Other Coping with national chaos

[molten8gold]

I lived through the rioting in the 60's, which partially contributed to my current PTSD. If I hear anything that sounds like gunfire, I am a basket case. So what do I do now? Like others have said, I try to avoid the news in excess. It was hard enough being reminded to think about illness all the time while praying I wouldn't become ill. Now this. Old movies, streaming tunes that remind me of simpler, happier times, reading books from childhood, finding projects around the house, playing with my pets, diffusing comforting scents, napping, calling my elderly relative, crying, grieving for the world that we've lost forever, praying that the new one will be even better!

 

[Mee]

I hope everyone is finding a little peace.


I realise my approach to live and this is trauma related . I am an utter miser. I don’t feel safe unless we have some savings to pay for periods of economic stress.

I think the whole thing of the house we bought and stuff factored in lots of factors of what might go wrong - even the country we chose to live in - though - I wish we had made a different choice .


In the now what I am doing is just trying to hang on to my hard won back post traumatic routine. I have breakfast, I have a bath , I try and put my bare feet on the grass and I rest and read.

I have taken an active decision that this is not a time to engage with lots of triggering news media. Rather I am self educating through more thoughtful less off the cuff programming and also have reduced my social media exposure . Because we live in a different country from most family and many friends- and of course in social isolation from people anyway - this has meant more isolating. Well- avoidance , fleeing and hiding , is high up there for me on trauma reactions and that’s ok ! Because this is stressful! It’s an appropriate reaction- especially lots of things have benefitted from a , relaxed, coping approach from me.


‘This too will pass‘ feels easier to apply as so many people feel it.

 

[Mach123]

It’s hard to know what to say. I just hope I “do ok” if it comes to me. So far it hasn’t. I don’t feel ready I don’t think you can be. I was a kid in the sixties. I just hope we all come through. Right now I got thunderstorms, better run.

 

[Recovery4Me]

I cope until I don’t. Full bandwidth of calamity where I live and watching people hit their tipping points. But honestly, I found all our hard work through conversations, gathering our tool sets, therapy while dealing with our PTSD offered some advantages!

Just wondering... aren’t you a little proud of feeling somewhat equipped for various upheavals? Even if it was for a moment, some of us managed to forge a ‘new normal‘ among an abnormal situation. Almost makes us champions of crazy times lol. ? if you accept

 

[molten8gold]

I guess I am somewhat grateful for my medications, whereas before, I resented the need for them as well as having to take them. But they honestly take the edge off, when I feel like I am about to lose my mind. Today has been particularly bad, with frequent bouts of weeping and feeling isolated. I found a quotation from Bruce Lee, the famous martial arts star. I'd like to share it here, and hope its allowed: “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” (Bruce Lee)

 

[whiteraven]

I’d like to know anything anyone does when sh*t hits the fan in your nation or area. It’s more than adon’t-watch-the-news strategy. Chaos is in my city and everyone I know is grappling with it and talking about it or in tears/panic over it. There have been friends in unsafe situations suddenly finding themselves in riot zones. (Everyone is ok.)

I feel the stress from these things every day. And truly, the ONLY thing that helps me is to unplug. I stay off social media, don't watch the news, and limit my contact with people I know will get me upset.

I have recently started getting involved in very small ways. I think we do (or don't do) what we can. And we can do no better than that.

 

[Friday]

I’d like to know anything anyone does when sh*t hits the fan in your nation or area. It’s more than adon’t-watch-the-news strategy. Chaos is in my city and everyone I know is grappling with it and talking about it or in tears/panic over it. There have been friends in unsafe situations suddenly finding themselves in riot zones. (Everyone is ok.)

I have no imminent safety needs, just emotional coping needs. I’m not quite doing enough as I’m jumpy as all get out and stopped eating much. Anxiety. Feeling stuck. My bent is to run to help, but I’m staying put because that’s where I need to be. Makes it harder to cope though.

If your NGO instincts are anything like my NGO instincts... “The people who live, keep moving.”... is possibly wreaking the same havoc mine is? Because things are soooooooo NOT to that level. Are unlikely to rise to that level. And with a plague on? The rules are different, anyway. But I’ll tell you what I would LIKE to be able to do, to calm my own nerves:

- Boots

- Bag (the big ass medical kit, 2 changes of clothes, a few MREs, an alarming number of compact nutrition thingmys, useful odds & ends, & misc. “not weapons” IE, yes weapons, but of the sort that if I’m using them for anything real, better to hit them with my bag & run 9 times out of 10.;))

- Making contact with -& maintaining ongoing connection- with needed, necessary, & useful people. I know who they are, where they are, and/or how to reach them at any time. Both the team I grab & go with, as well as peripheral people that I use in various ways.

- Conversely, “boxing” people I need to not think about, worry about, feel anything about, etc.

- My living space is ready to be abandoned at any given moment / my connection to “things” that don’t fit in my bag, or on my person, severed. Alternatively, my living space is “stored” to come back to. (The 2 spaces in my head, when I’m maintaining a space to return to, versus the place I’m actually living.). <<< It took me a loooong time to be able to manage the whole 2 lives concurrently thing. (Why the f*ck pay rent to somewhere I’m not living??? And don’t know if/when I’ll be back? Or if I’ll even want to be back, instead of somewhere else? Job over, hotel, new place rented. That’s the order. Not job over & go “home” :confused: I eventually managed to have a home base I left from and returned to... but it took years to manage, and under stress I revert back to not wanting a place, even if I suck it up, keep it spotless & the fridge empty (very little is worse than a fridge without power for a few months, with food in it. :sick: I will NOT clean out such a fridge. I will duct tape it, put it on a dolly, and take it to the curb for collection. I will live out of a cooler if I can’t afford a new one.).

- Transportation & Rally Points - Arranged or at least and eye on and out for.

- The understanding & absolute willingness that if any of the above aren’t met? I can steal whatever I need, and can wing it -very successfully- on the fly. Preparation is nothing but luxury & comfort (& not having to apologize or explain).

^^^This last bit is the only piece that’s keeping me tolerably sane, and I have to periodically remind myself of it, because I DON’T have my life sorted to a degree I’m happy with... nor will I be able to do so, in the near -if not foreseeable- future.