A weekend of honor

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend 3 days with an exceptional group of men and women on a weekend retreat sponsored by vets4vets.  This peer support group for veterans from OIF/OEF era service was the most well rounded and respectable coed group that I have participated in a while. As a veteran who has seen the ugly side of coed I had my reservations. The facilitation and structure of the program has a zero tolerance for anything less than the utmost respect for others. During this weekend I confidentially disclosed some of my darkest emotional challenges from my military service and my personal life. The healing part was that former Senior NCO's actually listened and heard me without discounting my trauma. It also was healing that these were both men and women who did not treat me differently after these disclosures. I was still welcomed as part of the "team" and own personal feelings and  input was not discounted!
I was absolutely anxious, as always, and absolutely uncertain even after I left. I didn't know what impact positive or negative this would have on me in the days to come. For once in a long time though, I FELT connected to a group of my peers both male and female and it felt good. No one should go through life not knowing what that feels like.

Forgiveness

A few years back when I was studing in Seminary (yes I said it) I found that I was always asking questions that the answers that were there were vague or not reassuring and so like most on quests I went out to study other groups of people and religions to see what things were similar and what things were different. I was hoping to find answers to things like why bad things happen to good people. or why the good die young. I couldn't accept that God needed another flower or that he was teaching people a lesson etc etc. I don't let my daughter experience a snake bite to teach her the lesson not to play with snakes. I know that some things happen because we were not paying attention and some things happen because people are just plain evil. Enough said. I find that through every religion and teaching there is something said about forgiveness and retribution for sins (or things done that were not approved of by the current time and group of people). I want to explore forgiveness because I am  finding in this time that people have done it a littl too much. What I mean is that when something is justifyably and inherently wrong and it breaks the law of your boundaries over and over why don't you or can't you say anything to the perp? I mean if your neighbor constantly nocks over your garden knome why is it a bad thing to ask them not to? I understand where the nations hostilities are brewing over from recently. It has been centuries of unjustices and collectively people are tired of it happening by the same perps. I think this is why so many have been building momentum on issues of justice. I could never get an answer to why the events of my past happened to me. I do know that although I will forgive ( because it hasnt happened yet) I still believe that the offenders should be subject to the judicial system and not some fairy tale land ideals that says just let them go free to do more harm to others.
With all that said the DOD has found that with all of their work towards reducing rape and sexual harassment in the military there is a 11% increase. Now that could be that more people are coming forward (both men and women) or that the way they gather their data is more accurate currently or that more people are experiencing these negative behaviors against them. What do you think about this? What could be done to better gather the most accurate data?

A Brand New Day

It's 2am a usual time for me to dust of the " ole" computer and say a few things about myself and what I am going throug. It's been more than a month and amazingly, I am still here. Could it be that I, like the many species, through adaptation, have become stronger so the uneccessary things of life won't bring me down? In a very strange way I started to think a out this process of PTSD becoming an adaptation- a mutation if you will. One that prepared and protected until a time of safety. Anyway, its not that far fetched a notion. As a matter of fact the initial biological changes are there for safety. What happens though when these devices are no longer needed and you are exhausted from all of the safety planning you have to do rechecking locks and alarms, checking children's bedrooms and windows, walking briskly, avoiding eye contact, and pretending to not "hear" people you don't know asking you questions. Yep, done them all and a few more not listed here. Well, when you get tired you can go through a process that allows you to "relearn" or learn how to NOT do these things. (smile) Right now I am in that process through counseling and CBT cognitive behavioral therapy. I know there is a stigma to seeking "help" for (whispering) mental health issues. Um, it's not communicable I can't spread "it" by touching or talking to someone nor will "it" rub off. I chose to hire a professional to help me with something I couldn't do myself. It's a brand new day for me.

Two Weeks- a few less Jackassion's

The last two weeks have been eventful and tearful. You know how you have to make some changes in your life but you are not sure what has to change but you know SOMETHINGS GOTTA CHANGE. I had began feeling like the titanic as the glacier cut under its hull. I knew I was going down and taking in water and there was no way to fix it but I thought I could if I tried hard enough. I am coming to the realization that I have to guard my emotional well being just like some one who is allergic to peanuts or fish. You check every package of ingredients and stay away from things and products that have them cause you don't want to die. Well, toxic people- I call them Jackassion's, are everywhere and I am allergic to them. They cause multiple levels of conflict, cross personal boundaries, don't take responsibility for their actions, blame, and misuse your kindness as weakness. We all know the types.
Well having "emotional anxieties" or PTSD you can have more challenges when it comes to toxic people and situations. PTSD is different for everyone even thought they have a list of symptoms and things to consider. I think we all have our degrees of each of the symptoms and I have difficulty with conflict especially in my personal space or my personal life. The hard part of dealing with my allergies is sometimes there are Jackassion's in your family, at your job and in your neighborhood. If you especially have lots of these people in your life you don't actually build up an immunity to them you become more sensitive. So as another week came to an end I had to decide if I wanted to die- emotionally or cut a few things loose. Now, not everything or person was a Jackassion some situations it was time to do something different. There were some others where the Jackassion's were loose and running the show.  Amazingly, I came out of it with a little dehydration, some puffy eyes a new outlook on life and a few less Jackassion's to bring the ship down any faster.

