Yeah, you read that correctly.  I recently met someone.  She's intelligent, passionate about languages and culture, and attractive as hell.  I had a blast speaking with her about cultural experiences and could have talked for hours more.

I have zero expectations and I think we could become good friends.  The problem is, I can also see the potential for something more and it scares the living shit out of me.  I just got through this divorce and I'm not ready for anything else, but...

I find her intellect and her kindness incredibly appealing.  She hung on my every word with keen interest and it's been so long since someone outside of my family or work did that.

My emotions are a jumbled mess.  When she finds out about the PTSD, will she think me irretrievably broken? Do I have it in me to be a good friend?

I never thought that meeting someone who shares so many interests would trigger my PTSD, but there you have it.  The old PTSD fallbacks are pushing to the forefront.  All I want to do is withdraw into myself and avoid the uncertainty.  In my mind, it's also fear of 'inevitable alienation' that's twisting me up in knots.

The catastrophic thinking has me on my heels.  When she finds out I have PTSD, will she think, "I could be friends with this guy, but boy is he a mess.  Do I want to invite this drama into my life?"

This is what I was talking about in my previous post - I've grown in so many ways...but at times, I'm still crippled by low self-esteem, self-doubt, and fear hurting others and getting hurt in return.  So, this is apparently my latest struggle.  I don't want to spend my life alone.  I want to meet and be surrounded by friends who love and respect me.  I want to find someone who's committed to me for the long haul, someone who I can be committed to in return.

And I have no freaking clue how to take that first step.  

Don't get me wrong, I've found a great community at my temple that makes me feel included and respected, but this is something else.  After everything that I've been through, I'm not in any rush to jump into anything.  I just wish I knew how to take the first step without tripping over my own two feet.

I'm a single dad with an energetic almost five year-old. I have PTSD.  I'm a very busy entrepreneur and I have a non-profit to revitalize. I know I need to make time for myself and I can't put my life on hold but when am I supposed to find the time to relearn how to socialize?

If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.  I haven't been in the right frame of mind or situation to even think about this when the divorce was still in process.

Still, it feels good to be back and blogging and getting this all out.

It's been a while since I've written a blog post.  For that, again, I am truly sorry.  I never intended to go this long, but one of the first things to go when PTSD and depression are starting to get away from you is your accurate sense of the passage of time.

When the holiday season started, I thought I was dealing well with the end of my marriage.  I was focused, motivated, and very dedicated to my daughter.  I was going to the gym and training in MMA twice per week.  I was enjoying my job and thriving.

Things changed so subtly that I only noticed how depression and PTSD had started creeping in on the edges until things were dangerously close to a tipping point that would have seen me spiraling back into a very dark place.

On Christmas Eve, I had to take my daughter to her mother's house.  Caley was communicating effectively how much she was grieving that mom and dad were no longer together and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  When I woke up on Christmas day, I could feel the depression pushing the walls in.  I closed myself into my apartment and pushed back with all of my might.

I thought about everything that I have been through over the past few years.  I focused on how much progress I've made.  I looked at what I have been able to accomplish, despite the PTSD.  More importantly, I focused on how I have managed things since my wife said she wanted a divorce.

Logically, I knew I should be heartened by what I have been able to accomplish.  So why didn't my feelings match what I have been able to provide for myself and for my daughter?  For those of you who are familiar with my blog, you know by now that blogging helps me to articulate what I am feeling and why.  Writing out how I am feeling, in general, has that effect.

Well, on Christmas Eve, I had received a Facebook message from a friend, sending me best wishes and hoping that I was doing OK.  I responded with an outflowing of emotion and then, because of the nature of PTSD, summarily forgot that I had written her back until half way through the day on the 26th.  Here's what I wrote her:

The crazy thing is that I barely remember writing this or discussing what I wrote in it with my parents until I saw the response from my friend on Facebook.

Sometimes, all you need is a little validation from a friend.  If you are a friend of someone with PTSD, please read what was written by my friend above.  She never claims to understand what I am going through but she validates my emotions while gently reinforcing the positive and forcing me to evaluate the truthfulness of the negative emotions that I was feeling.

Her words were exactly what I needed to hear.  It allowed me to safely distance myself from the volatility of my emotions and figure out what exactly had transpired over the past few months that had landed me on the cusp of full-blown despair.

