Dr. John A. KingIndigenous Australian. 100% Human. Neo-Noir Novelist. Poet. Speaker. Performance coach. More than a Survivor. Terrible Golfer, Awkward Dancer🕺

Occupy Every Inch of Ground You Stand On - living well with PTSD

2 Mar 2018 · 1 min

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1:00

In this monologue, Dr. John A. King describes a common psychological pattern among people living with PTSD: repeated self‑blame and a tendency to “shrink” mentally and emotionally, which can make suicide appear as a rational, problem‑solving choice rather than an emotional reaction. He explains how this mindset leads individuals to view removal of themselves as a way to protect loved ones. King then offers an alternative resilience approach, urging listeners to decide each day to “occupy every inch of ground” they stand on—actively filling their world with effort, seeing it as a place of possibility and opportunity, and committing to get up and try again tomorrow despite difficulties.

Chapters

I think that one of the things that we all deal with is that over time you hear enough that, you know, you've made mistakes, that what you're doing, you know, isn't rational, isn't reasonable, you're hurting people. You have a tendency to shrink, shrink within yourself and shrink within your mind and shrink within your approach to life and the future. That's very harmful. You start to diminish yourself and suicide then becomes an option. It becomes a rational option, not an emotional one. You have a sense that if you remove yourself from the situation, that everyone you love is going to be okay. And it's the best thing. And that's how some people get to that decision. There's another way to do it. Is you make a decision that you're going to occupy every inch of ground that you stand on every day, that you're going to do everything you can, that you're going to fill up the world and see the world as a place of possibility and opportunity, that you might be in a difficult space, but you know what? You get up tomorrow and you just go again.