the confusion, anger and hurt will obviously vary from individual to individual. Instead of coming to terms with that inner child, instead of dealing maturely and intelligently with the anger and/or other states of emotion, we let them be. We get on with life.

We are experts at it. At getting on. That is easier to do than deal with our deeper personal problems. It is easy to surrender to the demands of the world around us and go on. No strife. It is easy to live up to what is expected of us at the workplace, in the society, even at home, and move on. No quarrels. We get on apparently smoothly with priorities defined by others.

How long? Maybe till the end of our life. Many people manage that. They are only half alive. They have killed a part of themselves for the sake of peace with others. Turn a blind eye to unpleasant realities. Create darkness by shutting your eyes, as we say in Kerala.

Not all can do that, however. A time comes when you break down. A time comes when certain personal truths demand your attention. This half life doesn’t satisfy you. You want to be fully human and fully alive. You want to be psychologically healthy.

Every nervous breakdown is painful. Excruciatingly painful. It makes you appear like a vulgar gargoyle to yourself.

The nervous breakdown is not the illness, however. We were ill before we broke. It is our illness that made us break. Every breakdown is rather an invitation to health than an illness. It is a demand for greater self-knowledge. A life-force within us is urging us on to process of personal growth which we had hitherto refused to undertake. Every nervous breakdown is an invitation to healing, to a fuller life.

PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanJune 17, 2021 at 9:12 PM

    Hari OM
    Such breakdowns come to those who are ready to become naked to themselves and others. So very important in processing through to true adulthood and personal authenticity - as long as it is embraced and processed correctly. I have also seen how that can go very wrong, everything reburied and twisting of personality as a result. The "invitation to healing, to a fuller life" has to be seized! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJune 17, 2021 at 9:17 PM

      I went through a long and much needed process and gained much. But as you point out, there may be many who get decimated.

      Delete
  2. LehaJune 18, 2021 at 1:31 AM

    That's a wonderful insight. A breakdown is a sign that there's a deeper problem that needs addressing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chinmayee Gayatree SahuJune 18, 2021 at 12:22 PM

    Thank you again for this series of posts. I am trying to accept myself completely and this particular insight definitely helps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SonaJune 20, 2021 at 7:22 PM

    We are really good at ignoring things that need to be faced and getting on with life.
    Some years back,I read an article in 'The Speaking Tree'. What I remember is one sentence, 'We go on with life and something happens and we realise we are far from home. Or nothing happens.'

    ReplyDelete
  5. SuchitaJune 21, 2021 at 11:58 AM

    Such a powerful perspective on breakdowns. I like to think when my body is in pain it's like - will you listen to me now? Because we tend not to listen unless it hampers our productivity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJune 21, 2021 at 5:05 PM

      Yeah, we listen to our body even more rarely than we do to our soul.

      Delete

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