Most survivors find a new normal rather than returning to the old one. The event changes you, and there is no honest way around that. The question most people are really asking is: will life ever feel worth living again, will the fear ever ease, will I stop feeling like a stranger in my own body? The answer to all of those, for the vast majority of survivors, is yes.
It takes time. How much time varies enormously. Some survivors feel themselves again within months. Others take years. Many describe a gradual shift rather than a sudden moment, where they realise one day that they went several hours without thinking about the arrest, or did something they had been avoiding, or laughed without it feeling odd.
The things that seem to help most are peer support (talking to others who have been through it), appropriate professional help if anxiety or depression are significant, and resisting the urge to compare your recovery to someone else’s. You can read about the emotional journey in more detail on our roller coaster page, and connect with thousands of survivors at different stages in our community.