Trauma begets gratitude?

Seven weeks ago today I had an unexpected and serious accident while trekking in the Peruvian Andes. I’ll spare the hour-by-hour recap here, primarily because the full story can be found in the “press section“ of this website. Check out my appearance on the cover of AGEIST for the sordid details.

Anyway, after a circuitous journey home, alone with this debilitating condition, and with a week to kill before surgery, letters started pouring out of me at an unprecedented pace. I know some people deal with difficulty by drinking or doing drugs or going into an emotional spiral. I reacted by writing letters!

I can’t really explain why, other than I was feeling some emotional turmoil in addition to the physical limitation of this leg injury, and a great outlet was to let people know that I was grateful for their presence in my life.

I hope you avoid injury, but you might want to try it yourself sometime. Whether you’re in a good mood or bad, feeling stable or unmoored, sit down and write or type a letter, even a note, to someone meaningful to you. There’s almost no way it won’t lighten your mood!