Things break.

Sometimes it’s people, other times it’s place, and in other moments it’s situations.

The thing is, well…

Restoration doesn’t always look like a “precise return” to what we once had. Many times, grace moves us forward to EVEN BETTER, but (and this is the tension) a move forward doesn’t always erase the pain of the past.

💔

James and Andy talk about the infamous time the mobile home became untethered from the semi that was pulling it AND THEN made it’s way down the interstate towards the Tundra + RV that were parked way off the side of the road…

And, they dialogue about the chaos and confusion created in that moment, as well as what occurred afterwards.

In fact, in a real sense, they— and YOU— are walking through the aftermath of that moment…

🛻

____________

📓 Grab Andy’s book (or audiobook) “Soul & Spirit | Health + Healing” = www.GY6.online/SSHH

⭐️ Info on personal coaching: www.Jenkins.tv/PC

📕 James’ book info: www.GY6.online/james

🎙️ Upcoming workshops: www.GY6.online/events

Life sometimes hands us big knockout punches. The big blows that put you on that mat.

Sometimes.

Yes, a some of the trauma we encounter is like a TKO. It knocks the breathe out of you and places you on the ground, leaving you struggling to get back up…

🥊

But other trauma is the small stuff that accumulates…

… if “big T” trauma is the equivalent of a single knockout punch, then this “little t” stuff is the equivalent of, well… stepping in poop as you walk through a Texas cow field on a hot summer day.

It sticks to your shoes and you brush it off, until you don’t…

… or until you can’t.

… and each step in it makes walking forward more difficult…

… and makes it MORE likely that you’ll step into even more…

… and before long the small stuff accelerates and is so much larger than you imagined.

… and, of course, everyone smells every everywhere you go— even LOONGG after you’ve left the field where you acquired the poo.

💩💩💩💩💩

And then there’s the layer of adverse childhood experiences, and all the things that CAN be picked up throughout life, things that just seem “normal” when there is no other grid for normal— expect for the compounding chaos that you just know as “life.”

💥

People can only carry so much. We don’t come with an unlimited capacity to carry grief and stress and pain and pressure and the effects of guilt and shame and sin.

We weren’t designed for it.

We were created for paradise with a perfectly good God.

But that’s NOT what we’re experiencing this side of heaven…

💥

And that leads us to the story of Billy Dayoc…

.. and the observation that the military CAN BE a massively impactful chapter of someone’s life…

… as can the other things experienced while serving / adjacent to serving / before serving / after serving / etc…

… but it’s just one chapter. Not to minimize it, but…

🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖

There are so many other factors that happen in life that we need to address…

___________________

📓 Grab Andy’s book (or audiobook) “Soul & Spirit | Health + Healing” = www.GY6.online/SSHH

📕 Join the book launch team for James’ upcoming book = www.GY6.online/james

⭐️ James’ website = www.JamesForVets.com

📳 The Adverse Childhood Experiences Assessment = www.GY6.online/ACE

📺 Watch Michelle Hoffman’s Emmy-award winning video about James = www.GY6.online/blog/james

📺 The short video describing the difference between PTSD and Moral Injury = www.GY6.online/blog/which

📺 Video with all of the suicide stats Andy mentions in this episode = https://www.gy6.online/blog/suicide

📺The video on accumulated trauma = https://www.gy6.online/blog/accumulated

🎙️GY6 live events = www.GY6.online/events

Look back at every pivotal moment in your life, and the transition probably has more to do with a relationship than a raw decision.

This means that each time you “leveled up” and achieved something, there were probably other people you were connected to…

… and each time you, well, took a plunge into a different direction, there were probably others involved there, too.

🔗

For sure, this doesn’t invalidate our victories nor does it diminish our responsibility for bad choices… but, it does highlight something central to the human condition: we are relational.

We rarely succeed alone.

We rarely “mess up” alone.

And when it comes to trauma… well, people rarely heal alone.

❤️‍🩹

Again, most of the data suggests we need RELATIONSHIPS in order to full walk out of the pains of our past and into our truest, highest potential.

Sometimes, those relationships begin with dogs…

… because neither dogs NOR people reach peak performance on their own.

🐶

___________________

⭐️ Personal coaching: www.Jenkins.tv/PC

💥 The Soul & Spirit, Health + Healing book = www.GY6.online/SSHH

🎙️ Upcoming workshops and events = www.GY6.online/events

📕 Join the book launch team for James’ upcoming book = www.GY6.online/james

📺 Watch Michelle Hoffman’s Emmy-award winning video about James = www.GY6.online/blog/james

⭐️ James’ website = www.JamesForVets.com

📓 Grab Andy’s book (or audiobook) “Soul & Spirit | Health + Healing” = www.GY6.online/SSHH