PTSD Healing Thought of the Week: Courage
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 • PTSD Healing Thought of the Week •
Recovering from PTSD is scary. Anyone would be frightened to be without a specific healing map. Anyone might be
terrified of facing what you’ve been working so hard to suppress. Anyone might be afraid to feel all the things you’re trying so hard not to feel.
Considering all of this, you can see that fear is a normal part of PTSD recovery. What you do with fear is the important thing. Lt. John B. Putnam, Jr. said,
Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to face it.
It’s all right to be afraid. Expect that. Accept it. And then, face it so that you can move through the darkness and out into the light.
It is possible to conquer the past and create the future — the first step is choosing to take the journey.
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Hi,
After the trauma that I survived, I feared night time, even though it happened in day light. As soon as the sun went down, my anxiety/fear increased. At night I would retire to my room, put on the contraption I bought to brace my door closed so it could not be openned. I would turn all the lights on and try to stay awake. I was afraid to close my eyes and I was afraid of the dark and afraid of the silence. After a talk one day about suffering, compassion and fear with a very insightful man, I decided to face the fear head on and change the way I look at fear. I sat in the middle of my dark living room in my nightgown, feeling most vulnerable, and asked myself this question…”what am I afraid of”. It was scary, very scary at first. I sat there and took a few deep breaths and pondered my question. And there was nothing in that dark room at that moment that I was afraid of. It took a lot of courage, more than you can imagine. That was a year ago. Today, I can walk around in the dark. Every so often I need to get up and check the closet, under the bed, behind the shower curtain but it is rare and it comes up out of the blue. But facing my fear like I did helped me overcome sleeping with the lights on and avoiding dark.
Liana, that is an awesome testimony to overcoming fear! I too have been afraid of the dark but still need some sort of light source wherever I go. Thanks for the inspiration, gonna have to try your technique…best of wishes to you!
@ Liana — What courage you have! Thank you for sharing such inspiring ideas. Facing down our fears is, I think, the first step in the road to recovery. Congratulations on your bravery. I think all of us can learn from your example.
The hardest thing for me to accept has been being diagnosed with PTSD many years ago and having to find the skills or healing techniques to overcome the symptoms while going through multiple diagnoses, that prove to be beneficial in self growth, awareness, and overall healing. While triggers from traumatic life experiences for some people are better dealt with than others, and for those who are sensitive in nature those symptoms manifest differently, as they have for me. Hard work in the therapeutic setting and positive re-learning or re-processing of thought and or emotional responses is an on going and daily task, and although I have been fortunate to be off of medication for over a year now, the PTSD is re-triggered often.
How have I learned to counteract its effects? First realizing that there are valid reasons for its existence in my life, and second changing the way I perceive the emotional responses to what triggers those reactions.
This is where the Fight or Flight response comes into play for it is a part of the innate human condition and for PTSD sufferers it can happen at any given moment for various reasons. Thereby, when a threat either real or perceptually real comes to the forefront, processing the thoughts in a balanced way, helps to further re-train my brain in reacting.
What is meant by this is that with each negative thought or emotion, the ability to utilize self regulation techniques to overcome those negative responses with positive thoughts, actions, and emotions. How? Meditation or breathing exercises, singing or dancing, writing, artwork, playing instruments, reading the bible and or self help books, praying, laughing, or helping others. This does not always work however, for I also have ADD and have a tendency to become hyper vigilant, and even hyper focused. On one hand if that is harnessed into positive or productive actions that feed my spirit and bring me joy then it is good, on the other hand if the feeling is one of being overwhelmed then functioning can become quite hindered. Learning how to control my thoughts and emotions through a PTSD journey of living has been the challenge for nearly 25 years. Multiple diagnosis of both physical illness and or illnesses unseen by the human eye, have repeatedly posed other triggering effects.
It is critical to my health and well being that I surround myself with positive people, places, activities, and remove that which brings the negative to what is hoped to become and be maintained as a healthy way towards a peaceful life. Letting go of all that is not healthy by transforming and choosing that which is has and will continue to be a new way of dealing with PTSD. If I can do it anyone can! Faith and Hope, peace and love, strength and courage, ultimately the goal to seek can happen from the inside out if you find the core underneath the destructed or fragmented self and nurture yourself in ways that heal who you are. Keep on going and never give up on believing in yourself!