PTSD Patrol: Passenger or Driver?

Have you decided to get into your life and drive?

When you are a passenger, you do not control anything. Someone else is in control of where you go, how fast you get there and how safe your trip is.

When you are the driver, then you decide all of it! Where you go and how fast you get there is all up to the decisions you make.

There are things you decide in your own life. Do you want to be happy? Do you want to stay miserable?

How you live can change just as it did when you survived the events that caused PTSD. This time, it can change for the better!

PTSD is change, so, change again! It is your life. Get in and drive it instead of letting it drive you!

PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone topic is are you a passenger in your own life or a driver?

Do you let other people tell you where to go and how to get there, or do you control all of it? If you want to #TakeBackYourLife then you have to take control of the vehicle you live in! You are the only one who is controlling the road you go on. Do you take the road to hope so you can end up having a better trip or do you settle for where you are right now?

PTSD Patrol: Two Wheel Power Drive

Two wheel power drive
Combat PTSD Wounded Times and PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
August 4, 2018

This week's PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone is still going up tomorrow, as always, but I wanted you to see what this week's video is about ahead of time.

When you think about a vehicle with 2 wheels, right away, I know your thinking of the Harley's roaring down the street. This is about a different 2 wheeler. 

This is about pushing forward with your own power and training to do it. The people in the pictures below lost something, but ended up gaining a lot more.

Their 2 wheel vehicles are wheelchairs!

Yesterday at the Ovideo Aquatic Facility the 38th National Veterans Wheelchair Games.

The National Veterans Wheelchair Games is co-presented between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Paralyzed Veterans of America. The Games serve Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Amputations and other central neurological impairments with the goal to increase their independence, healthy activity and quality of life through wheelchair sports and recreation. Veterans are being exposed to wheelchair sports at their home VAMC or PVA Chapters as part of their rehabilitation to improve function, independence and getting them active in their home communities in sport and fitness.

This group is training to be "lifters" to help get the veterans into the pool and out of it.

Oviedo High School Volunteers

This veteran started having trouble...in a blink of an eye, the lifeguards were there to help her!

Check back tomorrow morning for this week's video.

UPDATE
It is Sunday Morning! The beginning of a new week and hopefully, a new beginning for you too!

By now, you watched the video and saw how all of these athletes received help to achieve their goals. That is how everyone moves on in life. 

You had a desire to serve. They had a desire to do that too. 

You had to be trained to do it. So did they.

They needed help to get out of the wheelchairs. Help to learn how to swim with their physical limits but they did not limit themselves to what they were expected to do. You should not settle for being limited to what people expect out of you with your disability.

They needed help on every part of this trip in their lives, and so do you.

Sure, I know most wheelchairs have more than two wheels but when you think about it, that is really all you need. One wheel moves you but the other one guides you to where you want to go.

So where do you want to go? The only limits on your life are those you settle for. Want to get up and move that vehicle you live in? Then #TakeBackYourLife and find the drive to do it.

On a personal note: Gunny, there is something on the end of this just for you! Thank you for being such a huge part of encouraging me to never give up!

PTSD Patrol : Family Road Trip

PTSD Patrol Family Road Trip
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 29, 2018

Yesterday it was raining when I was getting ready to do the video for today. A song popped into my head and I could not get it to stop playing in my mind. 

Melissa Manchester "Come In From The Rain" is about coming home from a journey and returning to someone who loves them.

I used that song a long time ago because it is what it is like when you come back home to your family.

When you listen to the lyrics, you'll know what I mean. We do not know what you have packed in your memories. We just know you are still packing pain. 

We don't know if it is because you do not love us anymore, or we did something wrong, or anything else that caused what is going on with you. All we can do is guess unless you tell us.

Do not leave your family wondering, because they will only blame themselves. The deployment trip was your journey without them but healing from it, is a family road trip.

Stop concealing what you are trying to hide and include them in on this ride so you can #TakeBackYourLife!

There is another song by Melissa Manchester "Just You And I" that also says a lot about what could go on when you do not choose to fight this alone.

Just You And I

Melissa Manchester

When your heroes go up in a puff,

And there's not enough to hang on to

And the ones you would count on to call

They all fall down all around you

Then you've got to believe there's more

It is the reason we're put here for

It's just you and I

When the legend's over - and we have just begun

We can look to each other to see us through

Just you and I

When a miracle's long overdue

And there's no one who's gonna come to guide you

So you keep looking up to the sky - wondering why

The clouds won't hide you

At the times when you're most afraid

That is the reason why dreams are made

It's just you and I

When the legend's over - and we have just begun

We can look to each other to see us through

Just you and I

Songwriters: Carole Bayer Sager / Melissa Manchester / Melissa Toni Manchester Just You And I lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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!