The following is from a workbook I share with you in mental health for rent part 1. By Steven C. Hayes, PH.D. called, “Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life.”
I personally can relate to this workbook. My experience in the military has left me with MST which led me to getting PTSD. My heart’s desire is to help others, so they hopefully don’t have to spend years getting the mental health help they need. Anyone struggling with these issues probably feels like I did. You’re fighting a battle inside your mind. Here are some things I experienced see if you can relate: your thoughts and emotions controlled your mind. When living with things like wishing I was dead and that there was no way out, there was a sense of hopelessness, my voice not being heard and felt like no one would stand up for me.
Like Dr. Hayes says, human suffering is universal. To me, my thoughts and emotions defined who I was. This workbook and others like it provide help you can apply to have a better mental healthy life. I want you to have that. The book provides exercises for you to do. In the human suffering section, he has you first write down things that are painful and difficult. Like he says don’t over think it. Then, he has you write down the same things again only rate them according to difficulty.
The following is what I put for me. This what I deal with since being out. Mine listed were:
1. Depression, anxiety and fear topped it off
2 Trouble concentrating, difficulty with things that reminded me of what happened. Eating. Sometimes overeating to compensate for the troubled emotions I was experiencing. Other times not eating like I should.
3. Avoid situations that remind me of issues. Couldn’t handle someone yelling at me
4. Feeling numb, sexual comments and unable to sleep or stay asleep.
He then has an exercise where you think of how to deal with situations. Going to share an exercise where he had fill in the blank space. My part with be in upper- and lower-case letters:
What he put will be in all upper case. Avoiding situations not comfortable. WEREN’T SUCH A PROBLEM FOR ME, I WOULD step out of my comfort zone. IF I DIDN’T HAVE self-doubt I WOULD work on my books I want to write. IF I DIDN’T HAVE problems with the Veterans Administration not recognizing what I went through, I WOULD be like to be able to move past imagining justice for what I went through.
My hope and prayer are that you will be able to apply things that add value to your life. That you can find alternative ways to deal with difficult situations. Keep in mind it is a work in progress. It probably took years to get you to the place where you had issues. They won’t be controlled all at once. I was chaptered out of the Army in 1988 and still work at improving the value in my life.
