It got better

Today is better. Thank you all for the support yesterday. I think the heat was initially triggering, and then going from being around a great group of people nearly every waking hour for a week to being essentially alone was a bit much for the system, the peeps.

A special shout out to K for the unexpected reach out from yesterday’s post. Thanks for helping me get grounded again. It’s what I needed.

There was a bit of dissociative sleeping last night, but it was fairly tolerable.

I got to Doc’s office, and the moment I saw him I knew that something was awry. I barely sat down when he informed me that my insurance company was requesting documentation for all of my May sessions for payment consideration. Apparently, the last time this happened with a different client the company did not pay for the sessions. He looked very concerned.

Then I was gone. Just gone. The world started to narrow on me. Doc started to sound like he was far, far away. The fear of having to find the money to pay him for those sessions, and the fear of no longer having the insurance company pay for the bulk of the sessions terrified me. It was like the floor dropped out from under me.

I could hear Doc calling my name, but it was like he was calling me softly from the next room, instead of right in front of me. I knew he was trying to reach me, but I could not respond. I wanted to respond, but was unable to do so. Then this voice I did not quite recognize came out of me, and started crying, crying and talking about not wanting to be here.

The voice was somewhere between belonging to Belle or Ronnie, I’m not sure which. Doc asked me, ” Who is this?” I did not know, and Belle/Ronnie said so. This voice somewhere around 8 – 9 years old was freaked out about being alone, as she often was as a child. She talked about being alone in the dark. She did not like the dark. Even writing this is making me feel anxious.

Doc then reassured us that we would work something out regardless of the insurance company, that he wasn’t going anywhere. He then asked if he could speak with me, and the voice said sure, and I was back. I was there the whole time, just aside during the interaction.

Doc asked me who came out. I told him I did not know. I could not tell if it was Belle or Ronnie, specifically because the darkness reminded me of Belle, but the age reminded me of Ronnie. I got the impression he either did not believe me, or was confused by what I said. Hell, I’m often confused by the whole thing myself. Even tonight I’m still not sure who was out this morning during the session. The rest of the day I had that feeling that one has when they had themselves a good cry, tired and embarrassed.

The day improved after that.

Happy Anniversary!

Hello Readers!

Today is the anniversary of A Year in the Life of PTSD! Thank you very much for being such great supporters of my blog.

I dedicate this poem to you, my readers, for all the continued support on here.

I Will Not Break

This day is not going to break me –

No way, no how, it is not.

Foggy days and vacant memory –

This day is not going to break me.

The dark place that knows me,

I implore it to set me free.

This day is not going to break me –

No way, no how, it is not.

It all adds up

The Fourth of July was tough. However, I survived it. The day after The Fourth I became aware of the people that are in my life. The previous day I couldn’t see any of this. I could hardly see any light at all. But then I started hearing from various people in my life that I overlooked in the midst of my challenging day.

I had a couple of texts from a friend checking in on me telling me that she loved me, and was thinking of me. I got teary just reading the text. Then I heard from an old friend, and we talked on the phone for a bit. There was another friend that was emailing with me while he was on vacation just to stay in touch with me because he knew I was struggling. Those experiences got me thinking of the people who reach out in small ways: the random person at an AA meeting that spoke to me, a coworker who wished me well on my vacation, etc. I realized and finally felt that I was not alone in this life, that there are people that care about me.

It’s important for me to have this realization because in my darkest moments I convince myself that I do not matter to anyone in this life, and that my life is hardly worth living.

Just know that when you reach out to someone, no matter how small, it all adds up to getting that person to feeling like they matter in this world.

Everything we do adds up.