Here's how insidious PTSD and depression can be, even when they are being well managed:

• It started off slowly.  At MMA, I started cutting out after one hour.  Then I started losing motivation to go one of the two nights attended every week.  Then, I stopped going altogether.  I try to look back to see when the last time was that I went, but I can't remember.
• I lost the motivation to get up early to go to the gym.  Pretty soon, I wasn't going to the gym at all anymore.  Again, I can't remember the last time I went to the gym.
• I sat down on multiple occasions to try to write blog posts.  My mind was blank.  Things were bothering me, but I couldn't find a way to start writing.  It was a horrible writer's block.  I wasn't even aware of how long it had been since I had last written a post.
• I started having more and more frequent nightmares.  It severely disrupted my sleep patterns, leading to significant insomnia and irritability.
• I started focusing almost obsessively on my work.  I couldn't shut my brain down.
• I started smoking more heavily.
• I stopped making time to get things rolling for the non-profit.
• The final straw was the way I caught myself emotionally withdrawing (slightly, not in a significant way) from my daughter on Christmas Eve.  When I realized what was going on, I became acutely aware of how I was feeling and it was overwhelming.

What's so frustrating is that, in 20/20 hindsight, it's all so clear.  Why couldn't I see it when it was all happening?  I mean, I was in a good place.  I effectively managing my PTSD triggers and was devoted to my daughter (still am).  So why, WHY, am I sitting here writing this blog post?  How did I get here?

Well, I have a choice to make.  Learn from this and move forward to correct all of the things I am not doing to effectively cope, or I can disappear again.

Not much of a choice if you ask me.

I'm spending the rest of the holiday season resting and relaxing and relishing every moment I have with my daughter.  Once 2015 begins, time to rededicate myself to doing the things I need and love doing.

All I know is that I have never been so grateful for the amazing family and friends I have in my life.

It's time to focus on the things that are working and fixing the things are aren't.

Here's to the New Year...

When I woke up on Veterans Day, I was really looking forward to it, as I always do.  I was going out to enjoy a free breakfast at the local Friendly's with my dad (who is also a veteran).  After that, I was going to a promising meeting for work and then the Netizen Crew (all veterans) were hitting Texas Roadhouse for a team lunch.  Then, that afternoon, I had another really promising meeting for work.

I started off the day full of vim and vigor, ready to seize the day and enjoy the company of my fellow veterans.

To say that the day proceeded a little differently...well, that would be an understatement.

When I arrived at Friendly's, I met my dad and we went inside.  The place was packed.  There was one cook in the kitchen, one very stressed waitress, and ZERO management.  I looked around the seating area and saw a lot of disgusted faces.  To attract veterans (yes their food is free) and their families (their food is NOT free) with free food to honor their service and then not staff up was a complete failure on Friendly's part.  It wasn't the fact that I wasn't going to get free food that really rankled me.  What really angered me was that now, because of the absolute ineptitude (and apparent apathy) of Friendly's management, I no longer had time to find another place to eat breakfast with my father and was denied the opportunity to celebrate our service and spend quality time with my dad.

That was TRIGGER#1

I walked out into the parking lot a little edgy.  I saw my dad off and as I was walking to my car, I witnessed a lady t-boning another lady in parking lot adjacent to Friendly's.  I didn't think, I just reacted.  I ran over to check on the two drivers.  The lady who was t-boned was standing outside of her car next to the open driver-side door, visibly shaken and wobbly.  I quickly instructed her to sit down, as I was afraid she was going to pass out.  She complied and I asked her how she was feeling, whether she had any medical conditions and told her I was going to call 911.  The lady said she had hypertension so I again reassured her that I was calling 911 and that everything was going to be ok.  I called 911 and when the cop arrived, gave my statement.  While we were waiting for the police, I helped the lady to call her husband so that he could come and pick her up - her car was totaled.

After my information was taken and I was released by the police, I went back to my car and was shaking from head to toe with adrenalin.  I didn't need to remain calm anymore, as the welfare of the accident victims was now in the hands of the police.  I had to consciously focus on slowing down my breathing.  I was having intrusive recollections of the aftermath of an IED attack in which I was one of the first responders.  I felt like I was a hot mess, so I swallowed my memories, bit my lip and drove to my first business meeting.

That was TRIGGER#2

I arrived at the first meeting feeling like I must appear outwardly to be a hot mess.  Somehow, I got through the meeting without imploding.  I even asked our CEO, who I was in the meeting with, if I looked visibly shaken or distracted.  I felt like is had to be obvious to everyone that I was a hot mess.  He reassured me that it didn't show and I started to relax a little bit.

