A Scene from Gladiator II Made Me Rethink Abandonment—And How It Shapes Our Lives

💫 Albania’s Newsletter | Holistika Embodiment

For all things mind, body, soul, and spirituality

I recently went to see the movie Gladiator II.

Don’t worry I won’t spoil it too much. I don’t typically watch gory 🤢 or action movies anymore, but this one I was so curious to see.

There’s a scene in the movie that reminded me of abandonment. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I am talking about. 

Specifically, abandonment as experienced in trauma and chronic stress. Let me explain…

When we grow up in an environment, where our caregivers did not meet our needs (love, safety, belonging, to be seen, acknowledged, etc.) because they were overworking to pay the bills and feed the children, didn’t show affection, prioritized other things over us (just to name a few), our psyche is left with an imprint that we are essentially abandoned. Left with this wound. 

Parts of ourselves unconsciously develop certain strategies seeking to fill the void of abandonment. 

This becomes a problem because we start masking this with overworking, ruminating, binge eating –- you name it. 

We then abandon ourselves, just the way we experienced growing up. Seeking safety outside of ourselves, while feeling worse overtime. 

This is not our fault. 

We never learned true ways of being with all parts of ourselves, including the wounded ones. 

Yet, the very medicine is within us.

We just need to tap into it more and more.

When we meet ourselves where we are at - stressed, burnt out, grieving, anxious –, we are living in a place of empowerment, and we can consciously choose to prioritize ourselves, needs, and values. 

We are all in this together, and each time, we get better at being human. 

Hope you enjoyed this.

✌️ 🫶 ,

Albania

P.S. There’s a gift for you coming soon - just in time for the holidays 😅