Yes, I know a LOT of people enjoy it a TON. I genuinely think I probably would also, given a different set of circumstances, you know? I DO have an awful lot of people it's lovely to 'see' again after so long and of course seeing what the kids are up to daily is a blast. Like everything else, Facebook isn't 'good' or 'bad', it's just this big THING. I'm sure experiences would be as variable as our lives, which of course feature a bazillion or so variables. :) I'll stick with 'someday' although given the Energizer Bunny tenacity of the folks who personally have me avoiding the bejeesis out of FB in their sheer hate ( gotta give them credit for staying power, geesh )I don't hold out much hope I'll be re-engaging any time soon.
Gosh, I haven't had to deal with a genuine flashback for quite awhile, so am fortunate. These days, that level of dreck tends to devolve into disassociation, a kind of default position my head resorts to in moments it interprets as genuine trauma occuring. That's merely my opinion, of course, based on what it feels like, you know? I can eerily arrive at 'X' moment in time with zero awareness of having processed any visuals whatsoever in some intervening time span. It scares the stuffing out of me, although a great indicator that something is UP I'd better pay really good attention to on a few levels! There should be around a million or so old threads on flashbacks here on the forum, though. I probably participated in one of them, although have no memory of this. A search through old threads will turn up discussions which I KNOW you'll find awfully helpful. With all the therapy and hard work we do and I've done, I never made so much progress wih this stupid PTSD thing as I did after joining the forum. There's been some awful, terrible moments in my life involving things which would have blown me apart, pre-forum, but skills and support learned here truly kept me from going my own PTSD version of 'poof'. It's an immeasurably valuable tool.
Triggers are another story. I do still have those, more lately, and not merely stressors. I DO think a lot of what 'works' tends to be different for people, but I know I HAVEEEE to make a knee-jerk point of staying in the moment, for real, recognizing what the H*LL is going on, zeroing in on it ( as opposed to running like a bunny, both physically in a scattered fashion and mentally ) and FORCING myself to STOP. It's the only way, truly, for me. I'll always, always disengage, etc., yes, but only after making sure I've breathed, centered, kind of scolded myself and taken the moment BACK. I also allow myself to cry if that's what it's done to me ( frequently ), get that the heck out of the way, but recognize that it's OLD pain, not THIS day's pain. I don't know, it feels to me these days as if I've managed to bring some anger,plain old p*ssed off at the intrusion into my life or something aspect of triggers. It 'feels' like this is helpful, I don't know if it's healthy or not. I'd have to say it all probably centers ( for me ) on the STOP, thing, if that makes any sense, the processing happens around that.
Sorry soooo long with an answer. I've kind of been at this an awfully long time, which does NOT make me an expert, it makes me have to develop personal skills based on therapy sure, but probably put together over the years on what works for me, that's all. Oh, and p.s. it doesn't always 'work', just if I get off my lazy psyche and manage to stay in the moment. :)
