"Inability to Feel"--yes, I once was there. It was where I needed to be at those times in my life wherein I needed to just "cope". It is an excellent coping mechanism.

Then there came a time when I was so numb, the numbness hurt me. It was time to feel again.

Deep down inside of me, I had to reach far into the depths of horrors that had been
inflicted upon me, and go through them.....slowly, and carefully.

Then I had to---through Great Pain; validate them. They are a part of who I am today. I place no blame for them. That is self-pity: the path to destruction.

Self-Actualization (Maslow?, Erikson? theory on growth and development) is the outcome.

I am who I am.
It was what it was.
I will be the person I was meant to be----------theo