at the beginning of covid, I called a friend and asked: How to compartmentalise emotions?
I knew we were dealing with trauma,
and I wanted to be mission focussed.
Soldier replied:
You can't compartmentalise emotions,
not for a length of time.
You can do it for a short period of time in battle.
But you're gonna deal with it at some point.
You're dealing with trauma, there is no avoiding trauma.
We often deal with it,
months after we got home
We're not avoiding this, we're delaying this.
I know that he sometimes starts to feel the effects, 4-5 months after.
I am right on schedule
I am starting to feel it now
What are your symptoms, when you come back from combat?
- sleep schedule get’s disrupted
He starts going to bed, really late, for no reason.
And then in the morning does not want to get out of bed.
- unproductive
He has one day where he is totally unproductive and unmotivated.
"That's okay, I needed a break anyway, I need to relax"
But then he has another and another and another
- leave me alone
He does not want to spend time talking to people, with people
(src Video: Emotions with Andrea Garfield - Simon Sinek)