After a traumatic event, Aditi Desai shares how she plans to move forward.
Living in the Bay Area, the worry of theft always feels like it’s in the back of my mind. Recently, unfortunately, I was the victim of theft. While the items that were taken were replaceable, the invasion of my safe space, my home, felt like the bigger concern.
For days and weeks after, I was anxious and worried. Every time the security cameras went off, I jumped to look at who was there only to see neighbors walking their dogs or the mail person dropping off a parcel. I even considered leaving the Bay Area.
Then I remembered something I read in a book recently. It was about our nature to react when feeling strong emotional responses and how if we pause and meditate on the feelings rather than react to them, we may be able to understand them more and release them rather than react to them.
So I paused, as the anxiety and fear coursed through me, and let the feelings come and go. And I thought about the person who invaded my space, encroached on my sense of safety and broke my bubble. I thought about what they must have been feeling: anger, jealousy, frustration, and this was their reaction to those strong feelings.