Serendipity

If you'd asked me a few years ago if I could stand being by myself, I probably would have replied "No". In fact, I have never in all my adult years lived by myself or at least spent most of my time alone. I've always had someone there, a husband/significant other or other family member, so I was never really  alone.  Since moving here, I have learned to enjoy the alone time...even for days at a time.  I have gone through stages though to get to this point.  The first stage was a deep loneliness, and with it came a round of depression almost as deep. The next stage was one of keeping myself busy with making my crochet items for my shop on Etsy . If I kept my mind and hands busy I couldn't think. The next stage I really began to enjoy the quiet and the ease of not having anyone to be here with me. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted. Pretty sad to come to this point as a 59 year old woman! LOL In all honesty, I am glad that I have com...

Jesse Gourley, Founder of PTSD TKO Evansville, IN --  Jesse Gourley is a typical, fun-loving 8-year old, who loves camping, writing and drawing. Already she carries a heavy load on her heart for one so young, experiencing firsthand what PTSD has done to her father. Jesse has experienced fear, hurt and anxiety in a time of her life that she should be solely enjoying her childhood. Shawn and Jesse Her mom, author and owner/founder of  Military with PTSD , Shawn explains that she has done her best to ease things for her children, telling them no more than needed, about why daddy acts like he does and seems so angry at times. Shawn knows though, that children don't really understand PTSD. Unfortunately, most adults don't either. Shawn explained to me how TKO came to be: "Jesse came to me with the idea of TKO. They bet me they could raise more PTSD awareness than I could and said the theme was 'Momma said knock you out' and from th...

A skewed reality When I had my nervous breakdown in 2001, a few things happened that were unsettling to me...the worst being my inability to easily adapt to change.  Maybe it's something that was always there but became more noticeable to me...I don't know. On my first few trips to a therapist at mental health, I was then diagnosed as having Dysthymia ...something that although true...was a foreign word to me.  I seriously had to do some real digging...and realized too that I've always had a problem with anxiety.  Maybe these two things go hand in hand. I've always had a rough time being amongst a crowd of people that the noise level was extremely loud and there were multiple conversations going on around me.  The best way I can describe how it feels is that it is akin to vertigo...I seem to lose my sense of balance, making me feel light-headed and confused.  It's not a nice feeling at all. After I moved into another county and had to restart my therap...