Don't be a ghost of yourself to them....

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
February 9, 2021

If you have PTSD, and are afraid of letting the people in your life know what is on your mind...you are making a big mistake. While they cannot read your mind, in their own mind, they are making up their own stories about how you are acting. You gave them no other choice because you won't tell them what they need to know.

The see the changes in you, but they don't know where those changes are coming from. They end up wondering what they did wrong. Kids wonder why Mom or Dad is acting that way again. If you don't want to hurt them by opening up, then you already are.

You don't have to tell them everything that is going on inside of you if you are afraid they will judge you or won't be able to handle it. They won't know what to do with too much information and that is what a therapist is for. All you need to do is share the basics with them so they won't blame themselves or jump to a conclusion about you that is wrong.

Hiding it won't help you heal. It will only make your family more distant. Pushing them away so they won't see your pain, won't help you heal. Letting them know will make all the difference especially if you are carrying a ghost they can't see.

This is why today the featured video is Gordon Lightfoot, If You Could Read My Mind. He wrote it after getting divorced.

"If you could read my mind, love,

What a tale my thoughts could tell.

Just like an old time movie,

'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.

In a castle dark or a fortress strong,

With chains upon my feet.

You know that ghost is me.

And I will never be set free

As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see." 

Don't be a ghost of yourself to them....

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it1

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

If You Could Read My Mind

©1969 by Gordon Lightfoot

If you could read my mind, love,

What a tale my thoughts could tell.

Just like an old time movie,

'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.

In a castle dark or a fortress strong,

With chains upon my feet.

You know that ghost is me.

And I will never be set free

As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see. 

If I could read your mind, love,

What a tale your thoughts could tell.

Just like a paperback novel,

The kind the drugstores sell.

Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,

The hero would be me.

But heroes often fail,

And you won't read that book again

Because the ending's just too hard to take! 

I'd walk away like a movie star

Who gets burned in a three way script.

Enter number two:

A movie queen to play the scene

Of bringing all the good things out in me.

But for now, love, let's be real;

I never thought I could feel this way

And I've got to say that I just don't get it.

I don't know where we went wrong,

But the feeling's gone

And I just can't get it back. 

If you could read my mind, love,

What a tale my thoughts could tell.

Just like an old time movie,

'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.

In a castle dark or a fortress strong.

With chains upon my feet.

But stories always end,

And if you read between the lines,

You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand

The feelin's that you lack.

I never thought I could feel this way

And I've got to say that I just don't get it.

I don't know where we went wrong,

But the feelin's gone

And I just can't get it back!

Song: If You Could Read My Mind 

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind | Official Trailer