After the meeting, we headed to lunch with the team.  Texas Roadhouse was packed.  I was still on edge, so I was really hoping that the staff was on point and that I would be able to sit with my back as close to the wall as possible.

Thankfully, the staff was amazing (Texas Roadhouse, you ROCK!) and I was able to sit where I could see most of the people coming and going.  The lunch and the company was great.  I was starting to relax and decompress as I was finally getting to celebrate the day and enjoy the company of my fellow veterans.

I headed home to check on a few things for work and to prep for my afternoon meeting when I got notification that an article that had been written about me and the nonprofit work I am doing had gone live.  My stress level went up instantly.  They hadn't afforded me the opportunity to fact check what they had written and had not notified me that it had been published.  I quickly checked the article on their website and I almost put my fist through the wall.  They had gotten every fact about my service wrong.  They had the wrong suffix for the nonprofit's website.  They screwed up the name of the entrepreneurship initiative I am working to roll out.  They directly attributed quotes to me that were such poor grammar that they made me sound like an uneducated idiot.

To say I was furious would be an understatement.  I immediately called their managing editor and chewed him a new one.  He took down all of the fallacies that needed to be corrected and told me that he would correct the article online, but there was nothing he could do about the print version.

Fucking wonderful.

That was TRIGGER#3

Before anyone jumps the gun and comes to the conclusion that this is about my ego, let me clarify a few things:

• The facts surrounding a veteran's service in combat are deeply personal.  The fact that they got them completely wrong was deeply upsetting to me for this reason.
• I was depicted as having PTSD from serving 'outside the wire' in the 'Iraq War Zone of Kuwait' and the Liaison to the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense.  Ummmm. No.  Served as a Liaison to the Kuwaiti Ministry of defense in 2002.  I crossed the berm as a member of a joint forces Mobile Interrogation Team (MIT) attached to 3rd MP, 3ID.  The vast majority of my time in country was spent outside the wire as a member of a tactical counterintelligence/insurgency team.  This upset me deeply for the reasons I listed in the first bullet, but also for another reason.  If a veteran who didn't already know my story read those statements, he would think I was a sham.  There was no Iraqi War Zone of Kuwait.  The way they depicted me would be immediately construed as me being a glory-seeker who had never seen combat, a REMF (for the uninitiated, that's a derogatory acronym for Rear-Echelon Mother Fucker - used to describe the glory seekers who had never seen combat).  Their depiction of my service damaged my credibility and the credibility of my nonprofit with the veterans I am woking so hard to help.

After all of this went down, I had to get back in my car, again, and head to my last meeting for the day.  The meeting went well, but it was exceedingly hard to keep the agitation and adrenalin in check.  I was a hot mess.

I got out of the meeting and met my parents for dinner at Red Robin.  I ate quickly and departed quickly.  I just wanted to get home.  I changed clothes and headed over to the Yoga Lab to take advantage of a free mat yoga class.  I figured doing some yoga would help to work out the adrenalin and anger and allow me to focus on my breathing.

The class was intense and I struggled to maintain the motivation to finish the class, but I was able to purge a lot of the anger over the course of the class (Thank you, Yoga Lab!)

I went home and putzed around, desperately hoping that my body would allow me to actually lay down and get some sleep.  I went to bed and closed my eyes, desperate to put this day behind me.  I tossed and turned for hours and finally fell into a fitful sleep around 2 in the morning.

I woke up a few hours later when the alarm went off, feeling like I'd swallowed a cup of sand.  My eyes were gritty and blood-shot, my tongue was swollen,  and my lips were stuck to my teeth.  The bed was soaked with sweat.  I looked in the mirror and my lips were literally glued to my teeth in a grimace.

I didn't remember any nightmares, but they must have been intense.

My body ached from head to toe.  I let my boss know that I was going to be working from home today and explained that I was a bit worn out from being triggered yesterday.

His response?  "No sweat, take the time you need".

I've never been so grateful to be working for Netizen as I was this morning.

I'm feeling a bit more like myself, but it's going to take a few days to come down fully off of this.  I hope I recover sooner, rather than later, though.  Startup Weekend is this upcoming weekend and I'm one of the organizers.

As always, the timing couldn't be better...

It's been a very long two months.  I didn't trust myself to blog about what I was going through, so I haven't blogged about what has transpired.  I know I've always been very open about what I am going through, but sometimes you just need to take the time for yourself.

