Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be a challenging condition, but it is important to remember that within each of us lies the capacity for resilience and growth.
PTSD can often make individuals feel overwhelmed and helpless and disconnected from their inner strength. Do you feel like this right now? I know there have been many days that I felt out of control with my life, I felt that everything else was moving around me and I was standing still. Until I decided to shift my life into a new focus my life didn’t change.
Resilience exists within every person, it exists within you and within me, but until you recognize it or need it you rarely pay attention to it. I remember when I was playing hockey one year and my chest hurt it began to be hard to breath, I kept playing until the end of the game (although I probably shouldn’t have) then my wife took me to the hospital to find out I had a collapsed lung, which means I was only using 1 and not 2.
I never really thought about how important this was, I took it for granted until I really needed it and slowed down to pay attention to it. That is the same as your resilience, it is in there and maybe the trauma that you went through in your past is going to help you to find it, but that is where you must look, Within.
Everything within you begins with the things that you think about yourself. Henry ford once said “weather you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right. “
It doesn’t matter what is going on around you, what experiences that you have had in your past, all that matters is what is going on today within you, within this moment. Do you believe in yourself, do you believe in your recovery, because if you don’t, then you won’t use your emotions correctly and you won’t take the actions that you need to do to build your life in the direction that you want it to go.
Every day is an opportunity to challenge negative thoughts and begin to replace them with more positive ones that are going to affirm the beliefs that you want to have. When you are having a negative through, it is there to build your character does not break you down.
Ask yourself things like
“Why am I having this thought as this specific time.”
“What does this thought mean and how do I change it into a more positive one.
Will this thought move me forward into my success or keep me stuck as a victim?
Every day in every moment you have the power to choose, it is your choice if you are going to let the thought control you, you have the choice if you are going to shift it into something more positive.
Most times people think that when they are having a thought, that is it, you can’t change it, this is living life in the automatic, instead let’s shift into manual and a manual life begins within.
How long have you been thinking negative thoughts for? How long have you been listening on auto pilot that this is how it goes and that is that. You MUST be at the wheel of your mind, even saying to yourself “This thought that I am having isn’t true and I am going to change it to something that I know is”
Some very simple ways to begin to foster a more positive mindset are:
- Practice Gratitude
- Mindfulness exercises
- Self-Compassion
- Living in the present moment
What happened yesterday?
What thoughts did you have?
What challenges did you overcome?
Most people don’t know the answer to these questions because people don’t pay attention to much that goes on, they are just coasting, and then they look back and wonder where their life is gone. Have you ever heard the expression that your kids grow up so fast.
Well, it’s because people are so focused on other things that they aren’t embracing each moment that they have. But how would you know any of this if you aren’t reflecting on your journey, on your life.
Look back and see where your life has transformed, is it the way you want, or isn’t going down a path that you don’t like. Each day is an opportunity that you have to take the power that you have within and utilize it into the life that you want. Outside circumstances only have the power over you if you attach emotion to them and allow them to, other than that they don’t matter.
Meaning there are things that could come into my life, and they wouldn’t faze me but then the same situation can come into your life, and it would knock you down because of the emotion that you attached to it, or visa versa.
We all have a different belief system that comes from within, and this is where all of the resilience that you are looking for comes from. See that you are a survivor that you successfully made it through that traumatic event that you went through and then you can use that as a positive shift in your life.
What about meaning and purpose? When you wake up in the morning do you feel that your life has meaning or purpose, have you created that life that you are longing for? Did that traumatic event shift something within you to dive into something bigger than yourself? If not then why did you get put through that event.
I believe in my heart that we are all given growth opportunities to makes us stronger and greater, build us into the person that we are truly supposed to be, but when you don’t see that the event that you went through did this for you, then why do you think you went through the event. Honestly ask yourself that question, because the answer you give yourself will let you know if you are a victim or a survivor.
Each experience that you have been through and are going to go through are challenges, are opportunities for personal growth and learning. They aren’t there to knock you down they are the test for the lesson that you are about to learn. Use it as a steppingstone and learn from them to foster even bigger resilience for the next test that is going to come down the road.
Are you struggling to find this? Do you wonder why your past is not allowing you to shift into your future, why you are playing the victim each day but, in your heart, you want to be the hero.
I want to offer you this free course, “Getting past your past” This is going to give you very simple tactics that you can use to take back control of your life and find purpose again.
LINK – Getting past the past
Remember, each one of us possess incredible inner strength, resilience, and the potential for growth. While PTSD may present obstacles, harnessing your resilience can lead to profound healing and personal development. Don’t let another day go by without you taking control of your life and becoming the person that you are meant to be.
Take hold of your life and live again. And remember I love you all and there is nothing you can do about it.
"The journey of transformation begins when we confront our PTSD and choose to rise above it."
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