I Started Coming out of My Shell

I just, finally, went to a good friend of mine that used to work for the VA. And she told me, you have PTSD. And I said, I don't know what that is. And when she told me, I said, there's no way. I said, my dad, and my uncle, and my grandpa all went to war. And they took it like a man. How come I can't? And that was the way I looked at it. You know, I'm too much of a man for that to have affected me this way. So I was in denial until, finally, I just didn't have anywhere else to go. She guided me towards the Veterans Administration, had me lined up for an examination with a psychiatrist. We had groups where they tried to get us to talk about it. And when it'd come to my turn, I'd say, no, I don't have anything to say. And finally, after so many years, I was able to start contributing a little bit to the group. I started coming out of my shell. My house was in ruins. I started fixing it up a little bit. And slowly, I got more motivation to do things.