Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M: Seeing the Water

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This comic is part of an ongoing series on living with PTSD–“Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M.” To read the rest of the series follow this link:

https://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.wordpress.com/category/memoir-comics/saying-goodbye-to-mr-circumstance/

In writing this series I am grateful for those of you that have written me privately, and also commented on previous installments of the series. It has been deeply profound–troubling and healing at the same time–to hear from those of you that have felt some difference, even if just in sharing, from this series. Thank you so much for writing.

It means a lot to me too to have heard from those of you that have a loved one with PTSD that have said reading these comics has helped you understand more personally what it is they are struggling through. Again, thank you.

Please also feel free to share resources in the comments here, if you have some that you believe could be insightful for readers.

Another Installment in “Saying Goodbye to Mr Circumstance: A Life w PTSD, For M”

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This is part of an on going series on the experience of living with PTSD. To read the other installments of the series, you can find them either by clicking on the following link, or by clicking on the “Saying Goodbye to Mr Circumstance” category link to the left.

As always, I appreciate hearing from you. Many of you have written to me privately about your own experiences with PTSD, or insights you’ve gained from this series. I’m so grateful to have these interactions with you. Please feel to write at lilyelainehawkwakawaka (at) gmail (dot) com , or to post in the comments section below.

https://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.wordpress.com/category/memoir-comics/saying-goodbye-to-mr-circumstance/

Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M: The Cost of Survival, The Price of Guilt

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Post edit: The “hidden message” turned out to be too long (no surprise once you see it!), so it’s re-copied below. Thanks for the head’s up!

Part of the problem with moral dilemmas is that there really isn’t any good choice. We choose because we must choose, with the question of our survival being what is at stake. But even survival has a cost–we must continue to live with ourselves after. What did it take for us to stay alive? The difficulty with being put, or finding ourselves in a hard situation, is that we find out in ways many people don’t what we are willing to do to stay alive. I am lucky. All I had to do was mislead someone for two months to get away. Still, integrity, honesty, and genuineness are qualities that are fundamentally important to me. Even if I can explain to myself that what I did was necessary, and it was, in getting away from him I violated my allegiance to such values. Even if I understand what I did was for a higher good, I also know I was capable of something I had never wished to do. Living through profound challenges, then, reveals what an incredible luxury our normal lives are–it is easy to be moral when all we’re doing is living day to day regular lives. The guilt, then, comes not in what was done to escape the bad circumstances, but in knowing that surviving means I live a life that is comparably easy. It took me many years to realize I kept myself in various types of other struggles to avoid this other sort of guilt. In that way escaping him led to poverty from the literal reality of raising a child on my own, but also from the need to protect myself from the sense of how much easier my life was knowing others have been unable to escape.

Dead Man’s Fish: An Elegy, For Alec

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Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M: Losing Memory

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This comic is part of an ongoing series on PTSD. To view the rest of the series click on the following link. Thank you for reading. If you’d like to write me directly to share your experiences you may do so at lilyelainehawkwakawaka (at) gmail (dot) com , or feel free to comment here below the comic. It means a lot to hear from you.

https://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.wordpress.com/category/memoir-comics/saying-goodbye-to-mr-circumstance/

Saying Goodbye To Mr Circumstance, A Life with PTSD, For M: The Cost of Self-Control

 

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this comic is an installment in an ongoing series.

to read the other installments in this series, click here:

https://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.wordpress.com/category/memoir-comics/saying-goodbye-to-mr-circumstance/

Discovering Wakawaka (aka., Living with the Rest of it): A Memoir Series: Exploring Past Lives

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Second Installment of a New Memoir Series: Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M

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This comic is the second installment in the Memoir series, “Saying Goodbye to Mr. Circumstance: A Life with PTSD, For M.” To read the first installment, click here:

https://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/a-new-once-a-week-memoir-series-saying-goodbye-to-mr-circumstance-a-life-with-ptsd-for-m/

Please feel free to comment here too. I’ve gotten to hear from others that have suffered from PTSD, and from readers that have loved ones with PTSD. It means a lot to hear from you. If you’d rather contact me privately, you may do so at: lilyelainehawkwakawaka (at) gmail (dot) com (no spam please!), or reach me via twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/Hawk_Wakawaka

I look forward to hearing from you!