Be the real friend I need

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 5, 2021

Today the featured video is Celtic Women, Walk Beside Me because that is a very powerful message when you are hurting. PTSD can do a lot of things to you but if you have someone walking beside you, it makes it hurt less. That is a gift they will never really understand but it is one that can save your future.

We've all been fed up with doom and gloom messages about how many take their own lives, leaving behind families with a lifetime of burden to carry. Just because they were not given the chance to help someone they loved they have to pay the price for the loss. We've heard it from friends wondering why someone they cared about would not tell them they were hurting and needed so help from them. What kind of a relationship is that? Families and friends are supposed to be people you trust. Do you trust them or not? Or is it more a matter of you not trusting yourself because you believe you are beyond help? Maybe it is because you don't think they will try to help you? Maybe you are ashamed you need help at all?

Whatever your reason is, or the one you use to prevent you from asking the people in your life to help save your life, it is pure bullshit! Stop making excuses and start making meaningful choices that will also touch the people in your life.

The only question you should be asking is if you could be the real friend they need and walk beside them...or not. How do you know they won't if you never give them the chance?

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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Walk Beside Me

Celtic Woman 

A child begins with one single step

Then walks a million miles

And though these wings are not ready yet

I will try to fly

My eyes can't see

My arms can't reach

I need strength when I'm weak

I need your faith in me

Don't walk in front of me

I was not born to follow

Don't walk behind me

We were all born to lead

Don't walk without me

I might need you tomorrow

Walk right beside me

Be the real friend I need

If you break small stones, one at a time

You will move that whole mountain

If you climb each rainbow, it's gold that you'll find

And shelter from the rain

My ears can't hear

My heart can't beat

It needs strength when I'm weak

I need your faith in me

Don't walk in front of me

I was not born to follow

Don't walk behind me

We were all born to lead

Don't walk without me

I might need you tomorrow

Walk right beside me

Be the real friend I need

Don't walk in front of me

I was not born to follow

Don't walk behind me

We were all born to lead

Don't walk without me

I might need you tomorrow

Walk right beside me

Be the real friend I need

Walk right beside me

Be the real friend I need

Source: Musixmatch

Walk Beside Me lyrics © Syncope Music Publishing, Out Of Pocket Prod. Ltd. 

Won't you show me that you really care?

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 4, 2021

If you have PTSD and you are having a hard time with believing in God, today can be a rough day for you. Most of the people I worked with over the years had a tattered relationship with Him. Some blamed Him for not preventing what happened. Others believed He did it to them. For others, they saw everything they had before "it" happened go away, including their families and friends.

A lot of people struggle with their faith just living normal lives and most of the time it is because they have the wrong idea about God. They have the wrong idea about how they are supposed to live their own lives, so they try to push what they believe onto others, when God did not give them the right to do it. God won't even mess with freewill, so thinking you can control anyone else or force them to believe what you do, is ridiculous. 

It is Easter Sunday for most of the Christian world. I am Greek Orthodox and our Easter is next month. For those celebrating today do you show Jesus that you really care or are you more into Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs? I find it odd that so many will celebrate His birth and His resurrection, without showing they really care about Him during the year. After all, while His ministry lasted 3 years and His life only lasted 33 He managed to change the world for people everyday. 

If you go to church, or attend virtually because you want to worship Him, that is wonderful. What do you do to show it the rest of the week? How we act toward others is part of true worship, but the other part is how we live our own lives and what we believe is possible?

We pray for many things during the year because we have faith it is possible to receive. When we pray for something the involves other people, that is harder to be granted because it involves the freewill of others to not only listen to what they are being asked to do, but have the will to actually do it.

Then there are things we ask for that involve what God can actually deliver to us without other humans. To me, those are the most powerful things because they can fill us up no matter how others treat us.

I struggled with needing to forgive people, and it was granted. I struggled with holding onto hope, and it was delivered. I prayed for God to deliver peace to my soul and it was granted. No matter what I asked for in my own life that could only come from Him, I got it.

That doesn't mean I'll never need to pray for those things again. It means that I have known what miracles still happen and believe they will happen again.

How do we show we really care about others? By remembering how Jesus showed He did. We do with with love, compassion, mercy, understanding and by knowing what we would need if we were the one in need.

What if Jesus asked, "Won't you show me you really care?" Today is a good day to answer that question. 

Show Him you care by rebuilding your relationship. Then by what you do for the sake of others. If you share your experiences with others, that will help them heal, it will also help you heal even more. You'll be amazed by how powerful it is to do something for someone else, especially when you know what it is like to be in need, but no one helped you for a long time...and then someone finally did!

