my bicycle

My nice new bicycle was stolen this last Sunday. I had ridden it to the grocery store two blocks away to get some medicine. I chained it up at the bike rack outside the store. I was in the store for about 30 minutes. When I came out it was gone. It took awhile for the reality of it to sink in. Then I went inside the store to report the theft. The store personnel were very helpful and sympathetic. Yesterday I called our city crime report center to tell them of the theft.

How do I feel? I feel sad. I feel some grief and loss, even though a bicycle is only an inanimate object. My wife and I spent a fair amount of money on our new bicycles so that we could ride together and get needed exercise.

I think I am reacting to the theft in a better way than I would have in the past. I'm not obsessed about it. I'm not thinking about it all the time. I'm not imagining ways that I could get revenge on the thief if I could ever find him (or her). I recognize that my loss is the same that occurs to many others who get their bicycles or, worse, cars stolen in our city. I don't feel any different. In the past I might have felt like what happened to me just confirmed that I was a victim, destined to continue to be victimized. But vicitimization is not my destiny. I am believing the truth more and more, and that is progress in my recovery journey.