Something good about cptds

[Equis-Canine]

Hi, I believe that if you look long and hard enough, something good comes out of everything bad. I'm not the most positive minded person. But this truth has kept me going through some difficult times.. So, what good has come out of all of this cptsds crap?

1. With my hyper vigilance, I am very good at reading people. I somehow can just tell when someone is not nice or truthful.Over the years my husband has begun to rely on my first impressions of people.

2. I'm much more compassionate with people suffering from mental illness or any kind of disability.

Does anyone else have anything else to add to this list?

[Hidden]

I have a new awareness for how strong and courageous I am, to go through what happened to me and still be moving forward.

I have a sincere desire to help others, and because of my healing journey, I can offer hope and insight for others who are at different places in the journey.

I have learned to just let people be where they are, and mostly, people just need someone to listen.

[Rapsette]

Much more compassionate and also admiring people who deal with a more serious mental illness than mine.

Much closer to my children and their needs.

More able to forgive big things.

More patient with myself.

[Hidden]

No, nothing to add, but that is plenty right there.

[HopeHeals]

I think this is such a great perspective - many times our strengths and our weaknesses are one and the same, a double edged sword. Earlier in my career I was an employment interviewer and was very good at this, because of my ability to read people, scan the environment and awareness of very subtle cues and shifts in what was happening around me. This is a hard wired skill that I needed to learn to survive as a child, and has made me a master at this - a former co-worker once put a scroll on my work computer (for a joke!), that said, "don't lie to me, I see right through you", but it is true. Now, later in life, I am pursuing a second career as a Nurse / RN, and I have discovered what I feel is my talent and my gift to bring to the world, as Dan says, in natural and exceptionally strong skills in working with complex, highly stressed and traumatized patients.

I still keep a lot of secrets, no one in my program or current life has any idea of my history or truth, so they have marveled at my abilities, right out of the gate, but it's because I have been in so many of those same places, both with the trauma, abuse, violence, fear, and all those other pieces that make some of us "complex", and also because my disassociation was so intense at times when I was younger, that some of my conversion symptoms included a seizure disorder, and I also experienced many terrifying injuries because of this. Because I so totally get it, also like Dan, I can meet people where they are at, I am super protective, and I don't fear their truth, as many of my classmates do, I can just be with them and love them, and that makes every bit of difference in the world. My favorite nursing diagnosis, which is how we assess need, and plan care, is "readiness for enhanced hope", so I am bringing that beautiful healing thought to you all. Like the geods in the recent blog post, an analogy I loved, even though we may feel hard and ugly at times, but we are not, we are so beautiful, most of us miracles in our ability to survive and even thrive, and we are so, so strong, with many gifts to bring to others who are struggling.