I wish I had the unequivocal answer for how to escape the habit – the compulsion – the perceived need of escapism. The thing about escapism is that it is a choice. I – we – have control over our thoughts, regardless of what we believe. We can choose to be present, to practice be-ing in the midst of the pain and emptiness and fear of the dark cloud.<\/p>\n

When I have practiced mindfulness – the settling and breathing and looking my emotions and PTSD escapism right in the face – I have encountered the person I really am. Those pieces of me that were shattered and stolen. Those jagged shards that were not destroyed.<\/p>\n

And if I wasn’t destroyed by all that, I’m certainly not going to be destroyed by simply working to heal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a young 24-year-old, I spent two and half weeks in Kenya with undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Spoiler alert: I totally triggered out about halfway through, with no understanding or explanation of what was going on in my brain. It was during that trip that I heard a phrase from one of the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n