Saturday, January 16, 2021

the person you need to love first

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2021

Yesterday we were talking about how if you want to have somebody to love, you need to start with yourself. Too many relationships fall apart. Even without PTSD, successful relationships require a lot of work. They also require you to know what love really is first. The only way to know that, is to start with yourself.

Over the years, I've talked to a lot of people who are lonely and they want someone in their life again. The problem was, they just kept looking before they ever started working on what the problem was....THEM! Veterans would complain they were on their 4th, 5th or 6th marriage but none of their wives ever understood them. Wow, if you're thinking head smack moment, it was.

How could they expect anyone to understand them if they didn't understand themselves? The truth is, none of them did what they needed to do to actually be ready for a relationship with anyone if they didn't have one with themselves.

If you do not work on healing, then you are dooming the next relationship. You won't have what they need you to give them. The rush of a new beginning will feel wonderful until you are no longer able to hide what you brought as baggage moving into their life.


"All healing is first a healing of the heart." - Carl Townsend

find more quotes here 

Why keep looking for love when the person you need to love first...is you?



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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

I spent a lifetime lookin' for you
Single bars and good time lovers were never true
Playing a fools game, hopin' to win
Tellin' those sweet lies and losin' again
I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of
Hoping to find a friend and lover
I'll bless the day I discover
Another heart lookin' for love
I was alone then, no love in sight
I did everything I could to get me through the night
I don't know where it started or where it might end
I turned to a stranger just like a friend
I was lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of
Hoping to find a friend and lover
I'll bless the day I discover
Another heart lookin' for love
You came knockin' on my heart's door
You're everything I've been looking for
No more lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of
Now that I found a friend and lover
God bless the day I discover
You, oh you, lookin' for love
Lookin' for love in all the wrong places
Lookin' for love in too many faces
Searchin' their eyes
Lookin' for traces of what I'm dreaming of
Now that I found a friend and lover
God bless the day I discover
You, oh you, lookin' for love

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Morrison / Patti Ryan / Wanda Mallette
Lookin' For Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Bluewater Music Corp. 


Gloria
You're always on the run now
Runnin' after somebody
You've gotta get him somehow
I think you've got to slow down
Before you start to blow it
I think you're headin' for a breakdown
So be careful not to show it
You really don't remember
Was it somethin' that he said?
All the voices in your head
Calling Gloria
Gloria
Don't you think you're fallin'?
If everybody wants you
Why isn't anybody callin'?
You don't have to answer
Leave 'em hangin' on the line, ohh
Calling Gloria
Gloria
(Gloria)
I think they got your number
(Gloria)
I think they got the alias
(Gloria)
That you've been livin' under
(Gloria)
But you really don't remember
Was it something that they said?
All the voices in your head
Calling Gloria
Gloria
How's it gonna go down?
Will you meet him on the main line?
Or will you catch him on the rebound?
Will you marry for the money?
Take a lover in the afternoon?
Feel your innocence slippin' away
Don't believe it's comin' back soon
And you really don't remember
Was it somethin' that he said?
All the voices in your head
Calling Gloria
Gloria
Don't you think you're fallin'?
If everybody wants you
Why isn't anybody callin'?
You don't have to answer
Leave them hangin' on the line, ohh
Calling Gloria
Gloria
(Gloria)
I think they got your number
(Gloria)
I think they got the alias
(Gloria)
That you've been livin' under
(Gloria)
But you really don't remember
Was it something that they said?
All the voices in your head
Calling Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
Gloria

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Giancarlo Bigazzi Eng. Lyrics: Trevor Veitch / Orig. Lyrics Music: Umberto Tozzi
Gloria lyrics © Melodi Casa Ed. Srl., Melodi Casa Editrice Srl 

Friday, January 15, 2021

Finding somebody to love starts with the mirror

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 15, 2021

And now back to the original programming! Yesterday I needed to let some stuff out to get it out of the way of positive thinking. Humans do need to do that and I'd be really lousy at my job if I told everyone else to honor their feelings, if I didn't. No one can give what they do not know.

