Loved your story. Calm and in charge, what a gift that is muji. Bet that little girl is grateful too!

You know what? In an odd way, there are gifts from PTSD.

I can only say this after years of muddling thru all my junk. I could've never thought anything good about ptsd in the early years!

In facing my demons, I've realized what I did survive, so what the heck am I worried about now?? I danced with the devil and lived thru it! = )

Plus, we certainly are use to crisis and trauma, so when others are melting down, maybe once in a while, we can use our past for good like you did and get things done.

Nice to look on the brighter side of this yuk diagnosis every now and then.

Why is that we can be calm and in charge of a situation like this but our own personal lives are such a mess? PTSD is one strange disorder! I had a similar thing when I son got into a car accident. He called me and I beat the police to the scene. I took charge, made sure everyone was confortable as they could be, took pictures of the vehicles locations, etc. The people in the other car asked me if I was a police officer....I laughed. They told me that I had be involved in emerency services because I seem to know exactly what to do. They would not believe me that I was not a firefighter, EMT or police officer. Then they guessed military. No...just a victim of PTSD thanks, but you cannot tell people that becasue that causes people to run for the hills! lol. I wish I could get me life together like I can take care of an emerency!

True for me, as well. Crisis and chaos seem to be my most natural environment.

Now if I can just get over the instinct to re-create my most natural environment wherever I go... Being a champ in a crisis is one thing. Causing the crisis... Not so great.

After the decades of dealing with the amnesia and flashbacks, I believe another gift is beginning to emerge for me. I think I have developed disciplines and insights to memory function that normal people never need to build awareness of.

Crazy Canuck, you said it: "PTSD is one strange disorder!" And you, arfie, too: "Crisis and chaos seem to be my most natural environment." Amen to you both. Thanks for listening.

Be nice if I could get a handle on the every day stuff... :-)

thats great you were able to use those skills and stay calm and collected! Im sure that little girl and her family are really grateful that you were able to get her help right away instead of going through a whole panic or denial stage that could have been very harmful to the girl - even if they dont say it. That whole experience could have ended up being very traumatic for that girl if she had a teacher that had no clue what to do, but thanks to you it wasnt!

I think that in time well all start to find relief from ptsd with work. I hope so, at least.

After the car wreck and my diagnosis and having gotten used to the realization of lessening stress, keeping my thoughts stress free as possible, and learning my PTSD skills, I thought this as my PTSD gift: PTSD Makes me have to stay Balanced, thoughts positive, learn boundaries, don't sweat the small stuff. The things we really want to do and I thought I was doing, but I had to do it more, and better. When my Mom was dying and I knew she had PTSD from my Dad, I once again felt blessed to know so much about it and was able to help her so much. In my counseling life as a minister, people ashamed to tell their stories, I would relate some of mine, so they knew I knew, and was able to help many people. The gifts of PTSD.

So true... We were raised in crisis situations so we can deal with them or at least when it comes to others who are in crisis. Not always the case when it comes to us though right?

I can no longer say the same. I used to be the one to handle any and all crisis, all people - and now I start trembling sometimes - and I know, here comes the flood of stress hormones and how long will it take to recover from this one . . .

I'm posting an awesome article, including a step about hanging onto happiness so tightly we choke it . . .

I'm trying to shake the 'what's next' because it seems like it is one thing after another, or, a little more accurately, several at once over and over. And, I'm lumping them instead of separating them - leaving me feeling overwhelmed. I don't want to think like a victim, you know - like, why?