PTSD Patrol: What drives you?

PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone: What drives you?
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 22, 2018

Someone sold you a lemon. 

They told you that you were weak. They told you that you need to just get over it and move on. They told you that you grieved long enough. They told you all kinds of things to get you to stop suffering, or so they thought. What they managed to do was to get you to just stop talking.

What good did that do? What good does it do to constantly hear about someone taking their own life after surviving, and wonder why they did not talk to you? Wonder no more about that one. You just read the answer.

You did not choose that moment when trauma hit you. 

You did not choose how it would take over everything.

So why are you making the choice to suffer as its victim instead of fighting to #TakeBackYourLife as what you are? 

You survived it! It did not beat you that time and does not have to win this time.

Jonnie is on the PTSD Patrol Road crew with a mission of making sure that you get on the right road and choose to fight with the power within you.

Jonnie is a survivor and is taking care of every part of the "vehicle" he lives in. 

He is taking care of his engine's brain by seeing the mechanic trained to do the repairs. 

He is taking care of his body by going to American Combat Club. For Jonnie, that is what helps his body along with wisely selecting what he puts into it. 

And he is taking care of his spirit, the very thing that makes his vehicle who he is so he can change how he is.

When something horrible happens, people usually say their "thoughts and prayers" are with you. That is all good, but not good enough. When they stop thinking about you, stop praying for you, they are done. Sooner or later we start to feel as if we really do not have anyone to talk to.

This Road Crew is about listening and guiding your way to the road the best road to get to healing. We cleared the road ahead for you to move forward on.

It is time we changed the conversation! No one else can understand what you are going through, unless they have been down that same road. More than likely, you won't know any more about them and their pain, than they know about yours.

Do you want to control the road you take or do you want to be just a passenger with PTSD as the driver?

PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone Engine Noise

Engine noise in your skull
PTSD Patrol Empowerment Zone
Kathie Costos
July 15, 2018

On Bell Performance there is an article on sounds your engine should not be making.

Diagnosing Common Engine Noises - James on Engines #3
Posted by: James Dunst

The Common Problem: Engine Noises When an unfamiliar noise starts coming from somewhere under the hood, people get scared. They may not know enough about complex engine systems to know if it’s something to worry about or not. 

Let’s discuss some of the source areas mechanics find to be the most common places for engine noises to originate from.

Some of the causes of this condition are improper fuel octane, engine overheating, improper ignition timing, the EGR valve not functioning properly and problems with the computer or knock sensor. All these conditions can cause the air fuel mixture in the cylinders to ignite before it’s supposed to. This creates multiple flame fronts in the cylinder fighting each other and causing the pinging and rattling noise. Check your owner’s manual to make sure you’re using the right grade of fuel. Or you can switch to a higher grade for a period and see if the noise goes away. If it doesn’t, you’ll want to look at these other possible causes.

When you are not sure about the cause of the noise you hear in your engine, you start to hope it just stops. You want your ride to go back to normal. While you wait for it to stop, more damage is done to your engine.

That is the same thing with PTSD and the engine that is in your skull. Your brain is the engine that drives you!

Sure you can call a friend who knows more about engines than you do. Most of the time, they can guess what should be done by what you explain to them. If you do not have a problem telling them about the vehicle you drive, why would you have problem telling them about the vehicle you live in?

When they cannot figure out what the cause of the noise is, you to a mechanic, trained to repair your vehicle. They know how to diagnose what the cause is as much as they know how to repair it. 

Same thing with going to get the noise in your head diagnosed at the VA. Their mechanics are therapist and they know how to get you back in control of the road ahead.

If you are not seeking help for PTSD, most of the time it is because you do not know what it is. You just assume that there is something "wrong" with you instead of knowing what is "strong" within you. 

You are a survivor of something that could have killed you! Any shame in that? Trauma is Greek for "wound" and there is no shame in being wounded! It hits the strongest part of you and that is your emotional core.

The strongest part of you? Yes, that is what makes you, you. That never changes even though "how" you are does change.

Is it time to see a mechanic?

