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How to Shake Off a PTSD Flashback Like a Duck
Ever wonder why ducks shake their tailfeathers after a fight? Me neither. But if you have a flashback or startle response, the answer might change your life.
I’m scared shitless.
My butthole puckers and my balls pull up inside me and I get that burning sensation at the tip of my dick that means I’m trying not to piss myself, my shoulders pull up to my ears and I duck my head as I whirl around to see what the fuck is trying to kill me.
It’s an air compressor letting out a high-pressure hiss in the maintenance yard I’m walking past, not an IED.
But my body doesn’t know that.
And even after my mind makes peace, my body is ready to fight. I can feel the adrenaline and cortisol coursing through my veins. I was mid-sentence when it happened. But, for the life of me, I can’t remember what the fuck I was saying. I’m embarrassed and I try to play it off but I can’t. I’m saying words in the wrong order. I can’t think straight. I have restless leg syndrome but all over.
And that’s when I remember the ducks. And what I do when I get the shit scared out of me. I shake it off…literally.
