What Are Milestones In Recovery?

[Cool Cat]

I'm in recovery and I'd like to know, any ones I should watch out for?

All I have so far is I'm not self-harming or having that many panic attacks. I'm moreless past the suicidal ideation but I still get it a few times a week.

How do you know if you're getting better or worse?

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I think everyone has different milestones. I think you should be proud of the milestones you've reached so far. I'm sure there will be more to come! And yes, in my opinion, you are getting better.

I think my major milestones were not self harming (ok, more along the lines of drastic decrease in SI as I still have urges and have done it a few times in the last year), able to go out and function more, and I'm able to take classes again at college (I'm not able to work yet). Other people may have different milestones as their PTSD may never have involved SI or not working, so its different for everybody.

 

[Intrepid]

My therapist recently told me: You are able to respond and have available to you healthy internal resources that weren't available before. You are more integrated, and even going on the website and interacting with others around the PTSD is evidence of that. I trust the growth you have gone through so far.

For me, it wasn't a milestone she said that. It was a milestone that I believed her.

 

[Lionheart]

I have been working on healing from traumas for approximately 16 years and I think milestones may be different for different people but some of them may be the same too....here are some of mine:...

My first milestone was when I finally stopped self medicating and began therapy.

The second one was when I started trusting my therapist because I did not trust anyone at all then.

I guess another one is the time I allowed myself to express my anger to another man without losing my cool or getting all tore up,...because I was afraid to tap into my anger...(I had a lot of rage inside me).

I used to be deathly afraid of attractive women (probably because I felt so unattractive)...and I faced that fear.

Another milestone was when I finally stopped cutting.

I conquered another thing that was called abuse specific repetition compulsion *(a process addiction)...where I acted out the abuse traumas and stopping this behavior was huge for me.

When I started going to college was a milestone because I was so afraid to be out in public places (agoraphobia) and I stood up on front of the class and gave a presentation..etc.

Then a milestone was when I made the deans list, was in the honor society, and graduated with a degree, ....*(because I was a high school dropout).

I don't know, these may seem silly to some of you but, it was a milestone for me when I had been going to the doctor regularly for a while because I did not do any self-care before that.

Reaching out to the good folks here and sharing my story was a big milestone too.

A favorite milestone for me is when I finally stopped blaming myself and punishing myself for the abuse and began to love myself!!!

There are many more but these are a few that will give you an idea of what were milestones for me. You will discover your own milestones as you walk a healing path!

Thanks for letting me share, responding to this thread made me feel good about myself.

 

[ghotiff]

I'm impressed @Lionheart777 , that is a great list !

 

[Lionheart]

I'm impressed @Lionheart777 , that is a great list !

Thank you so much @ghotiff that means a lot to me!!!!

 

[Flossy]

I still cannot see most of my milestones until they are pointed out to me. But recognising that will surely allow it to happen more often now.

 

[Changing4Best]

Going from the state of being homeless and an abuse victim to moving into an Assisted Living Facility and then about a year and a half later, getting my own apartment.