So here's the short of it:  My wife and I are getting divorced.  I know we said in earlier posts that neither one of us would take that precipitous step until we had been separated for six months, but things were just not working.

We didn't come to this decision lightly.  We committed to everything that we said we were going to commit to.  We have been giving every consideration to the impact this has on our daughter, went to marriage counseling, everything.

We attended multiple counseling sessions, together and individually.  What became very evident to both of us is that too much water had passed under the bridge.  I can't be to her what she needs and she can't be to me what I need.  Our life paths had diverged too much and there was no foundation of trust or communication for coming back from the precipice.

So...we talked. A lot.  About a month ago, we mutually agreed to move forward with divorce.  It happened on a Thursday.  That Friday, Saturday and Sunday that followed were the most emotionally intense days I have gone through since returning home from Iraq.  I completely imploded that weekend.  Emotions overwhelmed me.  The grief was intense.  I talked about it with a friend who has gone through divorce and when I told her that it felt like I was grieving for a death in the family, she told me something that I'll never forget.

Well, how about that.  It definitely put what I was feeling into perspective.  While it helped, I still had to confront what was happening to me and I had to do it quickly.  I didn't have a lot of time and I had to be functional for work.  Somehow I managed to pick myself up and dust myself off by the end of the weekend.

And then something amazing happened.

I found hope in a blunt assessment of my recovery from that weekend:  That was the most intense emotional episode I have gone through since I came home from Iraq and I'm still standing...I didn't disappear down the rabbit hole again.  I didn't let the depression consume me.

Don't get me wrong, I feel the depression and anxiety 'banging on the windows' trying to get in but I have held onto everything that I have learned, and held on fiercely.  I have now, at the core of me, a steely resolve - to do right by myself, my family, and my daughter.  The inner fire is burning bright.

Just for clarification, no I don't like that I'm getting divorced.  It's had quite the impact on my self-confidence and my focus.  I think about my soon-to-be ex every day.  I worry about the long-term impact this is going to have on my daughter, despite our collective best efforts to soften the blow.  It's impacted my ability to focus on work and has caused me to question my ability to perform the tasks I have to do at work every day.

I continue to struggle every day with this whole mess, but every day is another day I prove to myself that I have the strength to endure this and come out the other side, still capable of loving and laughing.

So, what now?  Where do I go from here?  That's the trick.  I don't know.  But I'm looking forward to the journey.  I want to turn the page and start a new chapter in my life, but I really have no idea where to start.  One thing I know for certain is that I will be sharing that journey with all of you.

Yes, my PTSD has taken its toll on my life but life didn't end when we decided on divorce.  All I know for certain is that I don't want to take this journey alone.  I just need to figure out what the hell that means for me and what I want to do about it.

It's been a long month.  I have had to get used to things I never wanted to have to get used to again.  The house is empty for at least half the week.  I never realized how much it scares me to be alone and the nights when I don't have my daughter  have been the hardest.  I can count on one hand how many times I have seen my wife since she moved out and every time I see her, I feel like I have lead in my stomach.  It hurts my heart to see her so distant, and closed off from me.  Yes, we're on the same page when it comes to  parenting, but I fear that the hurt I caused her when I was depressed is too much to overcome.

I wish that there was something that I could do to help her see that I love her beyond words and that I have stayed strong through all of this.  I haven't disappeared back down the rabbit hole.  I'm still working out and still going to MMA.  Work continues to be a revelation.

So, what to do?  Where do I go from here?  The only thing I can think to do is just stay steady and continue to do what I have been doing - Living my life as best I can for me so that I can find fulfillment.  So I'm going to keep on making the most of my workouts, MMA, and work.  The biggest thing is keeping busy, especially as the major holidays approach.  There's always the temptation to stay in and not go out at all.  I swore that I would never go down that road again.  It's the first time in my life where I have been thankful for hypervigilance.  I've been able to repurpose it to help me keep from going down that road ever again.

I have been afraid to sit down at the computer to write any of this because is makes it real...Does that make sense?  Acknowledging my new reality is one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do.  It's one of the reasons that I haven't been blogging that past few weeks.  I had to come to terms with how things are and fight my fear and the anger.

It took a while...

But I'm getting there.  Bit. By. Bit.

