When your life is falling apart, you know you need help. What if you have no one to ask to help you? Maybe you've had past experience with asking people to help you but they didn't. If you don't know anyone you know will help, then it is easy to think you don't deserve any. I've felt that way about a million times. It isn't that people I know won't help me, but they don't know how to help me.
When you have PTSD, most of the time people do care but they have no idea how to help. Most people have a hard time knowing how to just listen and let you talk. Most of the time, they have no idea how helpful it is to just get the words out of our mouths.
But if you've run out of people to call, tired of getting drunk, tired of crying and struggling to just get from one day to the next, you need someone you can call who does care and does know how to help!
Some people will remind you that you are not alone, but it doesn't help if you have your head in your hands sitting alone and don't know where to turn. It does help when people prove you are not alone and know how to help you get through the rough days a lot of people have. Don't lose those numbers! They are there to listen and help you through it!
Trust me because I know what it feels like to want to just give up. I know what it is like to be alone and don't know where to turn. I also know what it is like when I do find the help I need, when I need it, and from people who not only want to help me, they are trained to do it properly.
Your life can turn around too and you can pass it on when you feel better and you know, you are not alone at all.
Lifeline
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress.
This is why today the featured video is Rikki Don't Lose That Number!
Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Steely Dan
We hear you're leavin', that's okay
I thought our little wild time had just begun
I guessed you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run
But if you have a change of heart
Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
I have a friend in town, he's heard your name
We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row
We could stay inside and play games, I don't know
And you could have a change of heart
Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
You tell yourself you're not my kind
But you don't even know your mind
And you could have a change of heart
Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
Rikki, don't lose that number
Rikki, don't lose that number
Rikki, don't lose that number
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Becker Walter Carl / Fagen Donald Jay
Today I was on Facebook and almost fell off my chair when I saw something I did used to promote a group that is doing something I find sickening. Yes, they are doing suicide awareness! They used this image with my graphic. Topped off with sticking their logo all over it as if they owned it! I won't post their image here but you can find it on my other site.
This is the link to my post from 2013. It is one of the oldest ones I could find, but considering how long I've been doing this work, it could be even older. I do not put my name or logo on images unless I own the image. I don't even do it when I totally change the picture because the picture someone else took inspired me to do the message. I respect their work! I do put my name and logo on things I totally create but that doesn't stop people from just taking my work and removing my name. That not only shows they do not respect the work others have done, they do not respect the people they claim to be in business for.
This is why the featured video today is Respect Yourself sung by Melissa Etheridge.
This isn't a compliment. It is just one more time when work I've dedicated my life to since 1982, invested thousands of dollars into sharing, plus hundreds of hours training to do, along with all the other years of researching, countless phone calls and emails, plus all the videos, was just something for someone else to take from me.
Had this group asked for permission, like many others have, when they are doing something I think is repulsive, I would have told them no. Their mission is going in the wrong direction and the facts have proven this does not work. Saving lives requires more than a slogan. Groups like this are the reason veterans couldn't find me anymore and I had to give up on helping them. My heart couldn't take it anymore. It was being ripped out by continually being reminded of the publicity these groups get, and the number of suicides increasing.
Last year I decided since I survived over 10 events, I could help more people by opening this work up to everyone who has PTSD to give them hope and show them the way to #TakeBackYourLife, while all these groups do is talk about veterans as if they are just a number. A number they do not even come close to understanding.
I respected the veterans I was helping enough to provide them with what they needed to know. Like when I started posting about them committing suicide back in 2007. I thought all that was needed was for me to put together a powerful post that would get someone to change what was going on and then they could heal too. I never expect it to turn into a billion dollar industry with stunts! I respected then enough to give them the facts, so the only thing I posted was news reports and government reports. When those reports were wrong, I posted the truth and did rebuttals.
In 2009, when the DOD was pushing their programs that were doomed to fail, I posted how it would increase suicides because it told service members they could "train their brains to be mentally tough" which they understood as having a weak mind if they ended up with PTSD.
If these groups do not respect veterans enough to tell them what they need to hear to stay alive, heal and be happier, do not respect those who came long before they were even wondering, then maybe you should consider if you should support them or not.
I am not doing a video today because you know how much I'd be swearing about all this! Check back tomorrow for a better attitude from me. (I hope)
Respect Yourself
If you disrespect anybody that you run in to
How in the world do you think anybody's s'posed to respect you
If you don't give a heck 'bout the man with the bible in his hand, y'all
Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way, yeah
Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day
There are three basic requirements that a work must meet to be protected by copyright. The work must be:
Original: To be original, a work must merely be independently created. In other words, it cannot be copied from something else. There is no requirement that the work be novel (as in patent law), unique, imaginative or inventive.
Creative: To satisfy the creativity requirement a work need only demonstrate a very small amount of creativity. Very few creations fail to satisfy this requirement.
Fixed: To meet the fixation requirement, a work must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Protection attaches automatically to an eligible work the moment the work is fixed. A work is considered to be fixed as long as it’s sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.
If I do not create the image itself, take the picture or use Photoshop to make it, then I do not put my name on it. I only own the changes I make to the picture. In this case, We Are The 22 took my work and put their logo on them without the right to do it.
Why search for something after you found it? Maybe you need to because you think you lost it. If that is the case, then why did you lose it? Did you actually lose it? If the thing you lost is more than a thing, but is a person, that can be very rough. It isn't as if you can go out and replace the person with a duplicate. They will never be the same person you lost. This is why today the featured video is I'll Never Find Another You by The Seekers.
