Viet-Goddamn-Nam's What Happened: National PTSD Awareness Day!
In one of my favorite Always Sunny episodes, ‘Charlie Gets Crippled’, Charlie Kelly needs a wheelchair after Dennis drunk-drives over him. Upon noticing the attention he gets from strippers, he thinks hooking up with one is a sure bet, but Frank swoops in & ruins it. Determined to win them over, he comes back with a costume to go with his sweet wheels: the Crazy, PTSD Vet.
VIET-GODDAMN-NAM’S WHAT HAPPENED! GO GET ME A BEER, BITCH!
Though yelling for a male dancer to ‘BRING ME A MILLER, CUCK!’ is on my bucket list, I have yet to do anything that fits Charlie Kelly’s idea of a veteran. But… there have been times where I wasn’t 100%.
A lot of people wonder why someone suffering doesn’t just go & get help, but that can feel like the most daunting part when you’re down. The simplest daily activities can suddenly seem inexplicably impossible, and struggling seems better than the idea that people will think you’re a nut if you ask for help. It took me years.
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I’ve mentioned it before, but awhile back I was in a dark place after getting out of the Marines, & some scary thoughts started creepin’ into my head. Normally I can joke about anything, no matter how dark & morid, but at that time everything just stopped being funny (in hindsight, I was watching a lot of Big Bang Theory at the time, so maybe that’s why) & life felt meaningless. Luckily, when I hit a crossroads at the bottom, I found The Headstrong Project & took a path back up.
In terms of treatment, the path is different for everybody, and it’s not easy, but it’s so worth it. Whether you’re a veteran, civilian, whatever, there’s no shame to the mental health game. And worth noting – vets don’t have the market cornered on Post Traumatic Stress. An estimated 7.8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. So if you have the symptoms that’s, like, reaaaaaaaal original of you.
As we close out the day, if you want to hear more about it we put a special episode out on ZeroBlog30 for National Post Traumatic Stress Day (almost as fun as National Puppy Day). Check it out & if you’re having a tough time, or just want to learn more, give us a shout.