Fear and PTSD are almost synonymous. If you have PTSD, fear is in the driver's seat of your life. It terrorizes you at night. It disrupts your days. Zig Ziglar points out the choices. Here is the bummer with PTSD if you run....you have no place to go since fear comes with you everywhere, to the store, to church, to work, to sleep, fear is a constant companion and running turns to numbing with addictions of any kind which leaves the choice self destruct of Face Everything And Rise. Part of Facing everything is to remembering why PTSD is part of your life. I chose counseling as the way to Face my tormentors. I naively thought at the beginning that I would go to counseling for a couple of months and I would be OK. I just didn't seem to be able to communicate. I had no idea that the underlying issue was PTSD. I didn't know that the recurring nightmares, hyper-vigilance, and dissociation were symptoms. I was confused by the explanation from my counselor that I lived a FEAR based life. Every decision, every choice, every plan I had was steeped in fear. I tried the Forget Everything And Run......I didn't remember my past, I dissociated to run from my life, I ran myself into a dark emotional hole and I wasn't getting out in a few months of counseling. The choice to stand and face my fear changed me.F-E-A-R has two meaning:
Forget Everything And Run
Face Everything and Rise
The choice is yours.
~Zig Ziglar
1 comment:
Good for you Ruth, for facing the fear and doing it anyway.
Going back to what you were saying in yesterday’s post about PTSD and emotional triggers being exhausting. I have that too; when one’s body is flooded with adrenaline it will leave you feeling exhausted and in need of sleep to recover.
Your new blog on PTSD sounds a wonderful idea. More understanding on the condition can only be a good thing; ‘understanding’ being the operative word.
xx Colleen
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