Tag: coping

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The many ways to avoid trauma, fear and Depression.

One of the hardest things for a veteran to overcome are the trials and tribulations of coming home and having to deal with their everyday lives. They fight depression.

They fought hard for our country, but the battles left them traumatized and depressed.. They couldn’t cope.

I have been doing some research, and found some ideas and thoughts to help ease the pain.

They one I love the most is being a beekeeper.

I go to have coffee every Tuesday and Thursday, and meet with twelve to thirteen other men and women. There are many stories there. Many different backgrounds. The one that was most interesting to me was that two of the men were beekeepers.

One was a veteran. He said he spends hours working the hives. By doing that it distracts him from his past worries. It has helped him defeat depression.

I got my first jar of honey the other day, and it tastes wonderful.

Another way to get away from the world is painting. Going to centers that teach you how to paint has helped many veterans. One has been working at it so long he has art shows to show off his work. He has lost his depression.

Yet another way to find peace is gardening. I know several veterans who are wonderful at gardening. One of them brings his veggies to coffee each time we meet. The tomatoes were wonderful. He also raises peppers, of many kinds; squash, beans, and much more. It makes him proud to be able to share, and have us be happy with his work. He feels so much better and has lost his depression.

Another idea I am not as familiar with is horseback riding. I read up on this and it is wonderful therapy for many veterans. They feed the horses, walk them, and ride them.

There are many other ways to “escape.” Ask your VA representative for more ways to thrive in your world.

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Update on my upcoming book. “Signs of Hope for the MIlitary: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

I Am almost finished. I have a publisher, and they are ready to go. I am just finishing up some interviews with veterans. This has been the most rewarding part for me in this book. There will a section all by itself with many interviews, with WWII, Korean, Afghanistan, and Iraq veterans. They are too many of those interviews where there was sharing of losing friends, getting wounded, trauma for the wars themselves.

I am going to share one interview with you to show you what type of stories you will read if you get the book.

Ira Feldman was in WII and the Korean War. He was only 18 when he went in. He did his duty during WWII and was sent home. He started a new life, only to find out they had ordered him to come back in for the Korean War.

He was being shipped to Korea when he was in a huge hanger where they were loading planes. There were two planes. As he was waiting to hear his name for boarding he spotted an old friend from WWII. They met and got caught as fast up as they could.

Then Ira had to get back with his group. He was seeing that he was going to go on the first plane and his buddy was going on the second plane. He raised his hand and the sergeant barked at him. “What do you want?” Ira said, “I have a friend that is going to be on the second plane is there a way for me to switch?

The sergeant said, “Hell no!” Get back with the group. Ira them saw what looked like the commanding officer of the whole thing. He walked over to him and asked the same question, The Captain screamed at him, to leave him alone. Ira was persistent. The Captain finally yelled, “Go to the second plane and quite whining.”

Ira and his friend got on the second plane. They were very happy. The two planes took off and landed about half way for a refill. They took off from that spot and then the horrific news came over the speaker in his plane. “The first plane has crashed, and there is no one alive!”

I will leave you up in the air here. The complete interview will be in the book.

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If you are struggling and need help, please get that help. Here is one way to start getting some help.

(877-247-4645) Is available 24/7.

God bless you for your service!!

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never ever give up.!

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More Military Veteran Interviews

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful.  We just past 3,300 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in 2015. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Help us to make it to 4,000.  Could you be the one that puts us over the top? Our goal for the end of this year is 6,000.

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

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Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It will be reaching out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides every day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics. Doug sent off his mini proposal to an agent who is very interested in his concept. We will update you when we hear more. 

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On my last post below I started sharing a few of the interviews I am doing for my new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

This book is reaching out to all the veterans who may be suffering after or even during their time in the military. It covers PTSD, deployment, loneliness, depression, domestic violence, spouses left behind, etc. It even has some humor of when I was in the military.

Today I am going to share a couple more interviews. In the last post I said that I would only be sharing a little part of each interview. I will continue that here. To see the entire interviews you will need to get the book. (This is called a hook in the writing community.)

One interview I had was with a Vietnam veteran. It wasn’t planned interview. I happened to be at a fast food restaurant and saw him sitting alone staring out the window. I could tell he was a veteran by his Vietnam hat he had on.

He finally got up and I saw that he had a cane. He hobbled over to the trash bin and then started to leave.

I asked him if he would sit with me for a while. He hesitated until I told him I was a veteran as well. Here is the conversation we had. It really wasn’t an interview. I didn’t want it to sound that way.

Me- “What unit were you in?” Veteran-“I was on a ship off the coast of Vietnam, and we had a helicopter unit that went in to rescue soldiers, bring in supplies, and did humanitarian help for some of the starving people.” Me- “What was the worst moment you had in the military?” Veteran- “I saw my best friend and the rest of his crew take off in a helicopter and suddenly crash into the ocean. They never recovered the bodies because it was too deep.”

There was much more talked about, but this was the most heart breaking part.

Another interview I had was with a Vietnam medic. He had some horror stories which I won’t share here but will be in the book. Here are some highlights:

Me- “Was being a medic a tough job?” Veteran- “Of course it was. To see young men with their legs gone, or near their last breath was extremely hard.”  Me- “Did you have some special moments?” Veteran- “Yes, I was caring for a soldier who couldn’t have been much over eighteen. He asked me if I was scared. I said yes. That seemed to calm him down a lot knowing that someone felt the same way as he did, but was still trying to help him anyway.”

I will have many more interviews in the book, and the book will be full of hope, and showing veterans ways to cope in the world we have to live in after we hit the private sector.

A word to all veterans…

You are a special person. You went out of your way to serve you country. God loves as you are, warts and all. You are a hero to not only me, but many other people. Never be ashamed of what you did. Never feel your time was wasted. Never allow others to degrade you for what you have done for your country.

