Day 24 of 40 Days of Story: Ready to move on from conflict?
Me: Always…and not in this lifetime.
In this 40-days of Story I’ve been so ready to move on from conflict. I’m an optimist by birth and a conflict-avoidant by training. And…I’ve also become a big believer in the value of conflict.
As we’ve discussed there is no story without conflict. It’s true in story structure…and in our own lives.
But in the last couple of weeks I’ve had enough of conflict—enough to halt me writing for a time. I was sick. I was traveling. Yet that’s not really the story. What kept me from blogging was heartbreak.
I—like most—prefer to keep my conflict quiet. Hidden. Properly closeted.
At times this is wise. Strategic. Appropriate.
Why We Shouldn’t Hide Conflict
Yet there’s an intriguing thing about conflict—especially when it comes to our personal lives. For us to move through it, it must be born witness to by another.
I’m in no way advocating going all social media on your private affairs. But if you don’t invite others—at least another—to know the conflicts in your story then your successes will not carry the full weight of their meaning. The highs of your story will be lost on others if they never know your lows.
Yet, this is far from easy. One of the reasons is because many of our losses don’t have clear definitions or closure.
Several years ago one of my psychologist friends gifted me with the term: ambiguous loss. It was during a time when I was realizing I likely wouldn’t be able to have biological children. I was struggling to know how to grieve it. The naming of my ambiguous loss came as such a gift.
I heard the term used the other day in a NPR story about a forensic scientist searching for the bones of children lost in the fierce cyclone that hit Mozambique[1]. This scientist was embarking on this Herculean effort so the parents would have some form of closure…that their loss wouldn’t be so ambiguous.
While few of us will face such a tragedy, none of us escape loss. And many of our losses can feel like unmarked graves. There’s the gut-wrench of a miscarriage, infertility or aging parents, the loss of a significant relationship before the markers of marriage and divorce, an estranged adult child, discarded dreams or job loss, the cruelty of mental illness and addictions, and then there’s aging with its own host of ambiguous losses.
It’s in these kinds of losses we need community all the more. We need to have others stand by our side, gaze at our unmarked graves and grieve with us…to bear witness to our ambiguous losses.
Yesterday, I had a couple of friends do that for me. They surrounded me as I said goodbye to the loss of a relationship. We marked it with the burning of poetry…and all the hopes of love the words contained. So hard…and so helpful.
Why We Must Always Have Conflict (in this life)
While losses can break our hearts, they also remind us our hearts are alive. When all conflict is done, our stories are over. And when we avoid conflict, we are actually shutting down what defines our story: desire.
The fact that we have conflict in our lives means that we’re risking and we’re invested. We don’t fight for what we don’t want.
So cheers to conflict…and a community that bears witness to it!
I’m curious how you mark your own ambiguous losses…thanks in advance for sharing.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2019/04/12/712606953/it-may-take-months-to-identify-cyclone-idai-victims-forensic-coordinator-says
Thank you Tamara for facing conflict & loss in your own life and encouraging us all to do the same with these beautiful & wise words.
I am so so grateful for how you bear witness to my losses and joys…and continue to be inspired by how courageously and graciously you move through conflict.
Thank you so much for sharing your heart and being bold enough to share your heart with another even if it ends in heart break. You have been there for me so powerfully in my moments of heartbreak and that in itself begins the process of healing! I’m standing with you as you mend your heart and turn the page knowing that a new chapter will begin and when we look back at the end of the story we will know why this chapter was critical to it! Keep going friend!
I am so grateful to share the journey with you, dear friend! You love with such extravagance and encourage with such power. Thank you. What an adventure we get to live with these open hearts of ours!
Thank you for the way you share authentically and vulnerably Tam! You model courage In so many ways. Your post reminded me of how important it is to work on naming the losses, taking away some of the ambiguity. It’s not an easy journey, but somehow I keep on experiencing how naming is part of lamenting. So I press on also.
Thanks so much, Vicki! What a powerful connection to lament. I appreciate you sharing that. Yes…the act of naming can be excruciating…but ultimately freeing. I so love how you courageously do it…& have dedicated yourself to helping others with that as well. Con amore.
I do not even know how I stopped up here, but I assumed this submit used to be great.
I don’t know who you are however definitely you’re going to a famous blogger for
those who are not already. Cheers!
Hi Ann Marie! What a joy to get your note. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m curious to hear why you’re passionate about storytelling and what’s inspiring your own story these days. Thanks again, Tam