If you’re prone to misfortune, then there will come a day when someone in your life texts you “okay” spelled “Ok” with no punctuation or additional context. First of all: It is not your fault. Nothing you could have done invites or excuses this behavior, and knowing that is necessary before you can even begin to heal. With that said, here are some early steps to set you back on the road to living a life after receiving that devastating pair of letters.
Assess the situation.
It’s time to lockdown and do a genuine inventory of damages. If your 70-year-old uncle texted you this from his Android, your pain is real, but you should be recovered within a couple weeks, and you don’t ever have to talk to him again. However, if your best friend texted you this, then best case scenario is she was kidnapped by a handsome psychopath who’s texting you from her phone, and you’re going to have to risk life and limb to go save her. No matter what, the trauma of this aftermath will shape the rest of your life going forward.
Remember it’s okay to not be okay.
Much to the contrary of the perpetrator’s point of view, nothing about this situation is okay. Give yourself some grace. You’re not going to bounce back soon. Actually, you’re not going to bounce back ever. You are going to be a different, less bouncy person. Why did they do that? Why couldn’t they type out the full word? Or at least put an exclamation point? Why were you the target of psychological warfare so insidious that you’ve been absolutely gutted yet can’t ask what you did without sounding totally crazy? These are the wrong questions to ask, but one can’t help but wonder.
Start over.
Earlier we came in pretty firm with “It’s not your fault”, and, like, it isn’t. But with that being said, it’s objectively true that every choice you ever made in your life led you to the point where someone had the urge and then felt justified in texting or emailing you “Ok”, so obviously you didn’t exactly do things right. Knowing this, you may want to skip town and start over completely, making every single choice in direct opposition of your instincts such to land as far away from “Ok” as possible.
The path ahead of you is not easy. Nothing is ever going to be easy for you now. But you can still totally lead a life and even catch glimpses of happiness in which you almost forget that little word that eviscerated your very soul. Kk, good luck!
