Veterans’ Journeys to Wellness Through Personal Passions
Being medically discharged, that was hard 'cause it felt like I was not finishing the mission. I believe having outdoor hobbies really helped with my mental recovery. I really look forward to 'em and it helps me, every time I come back to the city, I feel a little bit more rejuvenated and ready to tackle whatever's coming next.
Part of our culture, doing security forces, we're in the gym all the time, but I lost that ability to work out and that was my coping strategy to deal with the chronic pain. But when I found out throughout the VA about having a recumbent trike, man, that was my hand up right there. I get on my bike when I'm feeling these horrible emotions. Instead of sitting here, feeling sorry for myself, I have an ability to now leave those emotions, participate in life with other Veterans, and then I'm feeling like I'm serving again now because there's other Veterans that I see on a weekly basis that feel just like I do.
Music sets the tone for my mood and it's just, it's relaxing. It's one of my tools that I use when I've got myself at a nine and I need to come back down to a four, it's time to pick up the guitar. You know, if I'm stressed, if some triggers are affecting me or something like that, music works, music's very effective for me.
We both know that we have experienced a lot of the same things, the military. Dancing, we just fell in love with it. It's like therapy for us. It's an outlet. It's fun, it's time together. I was so excited that he wanted to dance. Knowing that you have that, you can unpack these things, the good, the bad, the in between, and just knowing you're in that safe space. It's me and her against the world.
When I returned from that second deployment, then I started to drink. Well, it was my primary coping mechanism. I ended up getting therapy and that's when I was introduced to open water swimming and that changed my life. When I'm in cold water, I'm in the present. I don't brood on the past and I don't sit there and try to negotiate a future I don't know about. I'm right there where I'm supposed to be. I remembered thinking that my combat experience was the only shared experience I had for a minute, and I realize now that there's lots of shared experiences.
I would encourage Veterans to seek out mental health treatment so that they don't have to suffer alone with their problem, so that they could get connected and be free.
