“Time, time, time
See what’s become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please”
Songwriter: Paul Simon
A Hazy Shade of Winter lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
What does the passage of time mean as a survivor? One minute you’re sitting with friends and family have a great time and then, out of nowhere, a scent wafts through the air, or you hear a song, or someone’s gesture is too close for comfort to your abusers, or the voice and cadence remind of that night you were humiliated in public, or a random memory rises up for no known reason. Now, it’s not 2019, it’s 1988 or 1992 and a part of you is cowering and you retreat or you lash out at everyone and everything around you.
Time may be a great healer but it’s NOT linear.