Category: acceptance

acceptance, Childhood Cancer, coronavirus, Parenting, Uncategorized

Living with uncertainty in the time of the coronavirus

pbrunskill

The Buffalo News published one of my essays today. It parallels the country’s reaction to COVID-19 with my daughter’s leukemia diagnosis, and how we can utilize long-term thinking strategies for dealing with the related anxiety.

MY VIEW

Living with uncertainty in age of coronavirus

Over the last week, a feeling of apprehension has swept over the country. With the coronavirus infecting thousands of Americans and cities taking drastic measures to slow the spread, citizens rush to combat this pandemic. We scramble for some sense of control, bury our fears and hope that life will soon return to normal.

It won’t.

The current reaction to COVID-19 reminds me of how I felt six years ago when my daughter…

Click here to read the entire piece.

acceptance, shame

The Long-Term Effects of My Father’s Actions (HuffPost Personal)

Pamela Brunskill

I published an essay on HuffPost Personal this week:

My Dad Killed Two People When I Was 15. Here’s Why I’m Finally Ready to Accept Him.

In my struggle to disassociate myself from him, I had dehumanized myself.

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I was 15 when my father killed my stepmother and her lover in 1992. While I was walking with friends around school after a homecoming game, he walked in on the couple making love in his house in western New York, and he shot them.

 

When my mom sat me down the next morning to tell me what she knew, waves of coldness washed over me, and I stifled the urge to throw up. Unable to process the magnitude of what he had done, it is only now that I can identify my revulsion, shock, sadness and confusion over his actions…(click to read the rest on HuffPost)