|
A few years ago, I remember watching an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" or one of those celebrity scandal shows on E! Entertainment Television. The celebrity in question almost drowned. After being rescued, he had an epiphany and decided to start making music again. The stories about people changing their lives for the better after near-death experiences or crises are commonplace, and you don't have to be a celebrity to experience it.
Back in October, I was going about my daily routine -- looking for a new day job, writing, and doing housework, with less enthusiasm every day. There were no surprises, good or bad; I became bored and then depressed. It didn't seem that things would get better, although, I had no indication they were going to get worse.
Then, while I crossed the street, a car hit me. Although my injury wasn't life threatening, it caused layers and layers of personal problems that still are unraveling months later. And I'm dealing with them, one at a time, with a focus and an energy I lacked before the accident. In a strange way, the disaster and its aftermath renewed my desire to live and pursue activities and friendships that had dropped off the radar before it happened. I pursue my writing, music, relationships, even cooking and housework, with vigor. Of course, I'm doing it all on crutches now!
And I wonder why.
If I had been depressed before the accident, wouldn't the accident have made me absolutely suicidal? Instead, it revived my fighting spirit. It brings to mind something a friend once told me. Being forty-ish curmudgeons, we complained that today's kids were lazy and complacent. " You know what the problem is?" my friend said. " They have nothing to strive for --or against."
There's a lot of truth in that statement. In my case, my day-to-day existence became pointless and drab. When it didn't improve after countless attempts to make it better, I gave up and accepted the status quo. Ironically, the accident gave me something to push " against." I would have preferred a new job or a lottery win as the impetus for change, but that's not what fate had in store for me that day.
Sometimes the universe helps us along when our earthly efforts fail. I never understood before how people could say that a disaster or accident turned out, in retrospect, to change their lives for the better. Now I think I do.
Copyright © 2004 . All Rights Reserved.
Bio:
Marianne Moro is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles. Her writing has been featured in Manifest Way.com, Aquarius/Sign of the Times, Aribella.com and in many other publications and websites. She works part-time for a film trade magazine, and considers New Orleans her "home away from home."
You can email Marianne at Vkjade@aol.com.
|
