A Healing Odyssey: Don't Ever Give Up

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Don't Ever Give Up

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

I experienced a serious setback to my motivation to keep trying to improve my life last month. Lately it feels like a Herculean task to do anything above the basic daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing and breathing. I just want to give up on my efforts to move forward in my life.

As with many days recently I am choosing not to give up. I will keep the promise I made to myself to show up for the appointments I have today. I feel little enthusiasm to do so. But sometimes life feels like a drudgery and we still need to show up for life anyway.

......

I had a productive session with my therapist this evening. I spoke about my current priorities and needs. I recently wrote them down. I need:

More healthy men in my life…for friendship as well as deeper intimacy
An opportunity to apply my skills in a context I will find meaningful
A real financial future
Opportunities to have fun
Health insurance that will provide me some measure of peace of mind

How I will fulfill these and other needs remains to be seen.

As for today I am pleased with the progress I have made thus far.

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I invite you to accompany me as I document my own journey of healing. My blog is designed to offer inspiration and solace to others. If you find it of value I welcome you to share it with others. Aloha!

A Background On My Blog

This blog is designed to fulfill a few purposes: 1) serve as an ongoing documentary of my own journey of healing from an early life history that featured extensive trauma, 2) be a resource for other individuals seeking healing from trauma and 3) provide a venue for political and cultural commentary on topics that I believe have some potential crossover relevance to the issue of trauma. I was surprised to receive a diagnosis of PTSD given the past therapeutic work I had done to address the wounds of my own early life history. When I began a new journey by again entering therapy I made a number of lifestyle changes to enhance my restoration process. Of all the changes I made my decision to try out EMDR therapy proved to be the most consequential. The results I experienced were rather immediate as well as profound; EMDR therapy made an amazing difference in the quality of my perception of the world around me. Using a combination of various therapies, writing, a regular gym regimen and an improved diet I have achieved a level of wellness I previously had never experienced. It is my opinion, based on my own personal experience as well as the literature that I have read, that untreated trauma rarely if ever improves by itself. Trauma that occurs early in life (childhood) can be especially damaging as well as challenging to treat because, unlike healthy adults, children have yet to construct a firm sense of their own identities as well as their place in the world around them. It seems to be true that when trauma goes untreated for a lengthy period of time it not only can often prove more difficult to treat but it can also be more difficult for a person to adjust to living as a non-traumatized person after treatment ends. In short, a proactive approach to your health and wellness can reduce the risk of serious health issues later in life. As my healing journey continued to unfold I decided to recreate myself both personally and professionally. Among other things I identify as a freelance trauma recovery advocate. My blog is my primary means of being a voice for health and wellness. ***To search blog postings by topic you can use the search bar in the upper left corner of the main blog page.***