That is why today the featured video is Queen Somebody To Love! The words are so true.

Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Ooh, each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet
(Take a look at yourself) Take a look in the mirror and cry (and cry)
Lord, what you're doing to me (yeah yeah)
I have spent all my years in believing you
But I just can't get no relief, Lord!
Somebody (somebody) ooh somebody (somebody)
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Take a look in the mirror if you want to find somebody to love and start there! You cannot give what you do not have for yourself.

Find what you love about yourself and hug it. Find what you don't like about yourself and either change it, or just deal with it after you acknowledge it. For me, I had to learn to love myself with all my qualities and yes, all my flaws.

I do have a lot to give, because I learned how to give it to myself first. One of the biggest flaws I have is my temper. I learned to control it because I cannot get rid of it. 

My husband and I have been married for what feels like forever. When he knows I am angry, he always asks, "Do you love me?" I always reply with "yes" because he knows no matter how angry I am, or hurt, I love him. The next question is, "Do you like me?" That always leads to a sarcastic answer, "So far."

Love doesn't mean you are always approving of the other person, or you like everything about them. No one perfect and neither are you.

When you have PTSD, it makes it harder to find what is lovable about you but it is all still there. Take a look in the mirror and start loving yourself. Understand where your pain comes from and then do what you can to get that pain out of the way of positive stuff coming in.

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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD



Somebody To Love
George Michael and Queen

Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Ooh, each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet
(Take a look at yourself) Take a look in the mirror and cry (and cry)
Lord, what you're doing to me (yeah yeah)
I have spent all my years in believing you
But I just can't get no relief, Lord!
Somebody (somebody) ooh somebody (somebody)
Can anybody find me somebody to love?
I work hard (he works hard) every day of my life
I work 'til I ache in my bones
At the end (at the end of the day)
I take home my hard earned pay all on my own
I get down (down) on my knees (knees)
And I start to pray
'Til the tears run down from my eyes
Lord, somebody (somebody), ooh somebody
(Please) can anybody find me somebody to love?
Everyday (everyday) I try and I try and I try
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm going crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Ah, got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe in
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Oh, Lord
Ooh somebody, ooh somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?
(Can anybody find me someone to love)
Got no feel, I got no rhythm
I just keep losing my beat (you just keep losing and losing)
I'm OK, I'm alright (he's alright, he's alright)
I ain't gonna face no defeat (yeah yeah)
I just gotta get out of this prison cell
One day (someday) I'm gonna be free, Lord!
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love love love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Somebody somebody somebody somebody
Somebody find me
Somebody find me somebody to love
Can anybody find me somebody to love?
(Find me somebody to love)
Ooh
(Find me somebody to love)
Find me somebody, somebody (find me somebody to love) somebody, somebody to love
Find me, find me, find me, find me, find me
Ooh, somebody to love (Find me somebody to love)
Ooh (find me somebody to love)
Find me, find me, find me somebody to love (find me somebody to love)
Anybody, anywhere, anybody find me somebody to love love love!
Somebody find me, find me love

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Freddie Mercury
Somebody To Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC 

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Struggling to forgive?

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 14, 2021

I have been struggling with this one all day. I thought it would be good to do a message on forgiveness, especially after what happened last week in Washington when the Congress was attacked. After several attempts to do the video, I realized the Impeachment hearing yesterday troubled me more than I thought it did. 

As I listened to some people defend the president, pretend it didn't happen, or say it was time to move on because he would be out of office next week, I was sick to my stomach. It was almost as if they were saying it was no big deal at all.

I was about to change the message of the day so that I could do a positive one, until it made more sense to just do it from where I am emotionally right now. After all, there are a lot of people going through the same thing and all of us will have to reach the point where we are able to forgive those who betrayed the rest of us. Considering that 53% thought he should be impeached, there are a lot of us.
We are seeing many of the images of the people online. Their anger was on full display, but so was their pride. One man who was carrying the Confederate flag, was arrested along with his son. The FBI found him because he went back to work and was bragging about what he did. That is something that most of them did...because they were proud of themselves. Will they be so proud when the next picture taken of them is their mugshot? Will they be so proud when they lose everything they built in their lives up until they decided to violate the People's House? How are they feeling right now as they face charges tide to insurrection after the president came out and condemned what they did, after he encouraged them to do it?

