Hi, you are “face to face with Shell”.
I was severely burned whilst on holiday in Spain and was left disfigured.
If you want to know the full story, please click on the link below:
ACCEPTANCE OF YOUR SCARS/DISFIGUREMENT/ALTERED BODY IMAGE
Acceptance can be a hard one.
Everyone is different and I don’t think there is a right amount of time. I suppose just like grieving; no one has the right to tell anyone that they have grieved enough. The same with your acceptance of what has happened to you. It has to be when the time is right for YOU. It is YOU that has gone through the trauma and it is YOU that has to deal with it, every second of your life from now on.
One day you might think: “Yeah, I’ve got there, then the next day you might think: “No, I haven’t actually”. Every day can be different. Your feelings will be different…and that’s ok.
I would say though, the quicker that you can come to accept what has happened to you and that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, the better. I am not saying to rush things, you have to go through the “process”; nor am I saying, as soon as you accept what has happened, everything is going to be rosy…I am just saying, it can make your recovery that bit better.
I know, very more easily said than done. You just can’t all of a sudden say: “Ok, yeah, I accept it”. It takes time for your mind, body, and spirit to come to terms with what has happened, and how you now look.
Dad and I; a year or so after I was discharged from hospital (taken from a newspaper clipping approx. 1985).
Not long after I was burned, my dad spoke to me, I remember it well. I was lying in hospital and I had been saying: “Why me”? etc., he then said: “From the day you were born Michelle, this was supposed to happen to you”. Luckily, I took this and it made real sense to me. I am not saying that I didn’t have a bad day from then because I certainly did but his words have stayed with me even to this day. Sadly I lost my dad many years ago but he will always be with me and I shall be forever thankful for those words.
Stay strong and we’ll chat soon.