The situation with ISIS is beyond infuriating. Their actions are designed to incite rage and blatantly offend the warfighter and the goodness within you. Their presence, however, is not surprising. In the big picture of the world, they are a miniscule force, creating havoc in a place that, for the most part, no one in the world gives a shit about. The fact that you do give a shit about it is because you sacrificed part of the goodness within you on that land. You lost brothers there. You left a part of yourself there that you can’t get back and ISIS is trampling that part of you into the ground. And laughing as they do. And you have no way to physically lash back now.
So here you are. Hands tied. Unable to solve this. And anger, rage, hatred, disgust and frustration course through you, set your nerves on fire, interrupt your days and nights, taunt you. You scream at a government who isn’t making the decisions you would make in their place. The same lawmakers who made the decision to send you there.
Your anger is right and justified.
Let me gently ask you this. In the big picture of your life, here, today… where you have no power to change the situation there…how much of yourself, your energy, your power, do you want to keep giving to ISIS? Now is the time to look hard at your life, at the reality of what you can control and what you can’t control and decide if giving them control over your emotions and mind… well, could that be exactly what ISIS wants from you?
Your anger is right and justified. But does it hurt ISIS or does it just hurt you?
I know you can come back to me with concern that ISIS will not and is not contained to foreign soil, that there is greater threat than the public realizes, that we are standing by as thousands are murdered (thousands are murdered in other places in the world, but we aren’t looking there), that this might happen or that could happen… and yet, fear and rage can be all that ISIS has to do to win. Stop letting them win. If the government wills to defeat ISIS, they will be defeated. But you can defeat them first by letting them stop having control over your heart. Is that easy? No. Hell, no.
Is it what is best for you, and your life, and your heart, here and now? I’ll let you decide.
Totally agree. Have you talked with anyone at the VA about forming an all-female support group? Might be worth exploring and even heading up, if you have the energy for it.
It’s so hard over coming combat ptsd when you’re a female war vet and single as in NOT married no boyfriend or family and you don’t fit in with the ptsd groups with all the married men and you are just there. I attend a 12 step combat ptsd group. It’s all men and their spouses have their own group. It’s so difficult for female iraq war vets because people have no clue what we did or the danger we were exposed to just like men. It’s hard to go to the VA sometimes because the older vets stare at us like we don’t belong or thinking surely they didn’t fight the war in Iraq.