Ruddy,

Though I am not an IT/tech guy, I do work a fair amount with computers in my profession, and your analogy makes a lot of sense to me. I guess it feels like in December my whole system crashed, so now I am trying to boot back up, and it is taking me a while to sort through the files to know what is infected or corrupted, etc.

Still, I have a hunch you can identify with me when I say that while I understand your analogy intellectually, it is very hard to synthesize emotionally.

I guess the good news at this point is that I seem to have evolved from a state of "It's me against the world, so f*@k 'em all" to more of a state of "I am on an incredibly difficult journey...at night...in the woods...alone...but there may be light ahead if I am patient and try to be open to it."

I really appreciate your taking the time to respond so thoughtfully.