Posted on July 20, 2008
Filed Under Health, Journal, Recovery, mental illness |
For many years I have done a lot of running away from my life and my issues that have come along with my life and I have spent many days and months running away from my mental illnesses. Though with all of the running that I do I do know that it is basically all due to non acceptance of my situation with my mental illnesses. Many people look at having a mental illness as being a weakness towards them.
Most of the years that have went by I have spent learning how to deal with my life and everything that comes along with it and I have done pretty well with my acceptance of everything that I deal with in my life but then when it comes to dealing with my mental illnesses I seem to give up really easy and let it get the best of me at times and why I do that I am not sure and I think that is what causes me to run away from it so much.
Even though I tend to run away from my mental illness from time to time I have been trying to as of lately to look at my situation with my mental illness head on and find out the reason why I seem to run away from my illnesses when times get rough. I do know that I run away from it because there is something about my condition that I don’t totally accept and I know that the key to my success with my mental illness is to find out what I don’t accept about my mental health and deal with it and find complete acceptance with it.
Though for all of you that deal with some type of mental illness my best recommendation is for you to take some time and examine your condition and find acceptance with it. Then once you can fully accept your situation for what is then you can move on with your life and just know that is something that you will have to deal with for the rest of your life. The best advice I can give is for you to not look at your mental illness as being a weakness but yet look at it as a special quality about yourself and it makes you unique.
I know my running from my mental illness is hurting no one except myself so that is why as of lately I am looking at all aspects of my mental illness and trying to deal with all of my problems that I seem to have with dealing with them so that way I can move on with my life and just know that my mental illness is there in the background but yet I am one with it so I can focus on more important parts of my life like my marriage and just living life.
This way I know once there is nothing left for me to deal with when it comes to my mental illness I will have more time for me to input mindfulness in all aspects of my life and use it towards my attitude with my life. This is why acceptance is so vital when it comes to not just your mental illness but all angles of your lifestyle.
Though I know just as anyone does that has a mental illness that it is very hard to accept that you aren’t looked at as “normal” in society’s eyes. That is where you have to find everything that makes you uncomfortable about your illnesses and find an inner peace with it and know that everything will be okay as long as you are working towards finding serenity when it comes to your mental health condition.
The one thing that has helped me deal with my mental illnesses is I stopped caring about what others thought about me and started caring more about what I thought about myself. Also, when you stop really letting what people think about you get to you it will give you more of an opportunity to be less susceptible to be peer pressured into things you don’t want to do like doing drugs or making bad decisions.
I’ve seen a lot of mental health patients loose sight of their condition through the use of drugs and alcohol. Though most people who get in this predicament usually tend to not realize this but the use of the drugs and alcohol become a problem and into a full blown addiction before they realize it and most of the time it is usually due to not wanting to deal with their mental illness and doing whatever they can to run away from their condition that they are trying to accept and deal with.
That is why it is very important not to loose track of what you are aiming towards when it comes to your mental illness because you really have to stay on top of your game at all times so that you can deal with your mental health and not let other problems like situations with drugs and alcohol get in the way of finding acceptance with your situation due to your mental illness. Because once you truly accept your mental health and your illness for what it is you will have a much easier time dealing with everyday life and the stress and struggles that come along with everyday living.
I believe that was my mistake that I did by getting addicted to drugs early on in my life and trying to run away from my issues with my mental illnesses so that just made my problems worse because that just added another severe problem for me to come to terms with and it made it so I now have a dual diagnosis instead of just my mental illness. If I didn’t try to escape for so many years through drugs and alcohol I think I would be a lot better off than what I am now with coming to terms with my life with my mental illnesses.
So now at this point I am faced with two big issues that I have to come to terms with my addiction to drugs and my facing reality with mental illnesses and being an addict and doing everything sober and trying to maintain sobriety through many different ways and having a great support system. Having a support system is very key when it comes to trying to find acceptance with your situation. Because when you feel you can’t do it on your own, that is where your friends, family, and your support system should come into play.
Also, Learning new techniques and talking about your feelings is a great way to maintain a better outlook on your life with mental illness and especially talking to people that are going through the same things as you are is a great way to deal with your life with mental illness. If you talk to someone that has a mental illness and get their input you can always use their tips and advice on how you can learn to come to terms with your own situation with your mental health and mental illnesses.
If you are supposed to take medication because of your illnesses my best suggestion is for you to make sure you take your medication regularly because for most mental health patients if they are supposed to take medication for a reason it is usually to help aid your mental illness in not getting as bad as it could be without your medication and it usually helps most patients to think more clearer that is after it has had an opportunity to be in your system and your body adjusts to it.
Take it from me I use to hate taking my medication but then after a while of spending time in mental institutions and seeing how I I acted and felt without my medication I finally made a promise to myself to always make sure to have my medications and take them properly and I have to say that since I made that promise to myself years ago I have made good on that promise and I have to say that I don’t know where or what I would be like if I weren’t to take my medications.
I also have to say that the progress that I have made since then I have to attribute that towards my dedication to get and feel better and to my wiliness and open mindedness towards wanting to learn as much as I can about my mental illnesses and how it affects me.
Lastly, I give myself credit for the changes that I have made in my life and also I give due credit to the people that have put their time into me and tried to help me progress with my illnesses and helped me understand them. Also, for those of you who would like to find complete acceptance with their mental illness my best advice is to get involved in the community and get help through your local C.M.H Community Mental Health because I would have to say that it wasn’t until I got involved with them that was when I really started making significant progress in my therapy towards my mental health.
You will also notice that once you come to acceptance with your mental illness you will also see changes in other aspects of your life and that is where the mindfulness comes into play that I was talking about above.
The best advice I can give you is not to ever be ashamed of who you are because you have a mental illness but yet embrace it and come to terms with it and make it apart of who you are. Also, don’t let anyone else besides you define who you are but yet be defined by the person you are becoming due to acceptance with your mental illness.
Make it apart of your life and learn as much as you can about your own mental health and find the answers you seek about it and then learn what you can do to so you don’t have severe episodes and then move on with your life and make it acceptable by you and don’t ever let it run your life.
( Also, see previous post about more on Mindfulness and to learn more about it and how to use it in your life and lastly if you want to know how to move on with your life after you come to terms with your situation with your mental health then please subscribe so you don’t miss my next post where I will be talking about how to move on with your life while dealing with your mental illness.)
1.) Don’t ever run away from your mental illness but yet learn to embrace it and make it apart of you.
2.) Develop a support system to help you through your rough times and so you can have someone to rely on when you need help to deal with your mental illness.
3.) Get involved in the community mental health in your city or town so you can get on the right track with your acceptance with your mental health.
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One Response to “Run From Your Mental Illness Or Accept It And Move On With Your Life”
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This site is dedicated to people dealing with mental illnesses, people dealing with addictions,and tips on staying clean and sober.
I’ve been reading various articles here. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Congratulations on graduating and going forward. I am sure your wife is very proud of you.
Mrs. Joy Martinez
Chasia@bellsouth.net