Zander's Inside Voice

Is your life today like what you pictured a year ago?

This is another good question! Yes, it does look very similar to what I had pictured a year ago, especially because all the stuff with the VA came through. I wasn’t really expecting that so soon. I initially put my claim in almost a year ago and I was told back in October that it would probably take a long time to work its way through the system. The hang up was that it was trapped in the stove pipe for MST claims. How tragic that those claims get held up for the longest.

But because I had like 7 valid PTSD triggers, all with proof, it got pulled out of that line and they chose not to develop that part of my claim. I had multiple combat events as well that are easily verifiable (because I never reported these MST instances at the time) and so the VA decided to grant the PTSD based on the combat instances but also acknowledged they were not discounting my MST events.

And so my claim was approved much earlier than anticipated!

There’s little things that I didn’t picture last year, like how burned out I would get this fall. Or how peaceful I would feel despite losing my first most favorite therapist ever. My “new” therapist is just as great, although I’m not sure she asks as many hard questions as my first therapist did. (Random side note, my first favorite therapist is back in therapy. Which bothers me quite a bit because I did love her. I was under the impression that she was done with therapy. But, as my wife pointed out, she was really intense and I often had a lot of trouble after appointments with her because we were diving in SO DEEP. She would unlock multiple memories in that hour that would weigh me down for days. So I will stay where I am with my “new” therapist.)

What I picture for this next year is some great travels (Washington, DC, Colonial Williamsburg for Spring Break, another night in the KY Castle before we pick up the kids in January, and maybe a trip to Georgia to see my parents and some friends.)

I also hope to get some surgery, reduce my number of visits to the urologist for my kidney stuff, and get healthier overall in 2023. I have been working from the inside out and since the inside is feeling so much better, it is time to start working on the outside this year!