Transition Man
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Transition Man is a book of true stories about each of us. They are stories of resilience, healing and recovery from loss, trauma and pain. They are the stories of bonds of family and friendship, and of unexpected gifts given in difficult times. The stories tell of people who made a difference in the lives of family members and friends; and at times make a difference in the lives of total strangers. The stories inspire us to be a transition man or woman. Each of us has the internal power to transition ourselves. The poser to heal, to recover, to come to terms with the things that have hurt us. We each have the power within to transition someone from a place of pain and suffering and enable them to reach for a nobler status.
The Interview
An excerpt.
” –I fought the tears, but the battle was lost. Things that happened over the four years that were not sad at the time, now caused the tears to come more rapidly. I would look at Dorothy from time to time with embarrassment, but the mask was long gone. To be honest, I did not care. The tears were part of the story more than the words from my mouth. The reporter swung the ax less, but the red cedar still poured from me. At times I could tell the reporter felt bad for opening up these wounds. Was this what he was searching for? Was I answering his questions? I looked past him and outside this concrete tomb was a tree planted by man and manicured to be appealing to the eye. The green leaves spoke to me, and for a brief moment, I was where I needed to be. I was not here telling a sad story about a small town. I was in my woods “with trees God has planted” and there, nothing is manicured…..”
Anxiety
” There are some professions that are particularly vulnerable to a condition called compassion fatigue. Doctors, nurses, therapists, mental health professionals, dentists and people who work with disaster and trauma victims may feel some of the emotional pain. Some people feel it so intensely that they have to stop working with those in emotional distress. They develop compassion fatigue. They begin to believe that they no longer have anything left to give to others. They can either get therapy to deal with the compassion fatigue or they will continue to grow more and more unhappy with their work with people. When that happens, they often begin to find other professions to engage in. They know that they cannot continue on in a profession that demands a great deal of compassion from them. They know they cannot fake compassion. The people they would like to help are not dumb; they are just distressed. People in distress can sense fake compassion as soon as they encounter it. They will reject help from anyone who tries to fool them into believing that the helper really cares. Or, if they don’t reject it, they certainly will reject it. The tears Josey describes come from absorbing some of the pain the people he cares about have expressed. It is okay to feel the pain of others as long as you have a system built up to help you recover. Josey has such a system…”