And I'll keep on fighting to make the most of my life for as long as it takes and as long as I live.  I never really thought that Post Traumatic Growth was really a thing.  When I was in the throes of my PTSD, it seemed unattainable.  I don't think that it's the bright, shiny future that they make it out to be in the press, but I do believe it's real.  So, no matter how things turn out, I'm going to learn to be happy - with someone or by myself.

But that's a subject for another post...and one I'm working on writing as we speak.

It's June 30th, the last day of National PTSD Awareness Month.  It's also exactly one month out from the trauma anniversary that has, historically, been very challenging for me to cope with.  It's with this in mind that I'm writing this blog post.  I wanted to bring a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humor to a serious subject and help to inform loved ones of how pending anniversaries can impact the daily lives of our veterans.  I also wanted to present how I cope with my PTSD anniversary in a way that would be immediately familiar and identifiable to anyone who has served in a combat zone.  So, here goes...

Pre-Deployment Processing (PDP):
When soldiers are getting ready to deploy, they go through an exhaustive review of their readiness from physical fitness to ensuring all shots and vaccinations are updated to drawing weapons and equipment to updating their life-insurance beneficiaries and their wills.  It is a focused and direct approach that ensures that each soldier is fully-equipped to confront the challenges they will face when deployed.  When I am preparing for the emotional and physical buildup that stems from a pending anniversary, I take stock in much the same way - to ensure that I know the status of my resources and to shore up any weaknesses in my coping mechanism.  I take stock of how well I've been sleeping.  If I haven't been sleeping well recently, I make a point to go to bed earlier to try to compensate for this.  If I haven't been active and exercising, I make a point of increasing my activity levels - it helps you sleep better and it has been proven that exercise improves your mood.  I start paying particular attention to events that could potentially trigger my PTSD (the Fourth of July, for example) during the month leading up to and immediately following the anniversary.  I do what I can to prepare my family for what could be a bumpy ride.  Marshalling and evaluating the readiness of your resources is key to a 'successful deployment',  whether into a combat zone or in preparation to confront and cope with your PTSD triggers.  In the past, I have tried convincing myself that I don't have to do this and that believing that the anniversary won't impact me would see me through - Epic Fail.  Don't fall victim to the Five P's (Piss Poor Proper Prior Planning).

Battle Damage Assessment (BDA):
After a battle, a unit goes through what is called a Battle Damage Assessment to evaluate the readiness of their troops and equipment.  This is a critical process - after the BDA is complete, it allows the unit commander to redeploy his resources in the most effective way possible, given the readiness and condition of his assets.  It is much the same after something has triggered your PTSD.  It is vital that you evaluate how much of your emotional reserve has been depleted by coping with the trigger and fighting to regain control.  It is also very important that you evaluate your physical condition.  There is almost always a strong adrenalin response when I am triggered and it can disrupt my sleep and my physical energy reserves can become dangerously depleted.  After I have re-stabilized, post-trigger, I perform a BDA so that I can redeploy my coping resources more effectively.  Sometimes that means taking naps to catch up on lost sleep.  Sometimes that means making sure I have time to decompress built into my day.  Sometimes it just means staying in for a day to recover.  I do whatever I have to do to ensure that my resources last as long as possible.

Make no mistake:  Effectively coping with anniversaries is like fighting a campaign with each trigger event being an individual battle.  Winning or losing an individual battle may not win or lose you the campaign, but without proper planning and resource allocation, you will lose out to attrition and loss of morale.  Don't try to ignore the warning signs - you'll get blindsided.  It would be like a convoy not sending out scout vehicles and being surprised when they get decimated by a near ambush with intersecting fields of fire...

Calling in Reinforcements:
Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where you know you're about to be overrun.  In the past, I have let my pride get in the way of asking for help and have paid dearly for it.  Reinforcements are not unlimited so it is imperative that you know what reinforcements you have access to and how often.

