Keep Your Self Control

Back to it. Have a nice weekend? Ours was fighting a lot of symptoms. And many times just turning everything off.

These days, it's depressing stuff everywhere you look. The economy's falling apart. Earthquakes, droughts and blizzards in February. Unechecked torture and nobody seems to care. And, at times you feel like you're the ONLY one that sees all of this.

Many sources that we trust say that's common for trauma survivors. A sharper intuition. Picking up on what seems to be the obvious.

How do you cope when it feels like the world won't pay attention to you?

First, you have no control over what others do and say. We know that we didn't ask to get raped. We didn't ask to have PTSD and be treated like dirt everywhere we go. So instead of dwelling on that, concentrate on boundaries and your healing.

Protect yourself online.

Guard your contact information.

Be selective in who you talk to about trauma.

Even if the health care system denies you coverage because of being a survivor, try to have some type of backup to protect yourself. It may mean out-of-pocket costs for you. But there are ways to do it.

Don't give into the urge to punch out your TV when you see these idiots talking. You'll feel even more depressed because you can't afford a new one.

As for those times when the world will never admit that you're there, we're not always sure what to do. The despair can be crippling. You say you care about me. But we want nothing to do with being raped. Because that's just TOO weird.

If that happens to us, many times we just cut them off. Getting pissed off at them won't change anything.

Instead, build your own network to be heard. Fortunately, Murdoch doesn't have control over the Net yet. And, nobody else will do it for you.

Which means you can feel good about yourself. Despite it feeling like the world's trying to beat you into the ground.