Hello,

My sweetie told me about this forum and lovingly suggested that it might be good for me to join. I'm a very open book. Truthfully, probably a little too open sometimes. I tend to get myself hurt alot when I realize what I have said was uncomfortable to someone else. Anyway, a little about myself. I am a wife and mother of five great kids. I have PTSD from being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and having an abusive first husband. By heart and by profession I am a social worker, which means I'm exposed to situations similar to those I have been through on a regular basis. I have to work very hard to remain sane! Helping others means I have to be very careful to maintain certain emotional and relational boundaries. In other words, there are very few places were I can just be me and unload without being careful about what I say and whether or not it will be a trigger to others. To be very honest, that is why I am here. I am not easy to offend if someone is being genuine and just trying to tell it how they see it. But I am sick to death of having to watch every word I say to make sure I'm not offending someone or triggering someone. I expect to be triggered. Its part of life as a person with PTSD. But in order for me to truly get the support I need, I need to feel like it is is OK for me to share my thoughts and ideas without constantly being edited, blocked, or monitored by "overseeing powers". I apologize if I seem bitter at first acquaintance, but I kinda feel like this is a testing ground for whether this is a place where I can learn, grow, and heal, or whether its a place where as in many other facets of my life, I have to play the care giver, service provider, and cautious helper. I need help. I need friends. I need support! Hope you all can put up with me.
LUV & CARE
Marilyn S. :dont-know

haha put up with you huh?! lol i feel that way sometimes.......
Its great to have you with us Marilyn :) I am a supporter, my hubby has PTSD.
so many great things are being said about the forum lately! It is a wonderful place..everyone here is great! and its so cool to actually start meeting entire families!!! :)
I am very interested in what you have to say...about sharing your thoughts and ideas. and thats what its all about here. Nobody edits ones opinions or thooughts unless they become attacks or arguements in which it happens rarely. Of course we are here to understand PTSD and talk about every day life. Ifeel there is no better medicine than expressing exactly how and what you feel... Its a very good thing to be true to yourself and others...
welcome :)

You will find you can be yourself and find triggering or being triggered here is part of the healing. Take it easy at first so you don't get overwhelmed, sounds like you have your hands full. But be more than welcome to be open and frank, most are here.

We bitch, moan, complain along with sharing ideas and bouncing thoughts off each other to heal. Welcome to the forum and look forward to hearing more from you and you being able to open up and not try to be super woman for those around you. It is OK to feel and vent here.

Thank you for the welcome. I look forward to getting to know everybody better and perhaps putting my super suit aside awhile, lol!
LUV & CARE
Marilyn AKA Momma Marilyn

Welcome Maryilyn! yep, chuck the super suit aside (sometimes it's difficult but don't worry, we will kindly remind you when you forget and think your superwoman again.. lol I get reminded all the time)

This is a wonderful place. I'm also a trained SSW although not working at the moment. I need the time to heal before I can even think about trying to help someone else right now.

Sounds like you are one busy lady! Wow, that is a plateful. Make yourself comfortable and have a look around. There are tons of threads just filled with information here.

And as Veiled said: limit your forum use to begin with as it does trigger us and we can overload pretty quick. Triggering is good, but we have to learn how to deal with it first!

Nice to have you here!

bec

Welcome to the forum Marilyn...

hey, marilyn, welcome to the forum.
cathy

Glad to be acquainted with you all. Looking forward to getting to know you better.
Later
Marilyn

Welcome Marilyn...glad you're here.