When the engine in your vehicle makes a strange noise, you hope it will stop. When it doesn't, you either call a friend who knows more about that stuff than you do. If not, then you take it to a mechanic to have the problem diagnosed. So what stops you when that engine is in your skull? #PTSD happened because you survived something that tried to kill you physically and emotionally. You survived it physically, and can heal the rest of your life. #TakeBackYourLife

Sitting down yesterday getting my thoughts together for the PTSD Patrol video, Murray decided it was time to play again. 

It was over 90 here in Florida, but that doesn't seem to bother him at all. One thing you may have noticed is when Murray is in the videos, I am a lot more relaxed. I hate doing videos! I love filming someone else from the other side of the camera. 

Remember that if you still have a problem understanding the importance of service dogs. Murray is just a regular pet. 

Imagine what a trained service dog can do for someone with PTSD!

When your job is to transition into something better than PTSD

Are you transitioning or surrendering?
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 8, 2018

Life is about transitioning from one place to another. In this case, we're talking about the transition from surrendering to something that happened into being a survivor and using your transmission to move you forward.

WHAT DOES A TRANSMISSION DO? 
From Meineke
How Does an Automatic Transmission Work?

An automatic transmission is essentially an automatic gear shifter...Have you ever heard the sound of your engine getting higher, then lower as your car accelerates? A car in a low gear will start struggle as its pushed to higher speeds. A car with an automatic transmission has a torque converter that senses these changes as you accelerate and shifts you to a higher gear. The same process works in reverse as you slow down.

TRANSITION

movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Music.
a passing from one key to another; modulation.
a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing.
a sudden, unprepared modulation.
a passage from one scene to another by sound effects, music, etc., as in a television program, theatrical production, or the like.

There are things you may have told yourself, that are simply not true!

The first lie is when you told yourself there was something wrong with you. The truth is, there is something strong within you!

If you chose a job where you knew it could kill you, military, law enforcement, firefighting or any of the other jobs protecting others, that choice came from a very strong emotional core.

Civilians can get hit by PTSD from just one event in their lives. When you consider how many events you survived, it should make more sense that you would get hit harder, than escape it because of your training.

You may be resilient, but that does not mean you are impervious to what your jobs did to you.

If you do not have PTSD, then make sure that you keep doing the steps for Crisis Intervention for yourself. That starts with being able to open up about what you witnessed from an emotional level, not just a tactical one.

Every time I survived something that could have killed me, I was able to talk about all of it knowing I mattered to someone. It helped me get out the ugliness of what I was faced with so that good stuff could get back in.

If you already have PTSD, then you can heal too! It is just that some of what you survived has taken hold and cannot be undone. You still have the power to limit the power it has over you.

Most of the time, those with PTSD getting proper treatment, have turned into being better than they were before. 

Do you want to live a better life? Then start by telling yourself you are worth it instead of telling yourself you deserve to suffer. You put your life on the line for the sake of others and YOU DO DESERVE TO LIVE A HAPPIER LIFE! 
UPDATE

I Am Changing

Look at me

Look at me

I am changing

Trying every way I can

I am changing

I'll be better than I am.

I'm trying

To find a way

To understand.

But I need

I need

I need your help.

I am changing

Seeing everything so clear.

I am changing.

I'm gonna start right now right here.

I'm hoping to work it out.

And I know that I can

But I need you

I need a hand.

All of my life I've been a fool

Who said I could do it all alone.

How many friends have I already lost?

And how many dark nights have I known? Walking down that long road. There was nothing you could buy.

All those years of darkness

Could make a person blind.

But now I can see that

I am changing

Trying every way I can

I am changing

I'll be better than I am

But I need a friend

To help me start

All over again.

That would be just fine

I know it's gonna work out this time

Cause this time I am,

This time I am

I am

Changing.

I get my life together now.

I am changing

Yes I know how

I'm gonna start again.

I'm gonna leave my past behind

I'll change my life.

I make it up

And nothing is gonna stop me now.

Songwriters: Hendry D. Krieger / Tom Eyen I Am Changing lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

PTSD Patrol Road Crew Fueling Hopefulness

PTSD Patrol hope on a tank full
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 1, 2018

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 New International Version (NIV)

Yesterday out at the Orlando Nam Knights, Tony "NK Jeans" Johnson wanted to know why I was so against the "awareness" raisers. The answer is a simply one. It does not give hope to those searching for it.

