How does one learn to care for themselves when they were neglected/abused as a child? What does being cared for look like? I thought for years since I had a roof over my head, food to eat, and clothes to wear I was taken care of. I didn’t know anything different. Raising my own children…
I wanted to write an article with references about PTSD/CPTSD and relationships. Bless my husband for sticking with me through a rollercoaster of experiences and counseling. I want to share tips and ideas plus share resources to back up what I am writing. Frustration is finding articles that don’t talk about before and after trauma. …
Emerging from Broken is one of the blogs that is another survivor learning to live. Learning that their past needs to be acknowledged and accepted before going forward in the healing process. Emerging From Broken “I had been defined by the ways that others treated me. I believed that I didn’t deserve more then what…
I believe one of the difficult things about PTSD is it gets muddled and mashed up into a terrible mess. I lived with PTSD over 40 years not knowing I had it. It was disguised as over active imagination, aka nightmares, depression, hormones, being a girl, moody, and a host of other things. Psychcentral shared…
I finished Pavelka’s toolbox I have additional tools beyond the ones he mentions. My counselor worked at making sure I have a well stocked toolbox for how to handle different situations. I learned not to use a sledge hammer when a ball ping hammer will do. I still use some of my heavy duty arsenal,…
I am fascinated that the last item on Pavelka’s toolbox is understanding fear. My counselor spent many, many sessions on this one subject. He explained to me that I lived a fear based life. I made decisions not on what I wanted but what I was afraid would happen if I didn’t take a certain…
A survivor of child abuse knows that their self esteem bucket had holes punched all over it…Some of their buckets were run over by a semi-truck and trailer. Some abuse survivors can still hear the ‘beep, beep, beep’ of that truck backing up. Words like what Pavelka mentions for his toolbox seem like a foreign…
Tough one here. How many times I wished that the memories in my mind would be let go? Please understand, I forgot everything about my life before high school and not much in high school I forgot but my body didn’t let it go. I had body memories, triggers, and extreme reactions with no understanding…
Pavelka’s Toolbox includes the question “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer of course is cut it up. With PTSD, I was overwhelmed by a massive blue whale….. Weight: up to 330,000 pounds or 150,000 kg Length 110 feet or 33 m An Elephant is a measly….. Weight: up to 15,000 pounds or 7000kg …
I explored James Ryan’s speech on good questions this week. I hope you had time to read the speech for yourself. Here is his summary: My claim is that if you regularly ask: wait, what, I wonder, couldn’t we at least, how can I help, and what really matters, when it comes time to ask…
PTSD - Accepting, Coping, Thriving 