News triggers stress

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dan1
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News triggers stress

I'm posting this for people to talk about our feelings over the recent news not just to talk about it but to reflect on how those feelings might impact our recovery if we don't deal with them.

I've been a teacher of many things in many schools. Even though I do not now have classes, I am a teacher. I have friends, colleagues and students who are teachers. I have had a student commit violent suicide at school. I have had school shootings occur near where I live. I have a friend who lives very close to where this happened and I was in tears over the possibility that her children might have been harmed. I have family members who lost a son before he graduated from high school. I am very upset and all of the history above and my feelings about being protective of my students and of their vulnerability have been triggered. It has been a terrible afternoon. Forget being angry. I am sad, agitated, ashamed, sick, fearful, vulnerable, wanting to grab those children back from death somehow, to shield their classmates from the sounds they will hear for the rest of their lives, to somehow make it right for the parents who will never, ever, ever live in the same universe again, whose world has been taken away. I have been crying in some way since I heard.

I will not numb this out with games. I will not watch too much TV and allow myself to become distraught. I will talk with friends and family. I will call my sponsor. Right now.

I am a recovering computer game and gambling addict. My recovery birthday: On May 6, 2012 I quit games and began working a program of recovery through OLGA No computer games or slot games for me since December 12, 2012. No solitaire games with real cards since June 2013.

Kate1song
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I just read this in an

I just read this in an article about the shooter. :(

"One family friend described Adam Lanza as a gamer who "rarely spoke."

It made me sick. When I read about what happened earlier... I just knew.

Kate1song
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I"ve used my "mindfulness"

I"ve used my "mindfulness" exercises a lot today to help me deal with my overwhelming feelings.

Marceline
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I cried when I read this

I cried when I read this news as well, and I am not a crier.. it is beyond horrible, there are no words. I pray for all of the children, and everyone who has been impacted by this tragedy.

I am glad that you are reaching out for help dealing with this, Dan. I don't relate as a teacher, but as a parent, I can't even imagine the grief of these families.

And as my own child told me just the other day, "it's ok to ask for help".

"A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears." ~Michel de Montaigne

Patria
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My heart breaks.

My heart breaks.

Allerseelen
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I rarely cry, even on days

I rarely cry, even on days like to-day when I really, really want to. Twenty children...god have mercy. All I can do is write until it gets better.

In Memoriam, Sandy Hook

They were walking home from school only yesterday,

Twenty children to their separate homes--one score,

No more than a fresh-faced fraction of Thermopylae

And its Spartan men, who took the yoke of war and bore

It with them, steadfast, to an undeserved death.

Only yesterday, each one was consummately skin,

Decidedly flesh, vigorous bone, tumbling breath,

Divorced today from every life that might have been

Theirs to cultivate. No one bothered to explicate hate

To them, and they would have remained content

In ignorance, but for the steely furor, the sulfate

Cloud that aged them in an instant to ancients, pained

And buckling, and then tenderly laid them out

Along the borders of the hall, two white rows

Of ten apiece with death walking its orderly route

Between the pallets, watching how faintly rose

Their chests, admitting the gradual armistice of sleep.

Like the soul, our faith weighs but twenty-one grams:

Two weights that fell away when they began to weep,

Discerning far too soon the lions from the lambs.

Taking Steps toward recovery since November 2, 2012. The difficulty of the path makes it worth the walking.

Patria
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Allerseelen wrote: Twenty
Allerseelen wrote:

Twenty children...god have mercy. All I can do is write until it gets better.

Your poem says it all. Thank you.

Solei
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As a mother and an

As a mother and an elementary school teacher, all I can say is:

"Come quickly, Jesus."

-6 Years Free of Online Gaming-

bebetterhusband
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Please pass on this prayer

Please pass on this prayer for healing America, wherever you can.

Lord, thank you for collecting the little innocents souls to your side. Our sweet precious children we commend into your loving embrace. It is beautiful to imagine a little class of smiling, perfected children, sitting in the grass with you, their Loving Father and teacher, filling them with Your ultimate lessons of Love infinite.

God please bless this situation with silver linings over the most horrible dark cloud. From this tragedy, bring us Your fruits of healing and growth. Help our great American society to learn and improve and move towards Your Will. Let all come to realize that game addiction is a real thing for the percentage of us who are prone to addictions. It is real. Help our leaders, doctors, parents, spouses and ourselves, realize we have a real problem, every bit an illness as cancer, an illness- not merely chosen behaviors- every bit as addictive as alcohol and heroine- just as destructive to our lives and that of our families and society.

God please use this opportunity to inspire our leaders with your wisdom. Rather than crippling innocent, law abiding citizens abilities to effectively defend themselves and their families, inspire us to strengthen the pillars of our modern society which have weakened its foundation. Protect, defend and preserve our God given rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Strengthen our families and marriages, Lord, such that more children grow up with Your Holy Family as the model of their family. Let a great movement of dedicated fatherhood and whole, healthy families spread across this great land and world, inspired by Your Word and the example of Your own family, Your Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Joseph your Earthly father, and your divine self the Son.

Help us too, Lord, to recognize, we cannot continue to devalue the lives of our innocent, precious children whom you have given souls. Help us to value the lives of all of our children, born and unborn. Precious to You, oh Lord. Precious to us.

God please use this opportunity to instruct us individually and as a society and a world, in Your ways and will and moral code written clearly into stone lo these 3000 years ago. Help us to understand Your way since the Garden, in allowing men's free will, and allowing us to suffer through trials for the greater lessons and motivation to change to improve our lives, coming closer to You through them. Bring us your comfort and grace of healing, Father God, in this time of fear and confusion across our society.

Help us of OLGAnon.org to dedicate ourselves to working hard through the 12 steps You authored, to be ready & able for the many in need of help You are about to send our way.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for your blessings and divine aid in healing us in all these ways. Praise and glory to Your Holy name.

OLGA Home Page: "We advocate and provide a 12-Step Program of recovery. For those who are interested in a formalized meeting approach, we provide both a traditional 12-step program and a modified program for atheists and agnostics." I advocate and use the 12 steps programs, which have helped tens of millions of addicts of all kinds recover.

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