• The Airstrike:  Sometimes you can tell that you are being encircled and all you need is someone to blow you a hole in enemy lines so that you can get your people out.  Calling in a targeted airstrike can do just that.  Air strikes are ideal for situations where you need overwhelming superiority for a short amount of time, just to get yourself out of a bad situation.  Since its use is of short duration, it has the opportunity to return to base and refuel and rearm fairly regularly.  My wife is my Airstrike.  When I tell her I feel the walls closing in, she takes my daughter out for an afternoon or down to her parents for the day, removing all distractions and external stressors from my environment so that I can focus on getting through that moment.
• The Quick Response Force (QRF):  Sometimes you know that you are vastly outnumbered and you find yourself facing a determined enemy and in a situation that you can't easily extricate yourself from.  You've tried utilizing an airstrike but it had about as much impact on the opposition as a squirt gun on a hornet's nest.  The QRF is perfect for this scenario - it can roll in, assess the situation and reinforce your lines where they are weakest, while also bringing substantial firepower to bear.  They are better equipped for longer deployments in the field but need more time to repair and resupply after they leave the field.  My family is my QRF.  Sometimes I need the love, support, and help of my whole family to get through really bad patches.  This seemed to happen more often when I didn't plan ahead and prepare myself for what I knew was coming, but should the need arise for sustained reinforcement, I know I can count on my family to 'take the ball' and give me the time and space I need to muddle through.

After-Action Review (AAR):
After every campaign, commanding officers get their officers and their NCO cadres together to evaluate the performance of the unit over the course of the campaign, to better identify recurring weaknesses in strategy or to identify resources that were more rapidly depleted than planned and accounted for.  This is a high level review that allows commander to respond and react to lessons learned and properly account for them in future deployments.  It's important to do the same with PTSD after the anniversary has passed.  Once things have returned to the status-quo, it's important to take a look at what you did right and where there's adjustments that need to be made.  It's important to talk to your friends and family and get feedback, should it be necessary.  If you don't incorporate lessons learned in preparation of the next anniversary, you're not doing yourself any favors.  As a commander, if you knew that deploying your troops differently in response to a threat would save lives, you'd want to know it.  Treat coping with your anniversary the same way.

So there you have it.  I hope you find this helpful and humorous at the same time.  If you have any questions or feedback, don't hesitate to comment on this!!

Have you ever heard of the TV Show, 'Hack'?  I hadn't either, but it was available in Netflix and its premise sounded interesting.  I cop that made a mistake, lost his badge, and started over as a cabbie or hack in Philadelphia.  The show starts Andre Braugher and David Morse so I figured I'd like it.

I'm glad I gave it a chance.  The show ran for two seasons in 2003 and 2004.  It has excellent lessons in morality and it's massive scale of grey, love, hope, and family.  Then I started watching Season 2, Episode 14, named "Fog of War".  The main character's godson came home from Iraq after being wounded and they depicted PTSD, raw and unfiltered.  They showed how he tried to numb his mind with pain killers and alcohol.  They showed how corrosive the effects of survivor's guilt can be on the soul.  They illustrated the particular way in which our anger can flare - by raging against inanimate objects and scaring the crap out of our loved ones.  It illustrates moral injury and the cost of war upon the human condition.  What gave me chills was the manner in which the actor playing the soldier depicted intrusive recollections.  The unconscious twitch of the body, the quasi-nauseous shudder and the thousand yard stare.

It also shows how quickly dependency and depression, combined with survivor's guilt, can lead to suicidal ideation.

One thought kept on popping into my head:  "This Could've Been Me."

PTSD didn't really reach mainstream awareness and acceptance as the signature wound of this conflict until 2006 and 2007.  What really gave me goosebumps was the date that this episode aired:  Feburary 7, 2004.  Just five days after I returned home from overseas - I was one of the vanguard.  One of the first to return home from Iraq.  They didn't even have support services in place for the conflict in Iraq.  My support group was comprised of veterans of previous conflicts, predominantly Vietnam.

I watched the episode four times in a row, with tears in my eyes every time.  Every time I watched it, the more poignant I realized it was - and just how aware the writing team was of the enduring costs of war.  I would warn against watching this episode if you are still learning to cope with triggers, but if you are in the right frame of mind - take the time to watch this episode.  It will be particularly educational for family members.  The show demonstrates just how important fidelity, unconditional support and love are to our returning veterans.

The veteran depicted in the show had a father who was a hard-nosed cop.  Old-school.  The show no weakness type of man who thought his son should just forget what happened and 'just move on' in his life.  The main character, who over the course of one and a half seasons has found his compassion and his own code of morality, lights the way to a positive solution to the show - not with his virtues but with acceptance of his flaws.  It is masterfully done and in such a way as to give hope to those who watch it that their loved ones with PTSD can learn to cope and live with their experiences.

I really didn't see this episode coming at all.  It even depicted the politics of the time from both sides of the aisle in a way that showed the validity of both standpoints without being argumentative.

Take the time to watch this show if you have Netflix.  You won't regret it.  It is truly an episode for the ages.

