I love quotes and posters and a clever reminders.

PTSD exists because something negative happened.  I fell on a cactus.  It was painful and difficult pulling out every hooked thorn.  Sometimes a person is pushed into a cactus patch.  No matter where they put their hand more pain occurs.  The struggle out is painful and difficult.  Some people get used to the pokes they are in and decide it can’t get worse so they may as well stay there.  I believe that getting out of the cactus patch is worth the pricks, pokes, and suffering it takes to get out.  PTSD is more tenacious than cholla.  I spent 10 years in counseling learning how to pluck out stickers.  I first had to accept I was in a mess.  Then vow deeply to get out of it.  I worked….hard.  I prayed….hard.  I believed I wasn’t born full of stickers, they were acquired, therefore, if I got them, I could get them out.  It is a long journey but I am working hard to get out of the cactus patch.