Does Ptsd Define Me Or?

[squireparty]

This is something I am struggling with right now. I have had to slow down and accommodate the realities of PTSD into my life. This means taking better care of myself, moving slower, placing my health above what other people think of me, or wanting/buying nice things.

I have had to make concessions as to what I do for income, as my prior self waited tables for many years. That is just not going to work at this point in time. I even altered the times of day I go to the supermarket so as to avoid long lines and lots of people. It seems to me that much of my current life, though not by any means all bad, has been arranged around my PTSD.

But I don't want this to define me, or be my identity. I am (I was about to say 'or was', no, it's I am) more than my PTSD. Does anyone else out there deal with this, and if so, how do you do so?

 

[Britt.f7]

Very few people know of my PTSD diagnosis. However, they are aware of my struggle with depression and my chronic illness. I've had to check in many times to make sure that I do not define myself by any of those things. Yes, they are a part of me, but they do not define me. I am more then my parts. It's just that sometimes it is difficult not to feel defined by any of them when they are in the forefront. I just fight it. I don't want to be remembered by any of those things.

 

[Candleflames]

This is something that I struggle with too. I often feel like my diagnosis defines me as broken or a failure because I just can't hack it. I've gone so far as to try and disprove my doc by looking for alternatives. The alternatives were worse and my doc totally called me on it. I'm still working on trying to come to terms with accepting my diagnosis and sorting out what it means for me. I wanted to share where my thinking is on this topic right now.

PTSD doesn't define me, it defines what I am going through because of something in my past. Just like I am not the cold I have right now I am not the cluster of symptoms that make up my PTSD. I make adjustments for any other illness so I will make adjustment for this one. Over time my adjustments will change and ease and over time dealing with this will make me an even stronger person.

For now I keep telling myself this in hopes that it will sink in.

 

[Chincho]

A few years ago, when I remembered being abused as a child, I thought that defined me... Being a victim.

A year after that, when I was diagnosed, I couln't decide what defined me: if being a victim or having PTSD.

Now, five years after, I know that neither of these things define me. They may have made me what I am, in part, but they don't define me.

I think that what really defines me is the strenght to get up every time my symptoms pull me down, the courage to get out of bed on a bad day, and the desire to get better.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I do much of the same, but I don't consider my actions as letting my PTSD define me.

I'm assuming that your trauma wasn't childhood trauma and thus there's a stark difference between before and after? If so, then I think you may need to go through a mourning period of your former self. A former therapist told me I was lucky I got to skip this step as there is no "pre-trauma" me. In that sense I have no other advice to give as I don't share this struggle. Perhaps those with later trauma are best to advise you? I say this as those of us with childhood trauma---well, this is all we know; this is normal to us. It's not about PTSD taking over and defining us, rather this simply is normal to us.

 

[Barberian]

PTSD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder - None of them define me. I am Lee Barber - Hear me ROAR!!!!
I will take them into consideration when my wife and/or I are planing to do something, but it does not define me. I am a white male, but it does not stop me from going into neighborhoods where whites are a minority. I am almost 48, but it does not stop me from listening to the newest, craziest, music I can get my hands on. I am almost 48 and I'll dress the way I farking want to, I do not have to wear "adult" cloths. If I have any privacy, hell, I don't wear any cloths at all.

Be yourself, just keep in mind what you know you can do, what makes things difficult, and what you should avoid, but live your life as best you can within your limits. Push the limits when you can, shelter when you can't.

 

[DMerish]

I don't equate "self" with PTSD - It doesn't define me anymore than I think a different condition might. What happened to me changed how I think about some things, has affected my emotions in both a positive and negative way, and made me slightly disfigured, but I would I have to adjust to being in various sorts of conditions (inward and outer) throughout my life anyways. I handle it just as I do everything else: sometimes with grace and other times not so gracefully. Having PTSD is terribly annoying, inconvenient and painful to myself and others, but I figure if not this then some thing else could/would affect my life. Maybe my outlook is related to a half-full mentality vs. half-empty mentality, I don't know.