The need for adrenaline
An adrenaline rush can be as addictive as a drug.
Nature has created the adrenaline so that we can be our best withing a split second, that we can have our guard up and make the right decisions for our survival.
Adrenaline is important for survival in a war zone.
Many Soldiers feel that the life they are supposed to live when they come home feels rather irrelevant and boring. The decisions are banal, and the adrenaline that they are so used to, can’t be used in every day life.
Many soldiers therefore recreate situations that require this rush: Many become firemen or-women, Police officers or have some other dangerous job. Many work several jobs at a time, and if they don’t work, they target some big project at home. Others have a very high demanding job, which doesn’t allow for them to rest. Many, many Veterans have a multitude of jobs, and are not able to hold on to a position for more than a year. Most of the Vietnam Veterans I have worked with fit exactly into this description, with many of them having held more than 40+ jobs since they returned from Nam.
Other Veterans are looking for high adrenaline hobbies, bike rides, fast cars,… . Others again have to live out the adrenaline with aggressiveness and a sense of “I don’t care if I wake up in prison or in jail…”
For us as EFT practitioners, it is important to not judge them for this. It is not their fault that they are still on the adrenaline rush. It is a symptom of having been exposed to war trauma. it comes with the territury, and it is important for us to not be afraid, but aware of that.
Most of my Veterans tell me that they are very busy just keeping the rush under control, their anger and rage, and to not let others see how they feel. Many have learned over the years to mask their feelings, but it takes so much energy from them that keeping themselves under control is exhausting and difficult.
With EFT, we can help them relax in wonderful and powerful ways:
– Even though I don’t feel alive without that adrenaline rush, I choose to see that I am alive anyway
– Even though I can’t be who I am without that feeling, I can allow myself to embrace who I am, no matter, what
– Even though, I don’t know who I am without the adrenaline rush, and it keeps me so busy that I am hardly alive, I deeply and completely accept myself.
TH: I am on adrenaline all the time
IE: That really S…cks
OE: It is hard to live like that
UE: But I don’t know who I would be without it
UN: Back in Vietnam, that rush kept me safe
UL: And it allowed me to do things that I couldn’t have done otherwise
CB: I need that adrenaline rush
UA: And I don’t feel safe without it
TH: Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how to swich it of
TH: That’s OK
IE: I can allow myself to realize that I have been safe for a long time
OE: Even though i never felt this way
UE: I realize that I have been safe for most of my life
UN: I always kept my guard up and my adrenaline level high
UL: Whether I needed that or not
CB: I always made sure that I am prepared
UA: Even if I knew that i was safe, and so were those I love
TH: I appreciate myself for my ability to survive!
TH: What if i could let go of the access adrenaline?
IE: What if I could lower it to a safe and appropriate level every minute of my life?
OE: When I am in danger, I know what to do anyway
UE: I don’t need to be on guard when there is no danger around
UN: I can allow myself to lower my adrenaline level
UL: From 180% slowly down to 100%
CB: To the normal level that everybody has
UA: Because they are all surviving as well
TH: Without the adrenaline that I came to appreciate back in Nam/Iraq.
This is just one approach, and most likely, the specific statements and beliefs will have to be modified to the situation of the Veteran.
Please take it as an insight to how to approach this issue, and let the Veteran and your intuition guide you to what to say and how to approach this.
After all: our clients have all their truth, and our job is just to support them in finding it in a way that works for them.
Please leave me feedback or comments! you will help many others, too.