Life is a journey.
For some an awesome experience, and for others not so much at times.
In 2005 my journey was healthy. Then I met someone whom I thought I loved and could trust. In 2008 my life changed.
My life and the lives of my children were held tight to that change until 2013 when I made a life choice which loosened the grip of the influence of a person whom had hurt my family, my children and myself to a core I did not know existed.
I don’t suffer the way a military hero suffers. Or the way a public service person suffers. I don’t expect or deserve the public appreciation those care givers deserve for the sacrifice they have offered civilians and the freedom, safety and selflessness those have given at the cost of their suffering or worse. However, I need similar assistance.
I’m a simple person who thought life as a married person with children would be a dream, an opportunity to share a life with a person and grow a family. Having experienced significant success in the private sector, in business, life should have been a dream. Unfortunately, that simply did not happen.
The relationship quickly manifested into a form of constant control and ownership of me and the children. One of punishment, criticism and cruelty.
When I finally had the courage or desperation to leave in 2013 after only five years of marriage, the volleys of emotional and physical attacks became worse.
When one person views another as an object, or perhaps better stated, as an object of their ownership; they feel they have the right to do as they please. Life for the object becomes severely problematic. It becomes a cycle of suffering for the person viewed as the object.
That form of emotional abuse is often difficult to relate to when compared with a physical injury but, in my opinion, in many instances can be worse. Recovery times may seem endless, or even worse, non-existent.
Those like me with PTSD, relive the hurt, the noise, the sensitivity and the PANIC. It isn’t something we can just make stop or ignore.
As a result I suffer from paralyzing anxiety at times, and I have horrible traumas while awake or asleep.
It has been my good fortune, through the help of family and friends to become connected to K4PAWS. With their continuing help at that of my medical community and it is my belief that I can, and will, put the lives of my children, my family and myself back onto a road of comfortable association with a life of PTSD. One where I have the support of loving humans and the dedicated support of a canine companion to keep me feeling safe and emotionally structured when the challenges come during the day.
I wish to thank K4PAWS for what they do for all of the people they support. Their service dogs are most clearly man’s best friends enabling people with real challenges to have a canine partner for life.
