Now, I'm no expert in interpreting dreams or nightmares, nor do I have expert guidance providing psychological advice for lack of sleep for the same. However, I found out long ago that people constantly complained from lack of sleep. I don't remember what movie it came from, but I know it was some war movie where one guy was able to go to sleep anywhere at anytime and his excuse was a clear conscience. While I've always taken that to heart and also poked fun at my wife for her lack of sleep asking what she may be hiding I know it is not the same for everyone. With that stated I know that many veteran's, like myself, and other first responders suffer from PTSD and with that comes nightmares. Nightmares that none of us want to relive or have to put up with, but they come all too often. As I stated I'm no expert but here are a couple things I've done to keep them at bay.
First, find a focus, I've got religion. Before anyone gets all hysterical just because I have religion it does not mean I'm going to push it onto you. What religion has done for me is given me a focus for all of my doubts and fears and anger and allows me to pray it away, let it go, or what have you. It gives me a sense of calm that simply trying to do things on your own with no guidance will typically take a turn for the worse. With others it may not be religion, some may find this calm in meditation, yoga, therapy, nature and so on. Whatever your focus I feel it is vital to keep those nightmares at bay, especially the waking nightmares and disturbing thoughts that also wear you down.
Second, find an outlet. I have many. Unfortunately, not everyone does. I grew up in a broken home and knew I needed to find ways to escape so I had a lot of friends, I was in Boy Scouts, I did drama, I sang, danced, played guitar, wrote poetry, music, stories, played video games, and studied my ass off to get away from that situation. Granted, I did not need to study so much since I joined the Army for college money. Additionally, I maintained all of those outlets, but focused solely on video gaming for quite some time. However, that turned out to be quite unhealthy for an outlet as that was all I wanted to do day-in and day-out. Unless I was working I was playing video games and did nothing else. While I was not depressed nor was I worried about stress I had no social life and my marriage life was beginning to suffer because of it. When I realized I needed a better balance I started playing more guitar and doing open mics, writing more, took the wife dancing, and also completed a Bachelors and Masters degree. Those outlets helped me with the stress of life, marriage, work, college, and with losing the friends I was beginning to lose trip and trip overseas. It was also an additional way for me to remember them with songs and stories.
Lastly, to help me get through the sleeping nightmares, I write the ones I remember down. While not everyone was subject to the anti-malaria drug called mefloquine let me enlighten you. It produced some very vivid dreams and nightmares. I had not realized what I should have been doing with writing down these dreams and nightmares for years until around 2010. It was almost nightly I'd wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares or dreams and grab my notebook and write out an entire plot of a story from start to finish or at least the majority of it. Before I started doing this I cannot recall how many recurring nightmares I had, but now I can count a total of about four and even they are quite limited now since I've written them out. While not everyone will ever become a book, short story, screen play, poem, or song, they are all down in one way or another and it has helped tremendously.
As I stated, I'm no expert, but this is what I do to my demons at bay and it seems to work pretty well in my opinion and my therapists opinion as well. I'm not ashamed of seeing someone for issues that could potentially get out of hand if I do not take control of the situation first. I would rather react accordingly than over-react and make a decision that is made in haste and not well thought out. Stay classy.
Jayce
What are some ways that you keep the demons at bay?