Hearing Loss

Lesson 2: Recovery From the Emotional Trauma of Hearing Loss

Lesson 2 will take us through the various ways to recover from the emotional trauma associated with hearing loss. We'll start with self-pity and work our way through to professional therapy. Once we learn a few strategies to deal with our feelings, they'll be easier to manage.

Introduction

When things in life change, it's hard to accept. Whether it's health, financial, a relationship, a facet of our work, or hearing loss, change is difficult.

Change can lead to emotional trauma, which can lead to depression. Emotional trauma makes everything harder. Being depressed keeps us down. Fear holds us back. Longing for things to be the way they were is, frankly, a waste of time and energy. To get over the trauma of hearing loss, we have to accept that things are different now. We have to rise to the challenge. And most of all, we have to keep our sense of humor – that will get us through almost anything.

A few years ago, I put up a page about hearing loss on one of my web sites. The first thing I said was this:

I can't hear, but I do my best to listen.
Being deaf doesn't mean being alone.
Too many people think that deaf means stupid, but it doesn't.
It just means communicating takes a little more effort. Being unable to hear makes the written word even more important.
Being deaf can be a burden but it can also be a great challenge.
I choose to make it a challenge.

Since I made the decision to make it a challenge, my life improved. Trying to be good at something instead of wallowing in the loss changed my life. It can work for you too.

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