What will they do now that he no longer has any use for them? Who will they believe when he is no longer able to lie to them and betray the trust they placed in him to the point where they were willing to pay any price to serve him? 

So yes, even they are struggling. One of them committed suicide.

They will be arrested and charged and we will begin to heal, but the damage they did will change the way we look at each other for a long time. 

If you are struggling with this, then, reach out to God for help to forgive them. I know that is what I will be doing because I do not want to allow what they did to hold any more place inside of me than it has already taken up.

O God Forgive Us
KING and COUNTRY 

We've prayed the prayer with no reply
Words float off into the night
Couldn't cut our doubt with the sharpest knife
Oh, oh God forgive us
Silence isn't comfortable
We want drive through peace and instant hope
Our shallow faith it has left us broke
Oh, oh God forgive us
Oh, oh God forgive us
Enslaved to our uncertainty
Help us with our unbelief
Oh God forgive us
Young and old, black and white
We're rich and poor, there's no divide
Hear the mighty, hear the powerless, singing
Oh, oh God forgive us
Oh, oh God forgive us
Forgive us
Yes, we have ignored You
So busy doing Your work that we forgot that this was for You
Arms wide to our homeless Savior
But arms crossed to our homeless neighbor
On bended knee, unite us all
Set us free
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hand up and open wide, open wide
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hands up and open wide, open wide
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hand up and open wide, open wide
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hands up and open wide, open wide
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hand up and open wide, open wide
With our white flag sailing in the night
Eyes pointed to the sky
Hands up and open wide, open wide
Oh, oh God forgive us
Oh, oh God forgive us
Enslaved to our uncertainty
Help us with our unbelief
Oh God forgive us

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Mosley Seth David / Smallbone Joel David / Smallbone Luke James
O God Forgive Us lyrics © Wb Music Corp., Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Shankel Songs, Method To The Madness, Kilns Music, Word Music, Llc, Dayspring Music, Llc 

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

tell PTSD YOU DON'T OWN ME!

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 13, 2021

There is so much anger in this country right now that I started to think a lot about the Salem Witchcraft Trials. That was about people being afraid of what was happening, and they were afraid because they couldn't understand it. The next move, was to find people to blame. Maybe that made them feel as if they have some power over it. It was all based on false accusations with no proof of anything.

Finally, the wrong person was blamed, which caused questions to be asked and answered, because it had just gone too far. Justice was  provided for those who had not been tried and put to death, but it did not change what happened, or bring them back and all indications are, the townspeople were forever changed.

The same thing happens when you have PTSD and people cannot understand it. If you cannot explain it to them, they fear it. Then they put you on a mock trial where they want to blame you for the changes they see. Aside from the anger inside of you that comes with having PTSD, you have that added anger built onto all of that.

The first thing I suggest you do is, honor your anger. Not by harming someone else but by writing it down. Get it our of your system. Then take that piece of paper, and burn it. If you don't burn it, then stick it in a shredder, or cut it up into millions of pieces with scissors.

Then think about ways for you to explain it to them. If they do, wonderful. If they don't, then don't give up on the people you know do care about you, and understand their fears. Keep trying.

And then, tell PTSD YOU DON'T OWN ME!


It doesn't get to be in your life and it sure as hell doesn't deserve to control your life. When I was a first wife, to my ex-husband, the tried to kill me and then stalked me for a long time. He didn't own me! He didn't deserve a place in my life. My current husband and I have been together for 38 years and married for 36. That only happened because I took my power back over my own life.

That is why the feature video today is from The First Wives Club, You Don't Own Me. Treat it like you would a bad relationship....tell PTSD YOU DON'T OWN ME!

