Learning to accept my feelings | After the Floods

9th October, 2023    |    By  headspace    |     339

Life changes for everyone during and after a natural disaster. Whether you’ve been directly or indirectly impacted by the event, there are things you can do to look after yourself. Hear Belle, a young person from Lismore, discuss the importance of finding strength in community, listening to your feelings and talking about them with a professional if things get tough. After the Floods features the voices of regional communities impacted by the 2022 Australian floods. Watch the full series and find information and resources for young people: https://bit.ly/3r6rN8K


Also check the related topics:  

Traumatic incidents

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Learning to accept my feelings

Hi, my name is Belle. I was born and raised in Lismore, especially South Lismore. My mum was born and raised in South Lismore, and my grandparents are from the surrounding areas, so my whole family comes from this area.

In 2017, the flood warning was enough that we were like, “Okay, let’s lift up everything above bed level.” Everything was knocked down. You couldn’t open the doors or anything because all the furniture had moved. For me, that was enough to say, “Okay, South Lismore’s enough,” and I actually ended up moving out of home after that experience.

This is my childhood home—my mum’s house. That was my bedroom downstairs until the 2017 flood, and the 2022 flood went between the railing and the roof. Definitely not the childhood home I had.

One of the biggest things was feeling this survivor’s guilt. I wasn’t in the water. Then my brain kept telling me, “No, they were in the water. They had it worse,” or, “You weren’t even living in your childhood home when it was destroyed.”

My feelings are okay to have because it doesn’t just affect the people who were there—it affects everyone around them.

I also got married during that year. Having my wedding was something to look forward to, and it was so nice to have everyone there in the same space. Being in a safe space that I, at the time, called home was really nice. It wasn’t as big or as fancy as you might want your wedding to be, but I think having family together and celebrating something as simple as love was definitely something great out of that year.

I’ve always wanted to look after my mental health. I was diagnosed with severe depression at a young age, so I’ve always been in touch with headspace.

If I had any advice to give, it would be to validate and listen to your feelings. No matter how big or small, it’s still a feeling, and it’s still important. Talk about it with a professional—you’ll find out you’re not alone, and other people are feeling them too.

Yeah, so at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if your story is big or small. It matters.

Video by headspace