Posted on Jan 21, 2015
What is your unofficial or self-prescribed therapy?
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My wife recently asked why I prefer the quiet of the National Forest land behind my house to the warmth and comforts of home... rain or shine. I didn't really have an answer for her. She tends to look at my "escapes" as she calls it, in a negative light. I look at it as my off the books therapy.
No I'm not officially diagnosed with PTS, many say I should head to the VA... that's another story. Yes I did a combat deployment to Afghanistan's Oruzgan Province in 2003. I self medicate. There are times where I find myself extremely frustrated with the day to day activities in a house with 2 kids and a dog. 6-8 miles later, stomping through the woods, I'm healed. My head is clear, short fuze has been lengthened. . .
So I ask you RP Community, what's your unofficial therapy? What centers you?
My hope is to share techniques that work for some, so that others can benefit as well.
No I'm not officially diagnosed with PTS, many say I should head to the VA... that's another story. Yes I did a combat deployment to Afghanistan's Oruzgan Province in 2003. I self medicate. There are times where I find myself extremely frustrated with the day to day activities in a house with 2 kids and a dog. 6-8 miles later, stomping through the woods, I'm healed. My head is clear, short fuze has been lengthened. . .
So I ask you RP Community, what's your unofficial therapy? What centers you?
My hope is to share techniques that work for some, so that others can benefit as well.
Therapy
PTS
PTSD
Edited 11 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 108
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As an avid hiker/backpacker/camper myself, I find this the best way for me to relax and clear my mind. Ive been doing so fo 36 years starting as a cubscout. The woods has always fascinated me, the smells, trees, bugs, fauna and wildlife. Weather doesnt hold me back. Though lately due to a temporary back issue ive been limited to walks at home or in town on the river walk. Walking is also a favorite nightly thing for me.
My haunts now a days is the Pine Mountain Trail in Ga. When the dollars are available, parts of the AT or the Talledega NF in Alabama to name a few. Short trip to FlatRock park can be fun as well but is usually too populated. My adventures usually involve a camelback, snack a book and my pipe (tobacco). Ill usually have one of my kids with me but when in the mood our 5 person family will go any where between 3 to 10 miles . Weve done more though on backpacking trips. My truck is plastered with stickers of our adventures.My wife and I started taking our kids out weeks old camping. Then, when wife was ready take them out in the Kelty Trek. We started them out early and they know the rules of the woods along with survival techniques.
The simplicity and naturalness of the woods to me is better than any beer, food, bath, museum etc that relaxes other people.
You could hike the same trail over and over again and pick out or hear something new.
If able to go back in time, id love to go on an adventure with John Muir.
As the sayings go on two of my favorite out door outfitter shirts,
"Up a Mountain, Down a Beer"(Mountain Chalet, COS CO)
"Life is Good"
My haunts now a days is the Pine Mountain Trail in Ga. When the dollars are available, parts of the AT or the Talledega NF in Alabama to name a few. Short trip to FlatRock park can be fun as well but is usually too populated. My adventures usually involve a camelback, snack a book and my pipe (tobacco). Ill usually have one of my kids with me but when in the mood our 5 person family will go any where between 3 to 10 miles . Weve done more though on backpacking trips. My truck is plastered with stickers of our adventures.My wife and I started taking our kids out weeks old camping. Then, when wife was ready take them out in the Kelty Trek. We started them out early and they know the rules of the woods along with survival techniques.
The simplicity and naturalness of the woods to me is better than any beer, food, bath, museum etc that relaxes other people.
You could hike the same trail over and over again and pick out or hear something new.
If able to go back in time, id love to go on an adventure with John Muir.
As the sayings go on two of my favorite out door outfitter shirts,
"Up a Mountain, Down a Beer"(Mountain Chalet, COS CO)
"Life is Good"
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It has been a year since your question, I bet your were scouting out a land plot to bury a body!
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A full tank of gas in the bike and an open road usually do the trick for me. Nothing like the wind in your hair and a bug or two in your teeth to melt the stress away!
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Tattoos. I got my license to do them, and so I run a private practice doing tattoos. It is really therapeutic and has helped me keep myself out of my own head.
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Scuba Diving. Something about being weightless and the sound of the regulator that calms the spirit. Studies have even suggested that scuba diving increases life expectancy. I believe it.
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A walk in nature over a bridge with my camera and some beautiful skies. For me outdoors is a wonderful feeling no matter the weather.
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Fishing with my dog & meditation. I am a civilian sufferer of PTS. There was no one to diagnose me. I didn't even know that is what I went through till I talked with some of my veteran friends who suffered from it. I just assumed it was part of what you went through in life after 5 amputations and a traumatic spinal injury. I often wonder if the diagnosis doesn't predispose veterans to certain behaviors and responses.
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Sgt Branden W.
Doug Macdonald You raise an interesting question there, about predisposal, once diagnosed, but I certainly hope a diagnosis of PTSD (clinically) isn't causing them to act a certain way. When I was diagnosed with PTSD, my behaviors didn't change. It was strange to be "labelled" and looked at differently, by people close to me, but otherwise, I'm still a combat Vet hacking his way through life.
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