PTJam'SD

Ok ok, a lot of people have been asking me what in the world PTjamS'D means. Well on a lighter note its like being "jammed" by PTSD. Slammed etc. Initially, it started out as a way for me and a sister supporter to get a good laugh. I thought about products which would be great product for me since I have PTSD we agreed that Pajamas with some type of versatility for indoor outdoor wear. etc Later on that week I was very challenged with some family and relationship issues which were making the fact that PTSD was there as well,  but much more complicated to deal with. I was in my pajama's late in the day, and struggling to get focused for an afternoon cup of "joe" (coffee for you non military types). My sister supporter was asking me to explain what I was going through and I thought about it and said it was PTjamS'D. Now when we are having a tough day if it is at all related to PTSD I usually say this. Mainly, because I can say it anywhere and it expresses very well how I am feeling, to her at least. I'm physically (or thinking about) being in my pajamas, in bed with dust on my car keys. I don't have to go through long expressions about the day and what happened and where I am physically when I say that it says it all.

When the end of the road is a new begining

The mask is off. I am no longer (well at least not as much) concerned with the thoughts about my "illnesses" and people knowing. I thought it was important to keep this sunny face for everyone all the time. It's not. If someone is in your life and you have challenges ( I'm not talking about being emo) you should be able to share those things with them instead of "hiding" out. Most times when I don't feel well emotionally or physically. I just hide out - hence the recent hiatus from blogging. I was confronted with some hard realities and had to make a decision about choices I had made in the past and how they had impacted my current situation. I wanted things to be different but I was not changing me. I once told a young lady that once she moved out of town she would run into the same problems she had in the town she was in. She asked me how could I be so sure and I told her because she would be in that town and ultimately she could not get away from herself.
I learned this past week there will be some people in your life that want you to listen to them, cater to them, do for them and make them comfortable around you no matter how that makes YOU feel. ( You don't even have to have PTSD for that.) There will be some that create an environment for you which causes you to question everything you do around them without taking into consideration what they do around you. Lastly, there will be those no matter how much you do or don't do for them they will not be satisfied because they are not satisfied within themselves and they have a hunch that something is wrong but they are too selfish to think that it could be them.
Relationships are give and take. You should be adding positively or taking away in a positive manner and this should be in like the gentle waves of the ocean not a disaster of a Tsunami. I got to a point where I felt like I was kissing an enormous amount of  butt to stay in a relationship some people. I was letting them completly erase my boundaries and draw their own lines FOR ME. Ahh, it's amazing how that can happen. Now this is where I am. The road has come to an end and I have to begin a new journey using another mode of transportation and terrain. I am not leaving anyone "behind" because I would hope that others are moving as well in their own direction.  I am reminded of a song that says that I have come to far by faith... and so I have. This end is a fluid interchange of beginings and endings and now that I understand this I can go on and continue the process of life changes to improve myself and my interactions with those around me. Yes indeed I have been PTjamS'D but there is more to me than this and I am ready to discover... the more ... to me.

Difficulties for women at VA hospital facilities

Difficulties for women at VA hospital facilities

Well, now we know its not just in our minds. thanks to NPR news and Warrior Gateway for reposting NPR's findings

You are Here

A friend said that I had continuously gotten back up from disastrous situations and that I know how to “come back” from situations. But I have got to know how to maintain my life. To be able to stay above life circumstances and maintain the lifestyle that I have had in the past. I thought about this deeply. Yes, I had repeatedly come back from dire circumstances. Even ones that had no path to come back from. Each having nothing to do with anything but life and it's inherent resistances. No one thing, I thought, could have predestined me for these devastating situations. Each time I lost momentum and absconded to the bottoms of life’s continuum, I struggled and scraped to get above again. what was it that allowed me to crescendo to loss and despondency so easily after all of the toil and work which was exhausted? I don’t really “know” I have ideas and thoughts but not real answers about what happened or that I presumed to happen to me. So here I am now at multiple juxtapositions while looking back, forward and within to ascertain the correct root causes for my reflection so pardon my complexities within the simplest of notions. A diagnosis, a prognosis, treatment and support brought me here and now I begin.