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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Handle with Care

Traveling Wilburys

(George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison)

Been beat up and battered 'round

Been sent up, and I've been shot down

You're the best thing that I've ever found

Handle me with care

Reputations changeable

Situations tolerable

Baby, you're adorable

Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody's got somebody to lean on

Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I've been fobbed off, and I've been fooled

I've been robbed and ridiculed

In daycare centers and night schools

Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized

Sent to meetings, hypnotized

Overexposed, commercialized

Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody's got somebody to lean on

Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I've been uptight and made a mess

But I'll clean it up myself, I guess

Oh, the sweet smell of success

Handle me with care

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bob Dylan / George Harrison / Jeff Lynne / Roy K Orbison / Tom Petty

Handle with Care lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Concord Music Publishing LLC

Videos should resume tomorrow if I ever get this desk put together. My back is killing me!

The best time to seek help is NOW!

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

April 3, 2021

Today is a good day to focus on what happened in Washington on January 6, because yesterday was a reminder of it when another Capitol Police Officer William Evans was killed and another was injured to the point where he had to be hospitalized.

There is so much that does not get covered when major news stories come out and that is how so many people who were not there, will also see their lives changed because they cared about the people who were involved.

Mother of injured Capitol officer: What my son went through will leave an imprint on my mind forever

NBC News

All have mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers, and children who will experience the traumatic impact associated with this day for a very long time.

KAKE News
Opinion by Theresa J. Fanone
Thursday, April 1st 2021

Donald Trump recently said that his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were "hugging and kissing" police officers and posed "zero threat."

My experience of that day, and every day since, has been significantly different.

My son, Michael Fanone, is a 20 year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, assigned to the First District. I knew there was a rally planned for Jan. 6. All leave had been canceled. This was to be an "all hands on deck" event. Michael was scheduled to work his regular shift but left for work early that day.

I had been listening and watching on television the speeches at Trump's "Save America" rally. More and more, my anxiety grew as I saw the enormous crowd and listened to the negativity and tone of the rhetoric expressed by all speakers. For me, it evoked fear and sounded like the speakers were advocating for a threatening confrontation.

Terror, horror, anger, fear and rage do not begin to capture the emotions I felt that day, wondering which police officer's face belonged to my son. I prayed --- for my son and all the sons, daughters, fathers and mothers who were present that day. Watching the beatings, suffering, fear and confusion on these officers' faces will leave an indelible imprint on my mind forever.
read more here

There were 800 people who stormed into the Capitol and every member of the House and Senate, plus their staff, were terrorized by them, but all of them had people who care about them watching and worrying while helplessly watching it on TV. Families of the officers trying to protect the Capitol were also watching it happen. Many of them have the same emotional price as Officer Fanone's Mom.

And then there are the people who care about those who decided to do this terrible thing. How many of them will be changed by what they witnessed their family members did? How do you come to terms with any of this?

California man charged with attacking officer with stun weapon in Capitol riot
NBC News
By Phil Helsel
April 1, 2021

A Southern California man has been indicted on charges that he attacked a police officer with an "electroshock weapon" during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, prosecutors said Thursday.

Daniel Rodriguez, 38, of Fontana, was arrested Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.

He is accused of attacking Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the assault on the Capitol as Congress was formally counting the electoral votes affirming President Joe Biden's win.

Fanone has described being beaten by the mob and shocked with a stun gun repeatedly, and he has said some in the crowd chanted, "Kill him with his own gun."

"I was being beaten with a thin blue line flag — which, you know, how ironic is that?" Fanone told NBC Washington in January. The flag is generally seen as supportive of law enforcement. He said he suffered a mild heart attack. read more here 

We may never know the true numbers of people who had their lives changed in those horrible hours. What we do know is that there will be many emotional wounds and will be in need of help to heal those scars. This was a mass casualty event.

The sooner you seek help to heal, the better your recovery will be. You had no control over what happened and as hard as it is to believe, you did not control what others decided to do. You only have the power to do what you can from every moment afterwards.

The best time to seek help is NOW!

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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Don't Dream It's Over Live (HQ)

Crowded House

There is freedom within

There is freedom without

Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup

There's a battle ahead

Many battles are lost

But you'll never see the end of the road

While you're travelling with me

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

We know they won't win

Now I'm towing my car

There's a hole in the roof

My possessions are causing me suspicion

But there's no proof

In the paper today

Tales of war and of waste

But you turn right over to the TV page

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

We know they won't win

Now I'm walking again

To the beat of a drum

And I'm counting the steps to the door of your heart

Only shadows ahead

Barely clearing the roof

Get to know the feeling of liberation and release

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

You know they won't win

Don't let them win (Hey now, hey now)

Hey now, hey now

Hey now, hey now

Don't let them win (They come, they come)

Don't let them win (Hey now, hey now), yeah

Hey now, hey now

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Finn Neil Mullane

Don’t Dream It’s Over lyrics © Roundhead Music

No video from me today. I have to put together a new desk for the office and I'm a mess!