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

You don't own me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go with other boys
Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn:
Bababababababaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Hmmm
Hmmm
And don't tell me what to do
And don't tell me what to say
And when i go out with you
Don't put me on display
Pretty good
I'm impressed!
You don't own me
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't tie me down,
Cuz I'll never stay
I don't tell you what to say
I don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you
Im young
And I love to be young
Im free
And I love to be free
To live my life the way that I want
To say and do whatever I please
I'm young
I'm young
And I love to be young
I'm free
I'm free
And I love to be free
To live my life the way that I want
To say and do whatever I please
No, no
You don't own me
No, no
You don't own me
No, no
You don't own me
Forever, young and free,
Darling you don't own me
You don't own me
You don't own me
Forever, young and free,
Darling you don't own me
You don't own me
You don't own me
Forever, young and free,
Darling you don't own me
You don't own me
You don't own me
Forever, young and free,
Darling you don't own me
You don't own me
You don't own me
Forever, young and free,
Darling you don't own me

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Madara / David White
You Don’t Own Me lyrics © Unichappell Music Inc.

Artists: Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler
Album: The First Wives Club: Music From the Motion Picture... And Then Some
Released: 1996 

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

You've got a fast car racing up inside you

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 12, 2021

There is such power in music, that I wish I had all of them on a list. The problem is, that list would be one of the largest lists known. I don't have a play list, or a favorite group, or even a favorite song that I would now want to let go from my history.

Music has a power over emotions. I could be happy, then hear a song that brings back painful memories. No matter how fast I try to shut it off, it is too late. The bad memory has already been awakened.

On the flip side, I could be in a crappy mood, hear a song that means something to me, and start chair dancing

Queen's message is "Your wish will be granted. All your problems will disappear. Don't be a fool.
You haven't reached your peak.You've got a fast car racing up inside you. Your life is incomplete.
Hang on in there, hang on in there." 

As with all race cars, they are designed to go forward, not backwards. They need a trained, experienced driver as much as they need a well prepared pit crew. So do you! And knowing that, understand that is how you heal #PTSD! Remember it is your life...get in and drive it!



In 2006, I was wondering how I could do something different because no one wanted to read much anymore. Everyone was online and looking to be entertained. Then I saw a music video with lyrics. 

I thought it would have been better if they added in images. The next thing was, it would be even better if a message was linked to the music and images to change the way someone was thinking.

That was when I put together the first video for PTSD. Wounded Minds. It worked because the music mattered just as much as the message and the images.

"Hang On In There" by Queen is the feature video today! The music and the lyrics are spot on but the videos I found were lacking. This was not one of Queen's famous songs, but it is a powerful one. I added in a few more of their videos.
Don't let go
Don't lose your mystique
Wait a little longer
Tomorrow brings another feast
Don't let go
Don't lose your reputation
Thank God you're still alive, ha
You're still in one piece
Hang on in there, don't lose your appetite
Hang on in there, forget the danger signs
Pray for that magical moment (just stay there) and it will appear
(Don't fight for lost emotions)
Wait for the sunrise,
And everything will seem so clear
(Look straight ahead, look straight ahead)
Hang on in there (hang on in there)
Hang on in there (hang on in there)
Your wish will be granted
All your problems will disappear
Don't be a fool
You haven't reached your peak
You've got a fast car racing up inside you
Your life is incomplete
Hang on in there, hang on in there
Pray for that magical moment and it will appear
(Wait for the moment)
Wait for the sunrise - oh
Just wait and see and it will seem so clear
Ba dap bap ee bap bap ba ba bap bap de de de da
Hey
And let's go, let's go - o.k. now do the change now
Hang on
Yeah
Hang on in there, hang on in there
Yeah hang on in there, yeah

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Brian Harold May / Freddie Mercury / John Deacon / Roger Taylor
Hang On In There lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Don't Stop Me Now

Save Me

guide to take back our life

June 26, 2021 The new site for PTSD Patrol  is up and running. New blog posts will begin there on June 27, 2021. This site will remain up...

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It is your life, get in and drive it