PTSD Patrol: We Shall Overcome That Hill

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

August 9, 2020

Shauna Quigley is the feature video today. She is talking about when she was young and grew up with a problem..alcoholism in the family, tragic death and multiple traumas.

As I was listening to her, it sounded a lot like my life. My wakening moment came when one night when I was about 7, I woke up in the middle of the night and headed to the bathroom. As I walked down the hall, the light was coming from across the street and made a door glow. I swear to this day, it was the face of Jesus. I was comforted. 

Like Shauna, experts said that I should have had PTSD and all the other problems that come along with it. I didn't. Sure I went through all the symptoms that come with shock, but PTSD did not take hold for long. That is, not until I was much older and my ex-husband tried to kill me, and then stalked me for a very long time.

For the most part, I was able to fight on unless I heard a muscle car and the engine rev. Adrenaline rush, heart racing, flashbacks and fear would take over for seconds until I could remind myself it was not him and I survived the worst he could do.

Rationally that fear should have not followed me down the east coast, but it did until my cousin sent me his obituary clipping from the newspaper.

But I overcame all of it! So can you. I hope that you find comfort on these pages and daily reminders that the only thing you are limited by, is giving up. This is a hill that you can get over and sometimes, you need to go into overdrive to do it~

Healing Trauma: New Paradigm Letting the Body Inform the Mind | Shauna Quigley | TEDxStormontWomen 

Trauma and it’s negative effects on our mental health has been an age old problem. Therapist Shauna Quigley demystifies the healing process by sharing her story of healing her own childhood trauma. She invites you to consider the idea that trauma can be healed if we allow the body to inform the mind. 

Shauna is the Founder and Director of Wellnessseeker, an online school that offers a variety of programmes, aimed directly at supporting mental and emotional difficulties. Shauna is passionate about the potential of the human spirit to heal and is convinced that everyone has the capacity to transform their suffering.

Keep these lyrics in your mind and know that we shall overcome, if we believe!

We shall overcome

We shall overcome

We shall overcome, some day 

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day 

We'll walk hand in hand

We'll walk hand in hand

We'll walk hand in hand, some day 

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day 

We shall live in peace

We shall live in peace

We shall live in peace, some day 

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day 

We are not afraid

We are not afraid

We are not afraid, TODAY 

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day 

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around some day 

Oh, deep in my heart

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day

PTSD Patrol: Not Giving Up

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

August 18, 2020

Last night I was watching the DNC convention and I was reminded of things I had forgotten about Joe Biden. He suffered a lot in his life, but instead of being limited by the pain he knew all too well, he decided to use that pain to help others heal too.

This isn't political but it is about as inspirational as it gets.

(ABC News 2012)

Vice President Joe Biden today delivered a deeply personal and, at times, emotional address to survivors of slain U.S. military service members, recounting his struggle with intense grief after his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident almost 40 years ago.

"For the first time in my life, I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide," Biden told a Washington gathering organized by the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a non-profit advocacy group, to commemorate Memorial Day.

"Not because they were deranged, not because they were nuts, because they'd been to the top of the mountain and they just knew in their heart they'd never get there again, that it was … never going to be that way ever again. That's how an awful lot of you feel."

Biden described how he first learned of the accident on Dec. 18, 1972, just weeks after he was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware. While he was in Washington, D.C., his wife, Neilia, one-year-old daughter, Naomi, and sons, Beau and Hunter, were Christmas shopping in Hockessin, Del. Their car was struck by a tractor-trailer. Only Beau and Hunter survived. 

"There will come a day, I promise you, and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye," he said. "It will happen. My prayer for you is that day will come sooner or later. But the only thing I have more experience than you in is this: I'm telling you it will come."  

Vice president opens up about past grief and thoughts of suicide.

PTSD Patrol: On the road with geniuses

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
August 17, 2020 

The feature video today is Jim Carey. Most people don't know he suffered from depression. I think that was what motivated him to try to make people feel better about the road they were on. Do you want to make your life better? Then remember what it felt like to not know you could, do it and then pass on hope. To quote from Bruce Almighty..."Be the miracle" and make someone's life better than it would have been if you didn't try.

It works the same way when you have PTSD. Change the "world" you live in, heal and pass it on too! Be the miracle in their life."

#breakthesilence and #takebackyourlife from #PTSD

Jim Carrey on Spirituality and Overcoming Depression

Jim Carey motivational speech

PTSD Patrol Humming Along

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

August 16, 2020

Today I spent the day with friends and saw this humming bird flying around the feeder. Every time I thought I had a chance to get it on video, it took off. Then after it teased me for over an hour, it decided to give me a break. Life is like that and when you are ready to give up on something....you catch a glimpse of wonderment!

So, after seeing me every day on these videos, I figured I would give readers a break and just something uplifting of the spirt with no words needed.

But if you do need words... "98% of people don't understand this" Matthew McConaughey's Incredible Motivational Speech. Matthew McConaughey's Important Life Advice That Will Change Your Future.

PTSD Patrol: Til It Happens To You

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

August  15, 2020

We know about PTSD because people came out and broke the silence. We know we are not alone because it happened to someone before it happened to us. We know we are not alone because others had the courage to tell us.

We also know that we have the power to take back our lives after surviving trauma because people like Lady Gaga understood the value she was proving to others....

The featured video today is by Lady Gaga who has PTSD from sexual abuse. It is hard to watch but when you think about how we learn about something that happens to others we also learn that no one is alone. #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from PTSD

New York (CNN)Lady Gaga made a powerful announcement to a group of young LGBT people in New York -- she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. Gaga revealed that she suffers from the debilitating mental illness at Harlem's Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth on November 25. The taped segment aired on NBC's "Today" show Friday. She visited the center as part of a collaboration between her foundation, Born This Way, and the NBC morning show. She brought along clothing, gifts and donuts. (CNN)

Lady Gaga - Til It Happens To You (Official Music Video)