"Brokenness is not the end of the story"

"Brokenness is not the end of the story.  Our pain is deep, but it is not all-encompassing; our loss is enormous, but it is not eternal; and death is our enemy but it does not have the final word."  - Ruth Padilla Eldrenkamp

For individuals with borderline personality disorder, belief in the idea that they are broken may be common...broken hearts, broken relationships, and perhaps a broken sense of self. "Getting fixed" may be a proposed treatment goal by the client, but it is a mistaken goal because healing, radically accepting yourself in the moment and recognizing the need and drive to change may be more helpful.

Defining and labeling yourself with the challenges you have experienced is counterproductive in strengthening your view of self.  Focusing on the brokenness and awfulness of illness takes the focus away from the steps of finding balance and realizations of what is going well.  

Marsha Linehan has described having BPD as lacking emotional skin.  Our emotional pain can be excruciating, with each touch as painful as a third degree burn.  Reacting to pain is understandable.  Emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills can help to ameliorate the pain and decrease suffering.  These skills can create adaptive changes that guide the process of building a "life worth living."  

"Brokenness is not the end of the story."  There is hope.  There is freedom.  There is recovery.  I have no doubt in these simple truths.