Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "A Teacher's Daily Guide to Success"

Since  most places around the country are nearing their final days of school for the year..May 16th's reading is taken from "A Teacher's Daily Guide to Success"....and somewhat appropriate : ) .... Following a traumatic event take time to regroup". 

Certainly 9 months of teaching and working with children and adolescents on a daily basis is not necessarily traumatic....unless we've chosen the wrong career.

n. pl. trau·mas or trau·ma·ta (-m-t)
1. A serious injury or shock to the body, as from violence or an accident.
2. An emotional wound or shock that creates substantial, lasting damage to the psychological development of a person, often leading to neurosis.
3. An event or situation which causes great distress and disruption (merriam-webster.com)

When humans are exposed to trauma in whatever form it takes, responses can be as myriad as we humans are ourselves and as traumatic events are varied.

Maybe you:

Were a witness or were involved in the event.
Arrived upon the scene of the event.
Had a "near miss" or were almost involved in the event.
Knew or know others who were killed, harmed, or involved in some way.
Have a relationship with family or friends of victims.
Have heard about the event through media or friends.
Are reminded of other traumatic incidents in our life by this event.

Trauma reactions are normal reactions to extremely abnormal circumstances. It is difficult to predict what type of trauma reactions we will experience following a disastrous event. It is important to allow ourselves permission to have these reactions, and take care of them both by ourselves and by asking for help from others, as best we can. Many people find it helpful to have information about what constitutes a typical reaction to trauma.

Typical reactions may include:

Heightened anxiety or fear
Irritability, restlessness, or over-excitability
Feelings of sadness, moodiness, more crying than usual
Feelings of helplessness or hopelessness
Feelings of numbness or detachment
"Survivor guilt", or feelings of self-blame we've escaped the tragedy
Re-experiencing of the traumatic event, possibly including:
intrusive thoughts or images of the event
distressing dreams or nightmares
flashbacks about the event
distress when exposed to events that remind us of the trauma
Feelings of estrangement or isolation from others
Hypervigilance (feelings especially attuned to events around us, scanning environment for possible danger)
Difficulty concentrating
Feelings confused or distracted, slower thought than normal
Heacaches
Nausea or upset stomach
Exaggerated startle response (tendency to startle easily at loud noises)
Fatigue or feelings slowed down
Hyperactivity, or less activity
Heightened tendency to behave irritably
Withdrawal, social isolation
Avoidance of activities or places that remind us of traumatic event
Insomnia
Strong need to talk about the event, read accounts about the event

We must keep reminding ourselves our responses are normal responses to a stressful situation. Give ourselves permission to do whatever we need to do to take care of ourselves. Our bodies and minds will tell  us what we need to do--our job is to listen to them.

Get plenty of rest when tired, and use the energy from any experiences of hyperactivity for good. We must remain active if we can, and if the energy just isn't there, rest when feeling tired.

Talk to people as much as possible. Reach out. We may experience a need to talk repetitively about the trauma. If possible, find someone who is willing to listen, use her/him to talk to about how feelings. If there's no one in our support network to use, we may consider calling a crisis line, going to a crisis center, or using other community resources--they are there to help in times like these.

Spend time with others, even if we don't feel like talking. It can be very comforting to know we're not alone. Try to find someone or someplace which feels safe and comforting, and spend time there.

Don't make any major life decisions or big life changes if at all possible. This is not a time to put pressure on yourself to do anything out of the ordinary. Concentrate on taking care of yourself.

Allow emotions to be expressed appropriately; crying, rage, and expressing our feelings when necessary is vital to healing. Try not to numb feelings with alcohol or drugs. This will only complicate the healing process as well.

It is important to know recovering from a trauma is a process may take a long time. The initial response of disruption (perhaps alternating with numbness) may last days, weeks, or longer. Don't be surprised if these reactions persist for longer than expected. It is impossible to predict how long effects of the trauma may exist, but usually trauma reactions gradually decrease over time. If experiencing another stressful event while recovering from this trauma, we may find our trauma reactions reappear for awhile. This re-activation, or delayed trauma response, is perfectly normal.

At any time during this process, we may find it useful to ask for professional help form a counselor or mental health professional. There are some circumstances under which we should definitely get professional help:

finding ourselves feeling suicidal or contemplating suicide
finding our daily functioning continues to be impaired so we cannot carry out our life tasks
if post-trauma fears interfere with ability to return to certain places or situations which remind us of the trauma

Whatever the case, take time to regroup....

Keep looking up. : ) AJ