Change.  Growth.  Learning.....

All running, continuous, essential parts of life.

Right?

That sure doesn't mean its comfortable!!!  That is what I'm learning.

Heartbreak inspires change.  Re-direcion.  Self-improvement.

I'm turning over a new leaf, starting new, changing my life around a bit...

You get the point.

I refuse to let heartbreak be the deciding factor, the thing that changes me, shapes me.

Instead, I allow it to inspire a better me, and let that be my change.

I know, awful sappy blog......."awwww" inspiring at most, but this is me. Just being real.

Just thought I would tell everyone about myself!  I am 23, (turning 24 09/08 so let the party planning begin!).  I am a college graduate with a Bachelors degree in social work, looking to start a masters either in social work or education.  I just simply don't know what I want to do with my life yet.

I was born in Tampa, but live in Lakeland now.  Yeah I know, that says a lot about me.  I hate living in Lakeland, but for now it will work.  I am a full time Crisis Response Counselor for a mental health facility.  I'm a very level headed, grounded person, but I also know how to have FUN!  I LOVE going out with my boyfriend and friends, having drinks, karaoke, dancing, games, or just being silly with the girls. 

I have HUGE ambitions, but for right now, I'm young and I want to have fun! I have amazing friends and family who have helped me through some pretty rough times.  I've seen more and been through more than most people my age and I would have never made it through had it not been for the love and support of my family.

Sometimes I'm loud, other times I'm quiet and shy, but I'm always up for meeting new people!

This rant is in repsonse to this article:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061600866.html?hpid=topnews my experiences at working in a mental health facility and having seen this firsthand.

Why in the hell is it that a man can serve his country overseas and come home to be merely tossed aside and go about his life working 60+ hours a week to maintain his measly apartment?! In the news story above, this man served two tours in Iraq, was given awards and medals, and named a hero for his role in capturing Sadaam.  He came home to face hell.  Not only does he face a plethera of mental health issues (namely Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) but now he is denied disability and works full time, for $95/day trying to maintain for his family and himself living in the projects!! Put yourself in this man's shoes, and the shoes of a man I sawh here at work recently....imagine this scenario.

You are in your mid 20's.  You spent two years in Korea, and then did a tour in Iraq.  You spent countless days, months, or even years hearing explosives, killing in the name of American and Iraqi freedom, and saw several of your closest friends loosing their lives for what they believed in most.  You come home, or are discharged due to mental instability, and you are left to fend for yourself.  You go to work grueling hours, yet with every loud noise you hear you fight the urge to drop to your knees and take cover.  You see familiarity in a co-workers face and are reminded of the friend who was killed by a roadside bomb.  You work through the days with trembling hands and teary eyes...fighting the flashbacks, and fighting the urge to fall asleep, knowing that if you were to fall asleep, you would only wake up minutes later screaming.  Haunted with re-living those horrific moments every night in your dreams. 

I think there's something pretty damn wrong with the American system if we can allow these men and women to fall through the cracks after risking their lives, their safety, and their mental health for the sake of our liberties that we just take for granted.  It pisses me off that these men and women suffer like this, and yet the American system is not better equipped to handle their aftercare.

I could go on forever, but I'll stop my rant there.  It would be interesting to get some of your takes on this if anyone else reads it.

Check out this MSNBC news report. http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=c3732646-dd55-4f2e-b15c-630bf0758b50&f=00&fg=copy