My family and I just finished binge watching Fuller House. What a throwback to my childhood! If you haven’t seen it, maybe you have had a similar experience, though. If there is one thing the Tanners and the Fullers are known for, it is hugging. If I would have watched Fuller House in 2019, I wouldn’t have thought a thing about it. But watching it in 2020? Whoah!
“They’re not social distancing!” “You can’t go to a party!” “You’re eating in a restaurant! Are you crazy?” And then, one Sunday morning, we were in church, and my youngest daughter looked up at me after the preacher took his mask off and said, “Daddy, he’s not wearing a mask.” This isn’t normal! Our brains have been rewired. They are different than they were in 2019.
If you read in Genesis 16:1-6, you will find the story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael. You will dig into a horror story of abuse, neglect, unhealthy conflict, and the list goes on. Reading on in the story, the situation gets so bad Ishmael almost dies in the desert. Do you think his brain was changed? Do you think his childhood was ‘triggered” any time he feared a relationship ending? Do you think he struggled with abandonment issues from his dad?
Have you ever considered that you may have experienced trauma? As I said, we have all been changed because of a pandemic. We view the world around us differently. How do you think someone who has been physically abused may perceive conflict? How do you think someone who has been sexually abused interprets touch from someone else? Do you think they have flashes back to their trauma? What about the loss of family income, suicide of a friend or family member, divorce of parents, infidelity in the family? Maybe someone has had health struggles. Do you think maybe that person is struggling with the pandemic more than most others?
Trauma reshapes the brain. It can lead one to attempt to cope in many different ways: food, isolation, drugs and alcohol, video games, acting out sexually. These can all be ways of coping with trauma, ways of emotionally escaping from the memories and experiences that haunt you. The good news is that, through revisiting our stories, we can draw meaning and healing. We can rewire our brains once again.