Some part of you must have if that was the result. Look at yourself now, you are worse for this than you would otherwise have been. You have gained nothing from it, then or not. You avoided your pain rather than overcome it.

You are stronger than that, so much stronger. There are those who are not so strong as you who had no such option and still found their way back to the light. As you could.

You have seen and faced things that no other could have and you lived. And you have seen such wondrous things that can never been seen again, things that should not be forgotten. You seem to dwell on all the horrid things now rather than the good.

[She pauses.] You are stronger than I ever was, or ever could be. I found my way back to the light without losing a part of myself, you can as well.