 When people say "it is just a number" they show they did not take enough interest to know, the known number represents people and were not just a number that is easy to remember.

We need to change the conversation into what will stop them from being stuck with an empty tank of hopelessness and fill them up with hopefulness!

I explained the difference between what is actually known and what is just assumed. The point of this effort is to change from awareness that people are committing suicide into what will help them want to live! That begins with knowledge of what PTSD is, what being a survivor is, and the power behind the simple fact that they can heal if they work at it!

Tony is a Gulf War veteran and has been working hard to take control over his life, but has also been reaching out to help others fill up with hope they can do it too!

Tony joined the PTSD Patrol Road Crew!

PTSD Patrol Road Crew Hitting the Road to Healing!

PTSD ROAD CREW CLEARING THE WAY
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 30, 2018

You can follow the road to hope!

The concept of PTSD Patrol
Everyone can understand the vehicle they drive without knowing how it all works. Too many do not understand the vehicle they live in (our body) and even less understand how it works. We need to know how to drive it so we can get to where we want to be.

The concept is about taking control of your life from this moment onward. It is all drive related so you can drive your life from hopelessness into hopefulness. Much like trying to get from one place to another on an empty tank of gas, into a full tank that will get you where you want to be.

The goal is to change the conversation into what all survivors of trauma need to hear. They can take control of their lives again! After all, I did!



Nothing is impossible!

ScoutPreacher: Me. Others mapped out and road, smoothed the surface and paved it before I even knew what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was. I have been up and down on this roadway for 36 years now. Many came afterwards, but I learned from the pioneers so I could lead my husband out of the darkness and be able to co-drive our future.

One early morning at work, waiting for the coffee to brew, (I get in a little after 5 am) I was sitting outside when it was about 70 degrees here in Florida, but was snowing back in New England. I thought about how my husband used to go out ahead of everyone else to plow the streets.

Then I thought about how no one goes anywhere without someone clearing the way first. My friend Kimberley Lewis and I were trying to come up with a logo for this site, but had not been content with anything until I told her I wanted a plow.

After all, I'd been clearing the way for a very long time. This is Kimberley Lewis and the design she worked very hard on.

This is not about me making any money at all on this! After all these years, I have proven that it does not cost much money at all to change a life. It takes knowledge, training, time and compassion.

PTSD Patrol Empowerment Zone videos
The veterans you see in the videos and friends who care enough to get hope in to help, deserve a lot of credit. I can tell you first hand how much courage it takes to be on that side of the camera! To be able to talk about what they went through, requires even more. The T-shirt is a way to thank them for those efforts and they should not have to pay for them.

They are the road crew! You can be on it too.

ROAD CREW
Want to do a video? If you are local, I can film it for you. If you want to do it on your cellphone, that is OK too. Just send me the link and I'll add it to the Facebook PTSD Patrol or this site if you do it on YouTube or Vimeo. 
REQUIRED: Has to be empowering, inspirational and related to something you drive, car, motorcycle, truck, fire engine, police car and yes, even plows! No doom and gloom on these since the goal is to fill them up with hope.

One friend told me that her son stole her shirt and was wearing it out when someone in a group asked him about the shirt. When he explained what it was all about, the person told him that he is a veteran and they talked. Yep! The veteran talked about what he was going through.

If you want to just do that, then, you get a shirt and my business cards so that you do not need to struggle with more than you can do. Have them contact me and I can explain more or find someone in their area to help them.

If you want to just wear this, then that is fine too. It is also OK if you just want to donate and then you are giving 2~

You do not have to be a veteran or family member. This is for everyone who has survived something that could have killed them or someone who is grieving for someone they loved.

This is a BOGO deal! Buy one, give one! I have them priced at $25. That covers you getting a T-shirt, giving one and being able to mail out what I have to.

If you want to change the outcome we have to change what we put into it!

Best way to donate is to send checks to Point Man, PO Box 196992 Winter Springs FL 32719 and take the tax deduction. Just let me know what you want and if you want a shirt, what size. 

Email me and I'll let you know other ways. woundedtimes@aol.com