PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 17, 2018
When I was explaining what PTSD Patrol was about to a co-worker, it dawned on me that I never really explained it here.
You may be wondering why it is all related to vehicles. Simply really, everyone understands it no matter what form of transportation it is.
Sometimes we are a passenger. That is what our childhood is like. Our parents are the drivers. They are in control. They decide where we go and how fast we get there.
Then we grow up, learn how to be in control of the wheel, speed and direction we go in. We get a little older and we own the thing, which is our lives. We own what we do with the lives our parents brought into the world.
The engine is our mind. The body of the vehicle is like ours. Everyone can understand you need to take care of your engine and the body of the vehicle.
Each person picks a vehicle based on many choices. What they can afford and what they like. Sure, some invest the time in learning about the thing before they decide. Some will look for the best deal. No one usually buys it without taking it for a test drive first.
No matter what you get, how powerful it is, the thing won't do anything other than sit there without feeding it gas.
So look at your life like a vehicle your soul is in. In this case, the gas you put in your tank, feeds your soul. Without hope, you run out of gas.
We are the ones who determine where we go from one moment to the next. Sure, we can get trapped in a traffic jam, sitting there, waiting for others to get out of our way.
We can get lost trying to get where we want to go.
We can get behind a driver moving too slowly or have to move out of the way of someone driving way too fast.
We have little control over what others do, but we do control what we do. Same thing with life.
It gets draining just hearing about the bad stuff. I know what that's like since I track all the news stories across the country and my frickin head explodes when I read about someone doing something talking about a number, but never seems to mention what that "something" is or why they didn't even bother to read the report.
So, that is why PTSD Patrol was started. It is about getting in and driving your own life away from the past. No, not forgetting it, but making peace with it. It is about empowerment and fueling your tank without getting too preachy.
Remember, while I am a Chaplain, I am far from the type you may be used to.
Oh, almost forgot. The picture I use is from a trip out to Nevada for a wedding and my daughter is driving. Go figure! She got to drive and I was in the back seat!
On Sunday mornings there are videos going up about what is hopeful and telling you things someone should have mentioned a very long time ago. You can heal and your life can get a hell of a lot better.
No more excuses. Stop being comfortably numb!
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