From PTSD to PetTok: How My Dog’s Side-Eye Became Corporate Accountability

Trigger warning: discussion of PTSD, harassment, and bureaucratic harm.

I’m not “fixed.” I’m in IOP. I still get panic attacks. I still have nights when I can’t eat. One email from Cowboy Bill can shove me right back into the unsafe mental space I’ve fought so hard to climb out of.

But here’s the truth nobody warned me about:

Trauma didn’t just break me.

It uncovered parts of me I didn’t know existed.

It forced open a stubborn streak.

A voice.

A ridiculous, chaotic sense of humor that refuses to die.

When I’m grounded and breathing and calm, I show up and make noise.

When I’m triggered, I use the skills I learned in IOP until the panic loosens its grip.

Then I get angry.

Then I create.

💥 Turning Harm Into Humor (and Receipts)

So I made cartoons.

I made TikToks.

I put my dog Luke in a suit and named him Side

Eye.

I made Maddie the star of a clown-song accountability series.

I created a YouTube Shorts channel, a tiny newspaper, and a network called Phoenix Advocacy.

What started as survival became a strategy.

Why?

Because they forced my hand.

They denied accommodations.

They boxed me into leave.

They refused disability benefits.

They lied about it in court.

I asked for one thing:

“Pay what you owe and let me heal.”

They chose the opposite. That’s not compliance.

That’s cruelty — and incompetence with a legal budget.

So I turned my hurt into proof:

screenshots, filings, agency complaints, videos, and digital footprints that no corporate preemption doctrine can erase.

📈 This Isn’t a Victory Lap — It’s a Warning Shot

I’m not bragging about views.

I’m not chasing clout.

But 30,000 people saved one of my videos.

Not “liked.

”Not “shared.”

Saved.

That means 30,000 people paused what they were doing, watched, came back, and said:

“This matters.”

It means I’m not alone.

It means they’re not alone.

It means this system harms more people than it helps.

💰 I Don’t Spend My Paycheck on Escapes — I Spend It on Exposure

I don’t take vacations I can’t enjoy.

I spend my money on lawyers, advocacy, creativity, and making sure the people with power don’t get to rewrite what happened to me.

I am not silent.

I am not small.

I am not going anywhere.

🔥 For Anyone Else Who Has Been Told to Hush

If you’ve been pressured to disappear so the machine can keep running, hear me clearly:

Find a way to make noise that is yours.

For me, it’s cartoons, pets, policy, and the sarcastic drawl of Cowboy Bill’s fictional twin.

For you it might be:

– a podcast

– a letter

– a TikTok

– a union meeting

– a blog

– a complaint

– or five pages in a journal no one ever sees

Use what you have.

Document everything.

Put your health first.

And remember this:

Survival isn’t neat.

Sometimes survival is making a viral video at 2 a.m. with clown music and a dog who gives the perfect side-eye.

🌱 They Can Bury Us in Filings, But Not in Silence

They can try to bury us under legal motions, denial letters, and bad-faith arguments.

But they can’t delete the internet.

They can’t delete a Phoenix.

They can’t delete a voice built on truth, humor, and receipts.

I’m healing.

I’m organizing.

And I’m not stopping.