Connecting with Someone Despite the Language Barrier. (approx. 3 - 4 min. read)
/This week’s blog is written by someone I met on social media. She reached out to me as soon as I accepted her follow and we started talking about how our stories are similar.
It wasn’t long before we were sending each other emails and messages and speaking to each other like we were long lost sisters. I didn’t think about where she was from or whether she spoke English because honestly, those things don’t matter to me. Twitter has made it possible for people of all languages, and ethnicities to communicate and become friends and I think that’s amazing! We are all humans, we all bleed the same colour and we all suffer from the same illnesses; whether they are physical or mental, so why shouldn’t we become friends?
Less than a month went by and Mandy replied to a request I put out on social media asking for other survivors to write a paragraph or two on how PTSD has changed their lives. I want to share other survivor’s perspectives in my book, as well as my own. That way people can see the correlation between survivors.
Mandy told me that she’s not someone who likes to be in public, that she doesn’t want to be an author, that she writes “only” for herself, but she asked me for more time, because she was new, and I told her no pressure, but less than a day went past, and she sent me what I requested and it was perfect! It was PTSD in a nutshell and I told her that!
Three days later, I received a short story from Mandy. In it she describes what it’s like for her to live with PTSD and as I sat there and read it, the tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my face. Mandy put the way I felt, and I’m sure how a lot of other PTSD survivors felt into a nutshell. She spoke about PTSD and its symptoms so eloquently; so articulately, that I knew I had to share it with other survivors.
I asked her if I could publish it on my website, thinking she would refuse because she had already stated how private she was, but she said, “Sure share it! You can also share it on twitter if you think it helps others, but my English is not good, I use a translator, just correct my mistakes.”
Up until that moment I had no idea that she used a translator and I know that’s awfully naive of me, but honestly, I try not to be one of those people, you know the people that judge a book by it’s cover? I believe that we all bleed the same colour; that we all suffer from the same illnesses, whether they’re physical or mental because we’re all the same inside. I also believe that if we stop being so judgemental and show more kindness to each other, the world would be a better place, but I digress…
This week I’m sharing Mandy’s story as requested, but I’m not going to change anything, I’m going to post it the way I got it because it’s perfect! These are her words; frank and honest. I didn’t find any spelling errors, but if you read it literally you’ll find some grammatical errors. Please, look past the grammatical errors. Read it with the knowledge that it was written by someone that might have a language barrier, but is no different than you or me, because they share the same illness, and they are different than you.
Make sure to click on the link below to see how Mandy ended up with Complex PTSD. Stay safe, stay strong, and as always, thanks for following my journey!
