Leah remembers past trauma but doesn’t dwell on these events because “the present and future are more important” (pp.133-134). What do you think about this attitude? Do you agree with her?
I liked this perspective, but I think it’s a balancing act. I don’t think it’s healthy to dwell on past trauma forever, but I also don’t think you can simply ignore it. The past shapes who we are, whether we acknowledge it or not. To me, the goal is to understand what happened well enough that it doesn’t keep controlling your present. Once you’ve done that, I do think it’s healthier to focus on what’s ahead rather than constantly looking backward. So I mostly agreed with Leah, but with the caveat that healing usually requires confronting the past first
I think Leah’s attitude is a healthy one. You can’t change the past, you can only move forward from it.
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I agree with this attitude acknowledge the past learn from it but move forward. I think this is the only attitude that the character Leah could have in this storyline. Her role in the books is a tough hard hitting persona and in this story she is a bit of a psychologist with a let’s move forward attitude.
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Traumatic events need to be addressed for one’s future health. Once these are settled, although not forgotten, movement and life is in the present toward the bumps and smoothness of the future.
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Depending on the trauma it is sometimes hard to let it go. Always more helpful to dwell on the present and think of the future. Life is short try to enjoy everyday.
I agree that the present and future are more important. But I also think the past is still with us. I find pieces of the past do reach out and touch me sometimes. Something will remind me of someone dear to me and past memories will flood in.
There is balance required, as others have pointed out, between processing the trauma so you can move forward and getting stuck in the aftermath of the trauma. And even when someone thinks they have processed the trauma and significant enough time has passed to give emotional distance, there can be triggering experiences that can, for a time, can shake the psyche of the best adjusted survivor.
Leah likely doesn’t recall a lot of her own backstory nor would she have emotional responses impacting who she is because, after all, she’s not real.
Well, since Leah is not a real person, I don’t think she really had any “trauma” per se, just experiences in prior novels that influenced her perception of life in the real world. Niamh’s mother specifically wanted each novel to be stand alone, so Leah would not carry forward any outstanding issues to be resolved. Hence, she was concerned only with present and future timelines. Yes, she “remembered” past experiences to help with current problem solving, but felt no need to rehash them.