I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since PTSD Parent was born. One morning last December, I woke up with “PTSD Parent” on my mind and knew that I wanted to make this idea a reality.
I trekked through the snow to my PTSD partner’s house, telling him about my idea, and we got a logo and website going. By the first week of March, PTSD Parent was a reality! It feels like a lifetime ago, because quite frankly, 2017 sucked hard. One of the most challenging years of my life, I’m not kidding. And this is from me, the person who wrote Caskets From Costco, which is a book about trauma and grief and my PTSD journey. So you know it was tough.
But 2017 was also one of the most amazing years when it came to growth, love, community, relationships, and moving from surviving to thriving. I’ve shared more about my post traumatic stress disorder and healing from abuse than I ever have before. I continue to learn the best ways to take care of myself, use my voice, and advocate for myself.
But what I am most grateful for is the chance to meet people like you, who experience PTSD in some form on a regular basis. Whether you have been diagnosed yourself or love someone who is diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, I am so glad you have joined us on this journey.
To celebrate the end of this year and welcome 2018, enjoy the seven best PTSD Parent blog posts of 2017!
7. The Self-Care Acronym That Will Rock Your World – What does self-care really mean? I would stop and figure out what it really means to actually take care of myself only to forget, so I made up a self-care acronym to help.
6. How To Stay Safe: PTSD Triggers and the Holidays – December isn’t the only holiday time of year. Here are some good tips to stay calm and safe, including how to make a holiday plan for PTSD triggers.
5. Simple Self-Care Tips When You Want to Give Up – What do you do on those days when you’re not okay?
4. What to Do When Parenting With PTSD Sucks – Parenting with PTSD can really suck sometimes. But you are not alone.
3. Stop Telling Me That You Know the Cure for PTSD – This is a good one, in which I rant about how someone told me that they had the cure for PTSD.
2. The Best Way to Avoid Avoidable PTSD Suffering – Should I see this person again? Aside from “shoulding” all over myself, I knew that the answer to this question was a resounding “NO.”
1.PTSD Can Be a Gift for Grieving – I don’t often think of PTSD with regards to all of the gifts it gives me. Grieving is a cleansing side effect of my post traumatic stress disorder.
Happy New Year! Bring on 2018!
Searching for Hope and Inspiration? Check Out Caskets From Costco
A Funny and Poignant Grief Book
For twenty years, I thought that I had been marching through the stages of grief in a straight line. I had been following the formula, crossing each processed grief experience off my list.
Except that I was totally deluded. And I didn’t discover that until Jim, my beloved father-in-law, died. I found myself drying off from my shower the morning after his death, really hoping he couldn’t see me naked. Or, if he could, that he was averting his eyes.
From that moment, my path through grief resembled a roller coaster, spiraling and twisting and turning, circling back around. Echoes of past trauma, including childhood abuse and cheating death, would no longer be ignored. I somehow needed to get from the beginning to the end of this grief adventure, and I don’t have a good sense of direction.
But what is always present during a journey through grief, regardless of the path chosen?
Hope.
Caskets From Costco