It's been a long month and an even longer beginning of the year.  Granted, the changes that have come fast and furious over the past few months have been positive changes.  They were changes, nonetheless.  You know what that means, right?  Stress.  Lots and lots of stress.  I know I haven't written nearly as often as I had been in the past.  I won't try to make excuses.  There are so many things that I have wanted to write about and I just couldn't bring myself to sit down at the keyboard.  Too much of everything was too raw.  After I stopped taking the meds, it's like every day and every experience has been an open wound and it has taken me a bit of time to adjust.  Quite honestly, I'm still adjusting, but at least now I know what I write stems from a position of sound mind and reason - not one held hostage by the anger and the fear that have come close to overwhelming me.

I really wasn't expecting it to be quite this intense, but it has.  My new job and my routine are what have brought me back around.  I just couldn't bring myself to focus on writing what I was feeling and experiencing when I wasn't even sure myself what my feelings meant.  Well, with the passing of this period of upheaval comes respite.  I now have the ability to make routines - routines that make time for myself, time for my family, time for coping and writing.  I'm learning to cope with my PTSD in a whole new way - a way that not only teaches me about myself but in a manner that will sustain me and give me the strength I need to help others.  So during my period of unintentional isolation and reflection, here's what has happened:

• I finally gave up smoking - even the smell of cigarette smoke turns my stomach now.  Every other time I tried to quit, I couldn't stand being around the smell because it made the cravings unbearable.  This time, it's different.  I can feel my body purging itself of all of the toxins that cigarettes put there.  After the physical withdrawal passed, I felt light, free.  I have used smoking as a crutch since I was still over in Iraq - no more.  I'm done running.
• I worked my last day in retail - and almost got run over in the parking lot.  My last day in my old job saw me working outside cleaning the parking lot and pushing carts.  It was a good day until the self-entitled punk yelled at me (the guy in the bright orange shirt) to watch where I was going.  News-flash, jackass:  you ran into me when you were busy talking on your phone and not paying attention to where you were pointing your car.  Never have I been so thankful to leave a job behind.  Retail is long, grueling hours for shit pay.  I wouldn't wish it on my enemies.
• I refocused my attention - I won't lie, the prospect of not getting 501(c)3 status until 2015 at the earliest almost pushed me to quit.  I had to step away from the non-profit for a bit out of frustration and disappointment.  I had to really evaluate whether it was something that I still wanted to pursue.  Not being able to effectively raise funds to support the non-profit made it impossible for me to pursue.  When you have to work full-time to support your family and you're doing non-profit work on the side, an inability to raise funds can seem like a death sentence.  What made it worse was the fact that the people I want to help (local veterans) have shown absolutely no interest in helping themselves.  The only veterans I know that congregate on a regular basis are the ones with well-pickled livers.  Our veterans don't seem to congregate to find support and solidarity.  We don't even show up for each other and we want the general public to treat us differently?  So, I've taken it upon myself to get out and lead by example.  I'll be out and about participating in activities for veterans.  I'll be focusing on creating that sense of community that we are missing terribly.
• Because of one racist asshole and one soldier that didn't get the help he needed and deserved, veterans have had more bad press in the past month than we'd gotten in years.  Like it's not hard enough for veterans.  Now the media is going to hyper-sensationalize this crap, thereby making it impossible for veterans to be viewed in a positive light.  Hey Media Outlets - you claim to be champions of social justice and you pull crap like that?  Where's the justice for veterans?  We didn't go to war so that we could return home to dwindling job prospects, a broken economy, and a general public that is scared of us.  But by all means, let's write an op-ed piece about the connection between military service and white supremacy and further drag our veterans' reputations through the refuse.  The rate they're going, the New York Times is going to find itself on the newsstand right next to the Star and the National Enquirer (where facts are an inconvenience).  I could say more, but I am reserving a very special place in my blog for the NYT and their idiot journalist.  Don't worry, it's coming soon.

Yeah, I think this blog post has been a long time coming.  I'm settling into a new lease on life and I am once again ready to share my struggles and my triumphs.  So keep your eyes peeled and your inboxes open, 'cuz I'm back and I'm not afraid to 'use my words'...

It's been a bit of a crazy few weeks.  A lot has happened and, for once, some of what happened was actually good!  That being said, some aspects of what happened these past few weeks were stressful and exhausting.

