on December 21, 2016
I sincerely hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! I know of a very large population that this particular time of year can be extremely overwhelming for and that is our/your Veterans. The very people (men & women) who have fought for us to have the freedom to celebrate all holidays as we choose to, I'm so proud to be able to call these people my brothers & sisters. Unfortunately there is a very real statistic that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, not just during this time of year, EVERY SINGLE DAY! I personally believe that number is higher but I certainly wish it were 0! Unfortunately, I have almost become 1 of this exact statistic, yes I am a disabled veteran and I am a survivor of MST/PTSD (I know y'all know what PTSD stands for, MST stands for Military Sexual Trauma and it affects males also). This is one of the Military's deep dark secrets that they still try to sweep under rugs and pretend it doesn't happen. I have a 22 year old son who proves it DID/DOES happen!
PTSD can affect every aspect of your life at times, there are days when you feel like taking on the world and days when you stand in front of your closet for 3 hours trying to find clothes and will yourself into the shower, it doesn't always work. There are days when the blinds are open and days where the house stays dark. There are days where memories are distant and almost feel as though they're fading and days where I cry as soon as I open my eyes and it lasts all day. There's severe anxiety, I'm not talking general anxiety either, I'm talking paralyzing anxiety that feels like a sucking chest wound (that'd be like a gunshot to the chest and a collapsed lung or 2)!
So please think about any veterans you know and check on them, send them some love; it could seriously save somebody and PLEASE remember that no 2 veterans, no 2 Civilian Sexual Trauma attacks, or cases of this disease are the same (veteran or civilian) everyone has to deal with it at their own pace in a "SAFE" environment and it takes a seriously, seriously long time to manage, I'm nowhere near being recovered! I don't know if there'll ever be a cure(I pray for one daily!), but learning to deal with and manage emotions, anger, fear, loss, helplessness to name a few takes a lot of work over several years. Isn't that crazy; something that can take as little as maybe 5 minutes to happen can take 50 years to learn to deal with! (Kinda depressing when you realize you've gotta take all that time outta your life to heal from something someone else did, thus; anger, resentment, anger, etc.).
If you really want to help a veteran, just listen to them. They've/we've had our voices stripped of us, some for classified reasons and some so the military can keep their "shiny, sterling" reputation. Whatever the reason, many veterans have a really hard time talking and conveying the thoughts in their head into words that come out tactfully, are in order, make sense to others and just trying to make sure their voice isn't trembling because who wants to sound like that? I admit I lost it on the phone with 420Nurses yesterday, I didn't feel like I could get 1 sentence out because I couldn't convey the words properly (I seriously apologize to who ever I was speaking with!), but at the same time I really needed somebody to HEAR me, hear the frustration, hear the fear, hear the confusion and realize (especially after I said I am a ptsd disabled veteran), take a minute and maybe use more than typical customer service skills, use human emotion skills with veterans or any PTSD survivor, especially if they tell you that because what they're trying to tell you in that instant is "I am having a really hard time, please be patient and help me"! As much as we ALL hate to admit to being "fragile and/or scared", sometimes we ALL are! That's just being Human.
So please check on any veterans or PTSD survivors you know, it really could make ALL the difference! (And I'm so sorry for getting so frustrated on the phone yesterday
)
PTSD can affect every aspect of your life at times, there are days when you feel like taking on the world and days when you stand in front of your closet for 3 hours trying to find clothes and will yourself into the shower, it doesn't always work. There are days when the blinds are open and days where the house stays dark. There are days where memories are distant and almost feel as though they're fading and days where I cry as soon as I open my eyes and it lasts all day. There's severe anxiety, I'm not talking general anxiety either, I'm talking paralyzing anxiety that feels like a sucking chest wound (that'd be like a gunshot to the chest and a collapsed lung or 2)!
So please think about any veterans you know and check on them, send them some love; it could seriously save somebody and PLEASE remember that no 2 veterans, no 2 Civilian Sexual Trauma attacks, or cases of this disease are the same (veteran or civilian) everyone has to deal with it at their own pace in a "SAFE" environment and it takes a seriously, seriously long time to manage, I'm nowhere near being recovered! I don't know if there'll ever be a cure(I pray for one daily!), but learning to deal with and manage emotions, anger, fear, loss, helplessness to name a few takes a lot of work over several years. Isn't that crazy; something that can take as little as maybe 5 minutes to happen can take 50 years to learn to deal with! (Kinda depressing when you realize you've gotta take all that time outta your life to heal from something someone else did, thus; anger, resentment, anger, etc.).
If you really want to help a veteran, just listen to them. They've/we've had our voices stripped of us, some for classified reasons and some so the military can keep their "shiny, sterling" reputation. Whatever the reason, many veterans have a really hard time talking and conveying the thoughts in their head into words that come out tactfully, are in order, make sense to others and just trying to make sure their voice isn't trembling because who wants to sound like that? I admit I lost it on the phone with 420Nurses yesterday, I didn't feel like I could get 1 sentence out because I couldn't convey the words properly (I seriously apologize to who ever I was speaking with!), but at the same time I really needed somebody to HEAR me, hear the frustration, hear the fear, hear the confusion and realize (especially after I said I am a ptsd disabled veteran), take a minute and maybe use more than typical customer service skills, use human emotion skills with veterans or any PTSD survivor, especially if they tell you that because what they're trying to tell you in that instant is "I am having a really hard time, please be patient and help me"! As much as we ALL hate to admit to being "fragile and/or scared", sometimes we ALL are! That's just being Human.
So please check on any veterans or PTSD survivors you know, it really could make ALL the difference! (And I'm so sorry for getting so frustrated on the phone yesterday
)
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