Healing

This piece is written by Lois DuPlessis, from Nasaret in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Lois has been blessed with countless amazing opportunities to travel the world, sing & live her dreams, one at a time and learning daily!

It’s amazing how quickly my skin bruises. It doesn’t matter how soft the knock or the pinch, it is inevitable that I will have a huge bruise.

Bruises are one thing but have you ever fallen so hard that your skin is open? And, it’s painful to look at the scar left behind.

I fell once, well, I fall a lot. You can say I’m a bit of a menace to myself. Look, I’m not speaking doom over myself but I, somehow, I seem to find myself tripping, falling down stairs, the works. This time though, I remember it so clearly, it was right before Christmas 2007. I was in South Africa, excited to be home for the first Christmas after moving to the states. December is a time of family and fun and craziness in South Africa. It’s summer time:-) Simply lovely! Family members pop up at any time to say hello. It’s just great, and because I had recently come home. We had quite a few visitors; one particular day, my aunt from Swaziland and her daughter as well as my other cousin were around. I was so excited when I saw my cousin I somehow skipped the back door step on my way back in the house and fell so hard, I hit my face against the side of the door. In an instant I could have lost my eye. Breathe people I’m still in tact. Well, the bruise was extremely bad and I had a cut from above to below my left eye. I was completely freaked out because I had just completed rehearsals for the musical I was doing in New Zealand starting in January! The only thing I could think of at that moment was, ‘how will I cover the scar with make up?’ I didn’t think about the fact that I almost Lost my eye . . .

It took a while for the scar to heal. I spent the rest of December with a blue eye. Not a good look when my country is hugely against domestic violence against women. I switched my hair from wearing to the right side to wearing it on the left. What amazes me now is that when you look at me, 5 years later, and unless you pay close attention, you will not notice the scar.

Having a scab is painful because it has to dry. It sort of pulls your skin back together again. It’s not pretty at all! It’s dark and ugly. And, if you remove the scab prematurely you may have to start the process all over again.

I was amazed at the new skin I received once the scab on my face was gone. At first, it was lighter than the rest of my skin – almost pinkish – brand new with white spots, because it had not been exposed to the sun just yet.  It was easier to cover the scar, once the scab fell off. And, when I look at myself in the mirror now, it all looks the same again.

Some of you have wounds and scars that you keep peeling open prematurely. So you don’t allow the adequate healing process to take place! You keep wondering why your scar is taking so long to go away. Once you let go and allow the scab to dry up completely – and fall off at its own pace, you will begin to see new growth, new skin. Until you stop rushing the process, you’ll be stuck with a scar and No amount of bio oil will help you:-)

Healing is a process. Allow yourself the time.