The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - We are responsible for how we respond to our traumas | Foundations Friday #101

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

In We are responsible for how we respond to our traumas I echo a sentiment shared by Andy Stumpf on his 'Cleared Hot' Podcast about how we are not responsible for traumas we experience, but that we are 100% responsible for how we react and respond to them.My suggestions:Ask for guidance, then take actionTake the first step. Literally by walking each morning.Don't wait for someone else to do it for youGodspeed y'all,Kevin

Let's get logged in and get locked on to this episode of the KevTalks podcast in three, two, one. We are responsible for how we respond and take care of our traumas. I'm inspired for this Foundations Friday 101 on the KevTalks podcast by a cleared hot podcast episode I listened to this morning from Andy Stumpf, where he talks about addiction and adaptation. In particular, folks aren't responsible for the traumas that happen to them, but are 100% responsible for how they respond. And he was talking about someone that asked about drug abuse for someone, and then he mentioned stories about alcoholism. And there are plenty of folks that I know that have had trauma happen to them from military time, from public safety. And some have taken responsibility on how to turn that around and some have not. And it's very easy to look outward and say, well, somebody else needs to help me fix this. Or somebody else needs to give me this magic pill that's going to fix it or give me the solution. And I'll tell you, there's no one solution. I have my fair share of horrible crap

that I think about from the military, from public safety, from life, right? Having had cancer and family health scares and a whole host of things. And you all probably have plenty of that as well. What I really liked about Andy Stump's answer and honestly the mindset that I share is that stuff happens, whether you're signed up to do that in life or a trauma happens, a car accident happens and you have no control. What you do from that point on, and you need some recovery time, you need time to delve in that pain, to live with it, to accept it, to have a horrible time a little bit, but then you gotta get out of it. You gotta get out of it for yourself first.

You gotta get out of it for your family, whether you are married, have kids or not, or your parents, your siblings, whomever, or your friends or anyone else around you because until you start yourself on that path, and it's okay to ask for help and say, hey, I need help. I'm not sure what to do. That is doing something. That is doing something. But until you do that, you are not helping yourself and you are going to drag other folks down. And that will make you just continuously feel like a burden and think you're trapped

and think I can't do this, but this depression or this trauma or this anxiety or these other things are what is holding me back and there's nothing I can do. That's not true. And not everybody's the same, and medications work for some folks and they don't work for others.

And there are solutions out there that don't just involve having somebody give you pills or certainly not medicating with booze and drugs and other things. There are solutions like walking each day, getting your sleep in order, which I've talked about in the Got Sleep episode of this podcast, of talking to other folks that you've worked with that are in the same field that have gone through what you've gone through, of reaching out to ask for help, and so many other things,

and I've talked about some of those lessons here about dealing with trauma, dealing with anxiety, talked to some experts on here like Dr. Tracy Marks, and there are resources, but you have to go get them. You have to go from why am I not gonna let myself be stuck in this space, right? That why we talk about, whether you subscribe to Simon Sinek, start with why, or like I've talked about Viktor Frankl when he quoted, you know,

Friedrich Nietzsche of, you know, if you've got your why, you can figure out your how. Well, have your why. Your why is you should be, you know, not wanting to stay in the spot that you're at. And some days it's hard to do that. But then figure out the how. Ask for help on how to do it. And then you, like I had to do, like many others had to do out there, you have to take the first step yourself.

And then you have to own taking another step the next day. And I mean literally. A simple thing is to set your alarm each day for whatever time in the morning makes sense for you. Sit up, give thanks to whatever you believe in, get your shoes on, and go walk a mile. Just walk a mile. Get outside, right? Do it with no music or listen to some tunes, but get out there and move. If you start your day moving, it will make a huge difference. And then if you look at the Cavatalkspod.com website, I've got many more resources. Just search at the bottom, mental health, and a whole bunch of stuff will come up.

And you can keep working yourself down the path, just like I had to do. I had to keep moving, had to walk through. Like Joyce Meyer says, just do it afraid. And some days I had to do, had to keep moving, had to walk through, like Joyce Meyer says, just do it afraid, and some days I was so anxious, I was like, oh my God, but you gotta keep moving. It makes a huge difference. Getting your sleep in order, hydrating, eating better, just so many things that have nothing to do with a pharmaceutical solution

that are scientifically proven, though, over and over again to help. So you get the point, It's up to you, but ask for help, get some guidance, but take those actionable steps to make yourself get out of the rut that you're in or figure out the tools that you need to do that and then do it. I appreciate you playing this podcast, listening to me for the past five minutes. I hope these five minutes have helped you. And if you don't need the help, maybe share this with somebody else that does. And whether it's a project or a public safety special event or yourself, your personal health

and wellness, hope is outstanding, but it is not a plan, right? Get your own ego out of the way and don't silo yourself to be alone because you think that's the solution. It's not. We need other people. We need solutions. We need to take action. Thanks again for taking action on this podcast. Stay safe out there, everybody.

And Godspeed.