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

 

 

 

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Stop the World and Let me Off. I’m Tired of Going ‘Round and ‘Round

I would like to invite you to sign-up for my RSS feed. It allows you to be notified every time I post. I hope to post more often, and share some good news about coping in an unfriendly world.  All you need to do is click on the RSS feed above and join me.

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I will be starting  a new feature with today’s post.  I will be sharing actual excerpts from my book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

This will give you a feel of the book that is selling quite well. It has sold over 300 books in less than a year. That is very good according to the publishing  industry statistics. A first time author, should feel fortunate to sell 100 books for the whole life of their book according to the reoprt.

I have just begun to really promote the book, and I am hoping you will want to take a look at it through these excerpts.

The first excerpt will be the first chapter. It has been highly supported by pubishers as a great hook. Let’s see if it hooks you too.

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Chapter 1

  

Stop the World and Let Me Off. I’m Tired of Going ’Round and ’Round

 

 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 

Psalm 34:18

  

I was out of control. The sobbing filled my eyes with tears. I couldn’t see the road ahead of me as I drove my Explorer.

Everything seemed to be going wrong in my life. I had quit two jobs because of guilt. I even failed at running my own business. I quit the two jobs because I had to sell something to customers and I had a hard time trying to force people to buy something they may not really need.

The business that failed was a cash flow venture that helped businesses have a better flow of money while they waited for their accounts receivables to come in. I left that venture because I again had to convince people to take part in something they may not have needed.

Depression, self doubt, fear, anxiety, and even hopelessness, overcame me until I was in the pit of despair. I was a happily married man with three children and several grandchildren. I had a wonderful 25-year teaching career. Why was I feeling so low? Why did I feel so unloved?

All I wanted to do was to stop the madness and check out of this wretched hotel called Earth! I pulled my SUV into a high school parking lot in a secluded area. I was ready to commit suicide. The date wasMarch 31, 2001. The next day was April Fools Day. A very fitting time to have your life end, don’t you think?

I did have the common sense to call my wife Charlotte. She came quickly to where I was. She calmed me down enough to where I thought I could drive myself home. After she left, I sat there behind the steering wheel still crying, and then I yelled, “God, I can’t take this anymore!”

In a flash, there was calmness in me. It even felt different in the vehicle. The air was fresher and cooler. It was as if God were saying, “It’s about time you came back to Me. I have been waiting for you. Let Me carry you the rest of the way.”

My life changed that day. I gave my life back to God.

I had been a Christian since I was about 16. But I was the poster child for a lukewarm Christian.

Yes, I went to church and made sure my children went also, but I wouldn’t say I was a perfect example for them. I rose up in my church to where I was the Sunday school superintendent and on the important Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, but in my heart I didn’t put God first.

On Sundays, I stayed home if there was a good football game on. You didn’t have to go to church every Sunday, did you? God let me know I did. He also let me know of a new direction for me to go.

Why had I allowed myself to fall to such a low spot? Why had I drifted so far away from God?

The answer my friend is I was in a battle with many afflictions like self-doubt, anxiety, etc. Those aren’t fancy medical terms like cardiovascular disease or leukemia, but they are just as deadly. These demons of the mind can control your life to the point where you are not functional. It can cause you to hide from the world and let your life go on unnoticed until you die. It can push you to ending your own life.

This book is for those who want to discuss all the enemies of man like self-doubt, fear of failure, divorce, death in the family, and many others. I want to share with you how God used me to write this book, and how He pulled me out of the muck and mire.

The walls we put up in life can be caused by a loss of a loved one or extreme trauma. We can put them up because of sexual abuse, inappropriate or unclear expectations, divorce, poverty, violence in the family, family addiction or environment.

Do you often feel like you don’t want to go to work? Are there times when you feel like you would rather stay in bed and not face the world? Have you fallen into the pit of despair without even knowing why you did? Have you ever felt lost—and alone?

You are not alone! Close to 19 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the U.S.population age 18 and older, suffer from some kind of handicapping mental disorder in a given year.1

Now that I have totally broken you down—there is hope! There are treatments that can help you. See your doctor to find what treatment is best for you. Then go to where there is eternal treatment, and that is through your loving heavenly Father.

The first part of this book talks about putting on God’s armor and fighting against the many mental afflictions. This information is from the horse’s mouth. That would be me. I have gone through many battles of my own. I have felt lost, and I thought that there was nowhere to go. I lived that way for many years. I existed from day to day, struggling with my emotions. I found out that I didn’t need to go through the torture. I had places I could go for help. I found out what they were, and I invite you to find out too.

            Bear with me! There is a happy ending.

 

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

Isaiah 57:18–19

 

Further Adventures

You know how easy it is to let your emotions take over in your life. You’ve been there. It is too easy to let the little things grow from molehills to mountains. When each trial comes up, try to put it into perspective. Is it something that is going to be life-changing? Is it something you can’t handle yourself?

You could tell in this chapter that I couldn’t handle what was happening to me, and what happened next? I felt God was changing me.

Stop in the middle of your grief and say, “Why am I so out of control? What can I do to stop this madness?” The answer was easy for me. I ran to God like a long lost prodigal son, and He opened His arms and took me back in like any father would do with his own son. You should do the same: Run to God and let Him carry you the rest of the way through your life like He is doing for me.

 

Something to Ponder

Isn’t it funny how we let the smallest winds grow into a full-blown storm?

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There is many more similar chapters in the book. Take a look at the description of the book, by clicking on the  “Bookstore,”  tab above. You will also see a copy of the cover there.

There is a special sale going on right now. In the retail stores the price is $19.99. If you order from this site, it is only $15.99. When you order from this site you will also recieve an autographed copy.

Never, ever, give up!