The Beauty in wrestling out loud with our pasts

​I watched the final episode of the show Suits last night. For a bit I felt sad that it was over, but I eventually settled into the hope of the stories that were told over 138 episodes.

What captivates someone like me to a show like Suits - captivates me to the point that I feel intense sadness when the final credits roll? I suppose if I'm real, it's the non-fiction I find in the fiction.

It's the me in my world that I see in the them in their worlds.

Without giving details, I'll sum up the show Suits: it's a collection of characters working together to overcome their childhoods on the way to victorious futures. And they are largely doing it without knowing that's exactly what's going on.

In the background, the writers give us glimpses into the character's pasts so that WE know that's what's going on. The characters go about their days wrestling with the implications of it all, assuming they are battling the circumstances in the moment.

But they are not. Their pasts are center stage in the tension of almost every circumstance they face.

I've been leading a trauma training this week. I've heard countless stories of people coming to better understand the wrestling matches of their pasts. The greatest gift of that is the very same people come to realize the magnitude of the victory they bring to the table today.

The victory I get to witness. The victory I get to grab hold of for myself.

That's the beauty that happens when people wrestle out loud with the stories of their past. Because I assure you, whether you are doing it out loud or stuffed somewhere deep inside, that is what we all wrestle with most.

Our pasts. And often our way in the past pasts.

That's the beauty I found watching the show Suits. As they all got to know each other on a deeper level, as they all got more comfortable wrestling out loud, together, with the stories of their pasts, the greatest power these powerhouse lawyers had was helping each other overcome the demons of their pasts.

To the point that the battles in the courtrooms were no longer the main story.

I wonder if that's life? A constant call for us all to help each other overcome the demons of our pasts. Helping each other to the point that the fights that most days take center stage in the world today are no longer the main stories at all.

Because in the end, the main stories on Suits became compassion. Acceptance. Understanding. Friendship. Loyalty.

In the end the main story became love.

Love is really what we find in the present when we're willing to wrestle out loud with one another the stories of our pasts.

I'm going to miss you Suits.

But I'm more hopeful than ever in victory.

I am more hopeful than ever in love.