When my PTSD got bad enough that I couldn’t suppress my symptoms anymore, they went out of control and my life went completely upside down. Neither I nor my family were in any way, shape or form prepared for any of this. But I found out something that I always knew, but never knew to this full extent…my family loves me, supports me and will do whatever it takes to help me. Help me when all I could do was sit and cry and help me as I’ve been working to help myself heal and everything in between.

I’ve learned so much about myself on this journey. I’m becoming a better person. I’m liking myself a lot more than before. This is also helping me to be a better wife to my husband and mother to my daughters. These may not seem like lofty goals, but my family has always been the most important thing in my life…why shouldn’t they get my best?

Being on this forum and meeting the people here has helped me to heal. Just to know I wasn’t the only one out there who felt like this and that dealt with all of the stuff that comes with PTSD was such a relief. Learning, talking to others, writing and dealing with my traumas, fighting my way out of denial, running the gamut of emotions (it’s finally dawning on me that I need to run through all of these emotions because for so many year most of them were neatly tucked away and this is part of healing), laughing and crying with others. And most importantly…I can see the changes in my life (for the better) and I’ve found something I thought I’d lost-hope. Hope for myself and my future.

Learning to heal, to take life each day as it comes, learning what it means to live with PTSD…I consider these my successes. I still have a ways to go yet, but I know I’m pointed in the right direction and I will succeed.