I welcome you to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learner's featured post. One thing in life I have come to realise is that so many people don't believe in the existence of a particular thing until it has happened to them or they have experienced or must have seen it happen. There are many people out there who, when someone shares their experience, will tend to doubt or argue that such a thing is not possible, but they only doubt because they have not seen it happen or experienced it, and for that reason will find it hard to believe.
I was one of those who did not believe that an experience from the past would come back to haunt you; back then I'd say unless it was spiritual, but that perspective changed, and I saw things for myself. Living in a military base really did expose me to seeing things I was not even supposed to see, and at quite a young age, I found it difficult to believe that a past experience can come back to haunt you unless spirituality was now involved, but after seeing a few things play out, that belief disappeared because I have now seen for myself that past experience can keep coming back, and there was nothing spiritual about it.
When the insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria got really bad, at least 80% of the soldiers from the base were deployed there, leaving the base almost empty and just filled with women and children. The truth is that many of the soldiers that left for that deployment did not come back the same; some were able to handle the situation calmly, while that of others was very loud, and the entire neighbourhood knew about it. A friend's dad, after the deployment, came back, and things were never the same again for the family.
At least twice a week the entire neighbourhood gathers at their house to try and calm his father down and remind him that he was back home because if allowed, he would zoom off and be ready to keep shouting and screaming "they are here, they are here" in the Hausa language; both family and neighbours will have to hold him down and keep reminding him he was home and no longer at the forefront. It was embarrassing for my friend, but there was nothing he could do about it. We just tell him to stay strong and not try to maybe cut the dad off because of recent developments, as it is not even the dad's fault either.
That is just one experience; there are many more, some of which, after the experience, you dare not sneak up on them because they will react with an action that will leave you injured. PTSD and post-trauma are real; people are dealing with it, and one of the best ways I saw them handle it and settle theirs back then was reassurance and support from loved ones. Whenever it happens, loved ones are there to calm them down, and over time, the number of times it happens reduced drastically. Reassurance from loved ones and being surrounded by loved ones I think is one of the best of ways one can deal with any trauma.