Many people came into and went out of my life for a lot of reasons. Some stayed in my life for decades. Some passed away. The fact is, none of them really left me. Each one changed me by adding something to my life or, taking something out of it. The truth is, looking back, I know I gained something from even the ones who hurt me. It made me love those who added to my life more deeply and appreciated them even more than I would have if I had never been hurt.
Is there someone in your life you love and loves you? You were brougt together for a reason. If you are suffering because of PTSD and it is a heavier burden than you can carry on your own, then you risk losing them. You are actually pushing them out of your life by not sharing what you feel.
How many times have you read about a couple married for 50, 60 or 70 years and wonder how they did it? They did it because they shared their lives. All the good and all the bad and they stood by one another supporting them, because that is what love does. Does it mean it will be prefect? No, but it does mean it is strong. Isn't it time that you figured out you will never be able to find another one of "them" no matter what you do? If you do the right thing and trust them, share your burden with them, you won't have to look to replace them...because you won't lose them.
"Let's rewrite an ending that fits." Those words are from Nickelback Someday. If you've been saying that someday you'll get over what #PTSD is doing to you, how long have you been saying it? Someday you'll do something to change. How long are you willing to wait? How long do you think you'll try it the way it hasn't worked before you try another way? Someday?
How about you make someday today? The longer you take to decide it is time to #TakeBackYourLife, the more damage is done. Not just to you, but the people in your life are paying a price too. I've heard enough people say that they thought about committing suicide so they would stop being so unhappy and making everyone else in their family unhappy. It wasn't until they decided suicide would make their family take on a burden of pain they would be paying for with the rest of their lives. So much better to do what it takes to heal, than cover up you never really did from the event you survived.
So if you make changing your goal starting today, then tomorrow you can "rewrite an ending that fits." If you ever saw someone with PTSD at their worst, and then saw them after they healed, it is a beautiful thing to see. It is a testament to the human spirit and what can be accomplished, especially in someone who survived the thing that caused PTSD to hit them.
Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence
Someday
Nickelback
How the hell'd we wind up like this?
And why weren't we able
To see the signs that we missed?
Try and turn the tables
I wish you'd unclench your fists
And unpack your suitcase
Lately there's been too much of this
But don't think it's too late
Nothing's wrong just as long as you know that someday I will
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
Well, I'd hope that since we're here anyway
We could end up saying
Things we've always needed to say
So we could end up staying
Now the story's played out like this
Just like a paperback novel
Let's rewrite an ending that fits
Instead of a Hollywood horror
Nothing's wrong just as long as you know that someday I will
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
How the hell'd we wind up like this?
And why weren't we able
To see the signs that we missed?
Try and turn the tables
Now the story's played out like this
Just like a paperback novel
Let's rewrite an ending that fits
Instead of a Hollywood horror
Nothing's wrong just as long as you know that someday I will
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
Someday, somehow
I'm gonna make it alright but not right now
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
I know you're wondering when
(You're the only one who knows that)
I know you're wondering when
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Chad Kroeger / Michael Kroeger / Ryan Peake / Ryan Vikedal
When we think about miracles, we may remember the miracles in the Bible, but then, forget all the other ones that have happened. Not just throughout history, but in our own lives. Surviving the event that caused PTSD, was a miracle. It is just hard to see it that way when you are suffering. Sometimes you feel as if you are all alone. The thing is, you may have chosen to be by your silence.
We make choices all the time that may prevent us from doing what God wants us to. Pride may stop us from using the gifts He gave us if we put it above what we know is the right thing to do. It keeps us from forgiving others. It stops us from admitting we need help, as much as it stops us from admitting it hurts when we ask people to help us, but they choose to not help us, when we need them to do what we ask them to do.
Yesterday a friend shared a link on Facebook to Carrie Underwood singing How Great Thou Art to an empty theater. It seemed like a strange thing to do, but it was the right thing to do. It was easy to see that she was singing to God and giving Him praise. That got me thinking about how I pray. I pray by myself and speak directly to God. My soul knows He hears me. My life proves He heard my prayers and gave me everything I asked for.
I know that when I am going through difficult times, I talk to God about everything going on within me and then ask Him for what I need. He shows me the way. He knows I want to make a difference, but first He made a difference within me. I do this site all the time but I had no idea why I started it almost 4 years ago. Then I remembered one of my friends, a Pastor I worked with, telling me about a miracle that happened to her.
She was preparing a sermon to be delivered several weeks away. As she was writing it, it went off in a different direction than she had planned. Her soul told her to keep going until it was finished. When the week for that Bible passage came, she delivered the sermon. Some of the regular members of the congregation were confused about it. One woman she had never seen before, reached out her arms, hugged her and whispered, "I needed to hear that." She walked away but my friend knew she did the right thing doing the strange thing. The one person who needed to hear it, did!
Maybe it seems strange to you to pray. Maybe you don't even know how to start.
Matthew 6:5-6
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
When we pray, the only one who needs to hear us is God. Speak to Him and it will make it easier to speak to others about what you need. This isn't about converting you or getting you to go to church. The only thing I want to change is getting you to be happier in your own life. Make a miracle in your own life and feel it in your soul.
Once you #BreakTheSilence with God, it makes it easier to do it with people because you will feel no shame asking God and He will show you the way.
