Today’s guest is Annette Whittenberger. Listen to her story of overcoming PTSD symptoms.
Annette is a military spouse, mother to two teenagers (one is in college), and veteran who served in the Army for over seventeen years as a Chemical officer including a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. She retired and decided to trade in her boots for converse sneakers to be able to make up for lost time with her now teenagers. Since her retirement, she has PCSed from Fort Polk, LA to Fairfax, VA to support her husband’s military career. Her blog A Wild Ride Called Life incorporates stories from her post-military life in which she shares how she lives life with being a mom suffering from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Along with writing her blogs she also writes for other social media sources and has a podcast.
Overcoming PTSD Symptoms.
Mil to Mil, PTSD, and more
In the interview, we talked about a number of topics. She and her husband have been married for 20 years and for her whole military career. After being married for a year and being in the Army for less than a year her daughter was born. She talked about being 23 in a foreign country (Germany) and having to grow up real fast as she raised her daughter and both she and her husband continued to serve on active duty. Two years later her son was born. She was lucky to find two great nannies to take care of her daughter that made it easier to leave her behind and go back to work. They moved back to the states when her son was three months old.
She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan while serving in the Army. She attributes her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder not only to the experience of being overseas but also having to deal with being assaulted when she was a cadet at training. When she expressed her story to others some people didn’t believe her and it taught her to be tough and stuff the emotions she was feeling. 17 years of stuffing her feelings and dealing with going overseas eventually became a breaking point. Her blog gives her an opportunity to share experiences and help others. Another great resource to get mental health help is BetterHelp.com.
You can learn more about Annette at her blog:
And connect with her through her social media links:
Mentioned in this episode:
https://thechicsite.com/about/ (Rachel Hollis)
Related Episodes:
Finding Mental Health Service Help – Episode 137
An Invisible Combat Veterans Story – Episode 90
10 Things I learned from the deployment – Episode 64
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