You all know that I have returned to work on a part-time basis.  That has actually been really good for me.  I have a relatively set routine and it has been particularly good for me.  For a few weeks, I didn't have any issues - and then last week happened.  I had been working an average of about 30 hours per week and that seemed to work out pretty well for me.  Then I decided to pick up and extra shift, work six days out of seven and I paid the price.  My anxiety shot through the roof.  I started staying up later and later and getting less and less sleep.  This past week, I had nightmares, serious nightmares, for the first time in weeks.  Things were a little frayed around the edges and I truly felt at wit's end.  Seriously?  I try to work 40 hours and I start  bugging out?

Well, before I started down the well-trodden path to depression and self-recrimination, I asked myself a question:  Is It You or Is It the Work?  That one stopped me dead in my tracks. Could it really be that simple?  Could it really just be that Retail and I are like oil and water?  We may have appeared to be mixed at first, but over a longer period of time, it becomes readily apparent that no matter how hard I try to make it work for the sake of financial stability and peace of mind for my family, Retail Work and I don't get along.

We are getting absolutely pounded with heavy snow right now.  So, with nothing else going on, it seemed like a perfect time to catch you all up a bit on everything that's been going on.  There has been some concern expressed by family, friends and readers that recent posts have expressed a lot of anger.  Yep, they sure have.  I'm less angry than I am frustrated, but that's just part of the story.

I'm 35 years old and I have had no luck starting a meaningful career since 2007 when I graduated (Magna Cum Laude, I might add) from college.  I have continually been told that I'm 'overqualified'.  Well, now I'm seen as too old and too experienced for entry level work, but I don't know the requisite computer applications that seems to be required for mid-level management (seriously?  It's a computer application - I could learn a stupid computer program in a day or two).  I've also come to the realization that I really don't play very well with others.  I'm demanding and exacting and hold people to the standards I hold myself to and that seems to cause me a lot of problems in the workplace.  It's made me realize that the education and skill set I currently have isn't doing me any favors.  As a result, I'm exploring whether VA's Vocational Rehabilitation program could help me get the training I need to go into business for myself (or at least on a contract basis).

Seriously, I want to change career fields so that I can be self-employed.  I've been exploring options and I think that learning web and application design could open a lot of doors for me.  Even if I worked for someone else, it's much more cut and dry what the skill requirements are for the jobs - you either know the programming languages or you don't.  Considering I learned Arabic in 63 weeks, learning programming languages should be a breeze.  I've actually been teaching myself HTML5 and CSS.  I'm going to learn Javascript, jquery, ruby, and python too.  Hopefully, voc rehab will be able to help me get the formal education I need to make the transition.

So, that's the work side of life.  Things on the personal side are settling down substantially.  I go to train MMA as often as I am able to get out to the gym.  I am learning to deal with my emotions better (anger and frustration still need a lot of work).  I've been off the medication for about two months now and I feel a whole hell of a lot better.  My psoriasis is much more manageable, I have stopped having constant stress headaches, and my asthma is almost non-existent.  My instinct that the medication was having an adverse impact on my physical health definitely appears to be right on the money so far.  I feel more energetic, motivated.  I've still got a lot to work through and think through, but I feel like I'm finally headed in the right direction.

As for the non-profit, well...The backlog on 501(c)3 Tax Exempt status is so big, we won't gain our tax-exempt status until 2015 at the earliest.  It has made getting the non-profit off the ground exceptionally time-consuming and frustrating.  As a result, I've had to change the short-term focus and just get down to the basics.  The crowdfunding rewards are finally done and in hand - sort of.  The company that made affortable static window clings went under.  The other companies charge more for a single window cling than I paid to purchase and print a t-shirt.  Same goes for the 550 cord key chains.  As a result, I've decided to send all supporters a silicone bracelet and a t-shirt.  So keep an eye out for the email I'm sending out to confirm mailing addresses.  The silicone bracelets I got for a song - the website I purchased them through gave me 200 free when I bought 100 debossed two-tone bracelets.  At least I'll be able to make a little money for the non-profit by selling them and the extra t-shirts.

So there you have it.  That's pretty much everything going on right now.  I've been much better about recognizing my limitations and am finally making the lifestyle and professional changes I need to so that I can live a less stressful and better balanced life.  I won't lie and say that things have been easy as I have worked on making this transition.  It's been stressful as hell, but I finally feel like I'm thinking long-term and making the changes I need to provide for long-term stability.  I'll keep you posted as things progress.  Thanks to all of my readers for your continued support and readership!