When PTSD is trying to run your life...crush it!

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 2, 2021

Did you know that PTSD will keep controlling your life until you do? That's right! You can crush it if you decide that it doesn't get to control you anymore and #TakeBackYourLife from PTSD!

Today the featured video is Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards because PTSD wants you to tell the sunshine to just go away. It doesn't want any light to enter into your life, it wants you do stay miserable. 

One of the lines is, "he's got cards he ain't showing" and that is the secret of defeating PTSD. It has a weaker hand than it wants you to think it does. You have been led to think he has all the Aces, but they are all still in the deck and waiting for you to find them.

As soon as you start to talk about it, start to fight to find hope and let it begin to fill you up again, it starts to get crushed. The more you heal, the more it gets pushed out of your life.

Consider Lt. Justin Jensen as a reason to get help and take control over your own life.  He tried different things, after he stopped trying to deny he needed help and then didn't give up on finding what worked for him!

Lt. Justin Jensen pauses for a portrait while talking about his bouts with post traumatic stress disorder March 3 at the Burley Fire Department. Jensen recently received a firefighter of the year award. 'I was a ticking time bomb with a short fuse that had been lit and then re-lit,' he said.
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

Triumphing over PTSD: Burley firefighter wins Firefighter of the Year award
Magic Valley
Laurie Welch
34 min ago

Justin Jensen felt stunned when he was named Firefighter of Year by the Professional Fire Fighters of Idaho after spending the past year clashing with demons brought to life by post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It’s our most prestigious award that recognizes one of our own,” Rob Shoplock, a firefighter with the Eagle Fire Department and vice president of the firefighters’ union. As vice president, Shoplock lobbies for industry changes with state lawmakers.

The organization presented the award to Jensen on Feb. 22 during a virtual conference.

The award left the 44-year-old Burley man feeling emotional, overwhelmed and without words, something he said he hopes to remedy with a speech during next year’s conference.
read more here

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
Justin tried to get help to heal and found it. So can you!

Sunshine

Jonathan Edwards 

Sunshine go away today

I don't feel much like dancing

Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life

Don't know what he's asking

He tells me I'd better get in line

Can't hear what he's saying

When I grow up I'm going to make it mine

But these aren't dues I been paying

How much does it cost, I'll buy it

The time is all we've lost, I'll try it

But he can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

Sunshine go away today

I don't feel much like dancing

Some man's gone he's tried to run my life

Don't know what he's asking

Working starts to make me wonder where

The fruits of what I do are going

He says in love and war all is fair

But he's got cards he ain't showing

How much does it cost, I'll buy it

The time is all we've lost, I'll try it

But he can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

Sunshine come on back another day

I promise you I'll be singing

This old world, she's gonna turn around

Brand new bells'll be ringing

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jonathan Edwards

Sunshine lyrics © Castle Hill Publishing Ltd., Castle Hill Publishing Ltd 

PTSD Patrol thanks you for lifting others Higher And Higher

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 1, 2021

Today's video was chosen for two reasons. The first one is, to say thank you! Thank you for passing this work on because PTSD Patrol has passed 91,000 page views. That would not have happened if you were not passing this work along and letting others know that their lives can be better. The other reason is to remind you that your own healing can be lifting you "Higher And Higher" too!

There is no limit to your healing. Even if you think life is good enough for you, it can be even better when you help someone else. Lifting them up lifts you. There is no price you can put on that feeling, knowing you changed someone's life for the better. They turn around and change the lives of others in their life and hopefully, change the lives of strangers too.

I am often reminded that I'll never know how many people I reach with this work, but the only way they are reached is for others to share it and you blessed me doing that!

Now once, I was downhearted disappointment was my closest friend

But you came, he soon departed and he never showed his face again

My life is not just blessed, but you also blessed others by giving them hope and letting them know their own life doesn't have to be filled with doom and gloom.

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

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Higher And Higher

Your love is liftin me higher, than I've ever been lifted before.

Your love is liftin me higher, than I've ever been lifted before

So keep it up, quench my desire and I'll be at your side forever more

Now once, I was downhearted disappointment was my closest friend

But you came, he soon departed and he never showed his face again

I'm so glad I finally found you, your that one in a million man

When you wrap your lovin arms around me

I can stand up and face the world again

Your love is liftin me higher than I've ever been lifted before (higher)

So keep it up, quench my desire

And I'll be at your side forever more (higher)

(Repeat x3)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Gary Jackson / Raynard Miner / Carl Smith

(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Unichappell Music Inc., Mijac Music