Face To Face With My Mental Illness |
This time last year I came face to face with my mental illness. I had reached the tipping point as it were, the juncture where I finally summoned up the strength and courage to confront the demons who snuck in the back door and hijacked my mental health. Of course, this was more of a gradual takeover but as brutal and as debilitating as a full-scale mind invasion.
and nightmares, irritability and hypervigilance see their hostile takeover to the end and thus allowing them to lock one down in a cold, dark and unforgiving dungeon somewhere deep within the mind.
. Because I knew my invading enemy, I understood that I fight or I die. Faced with these two choices, my decision was an easy one. Having so much to live for, I set out on the road to mental wellness to combat this most formidable foe.
and I was spinning out of control into a full-blown mental health crisis. So then, what were my weapons of choice? For one, giving up on denial; denial allows mental illness to intrude on every aspect of one’s life and will eventually take one down. |
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The other weapons I deployed to avoid mass mental destruction were: firstly, not caring what others thought. This weapon is so important that I would not have reached for any other tool because fear would have been allowed to grow and fester had I cared about others’ opinions. Secondly, I worked closely with my employer to ensure that they knew and that I was taking time off. Thrid was medical and mental-health professionals. Unshamed to reach out to them as much as possible to ensure I got the right care was very essential. For those discouraged by the system, please keep going. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease.
Over the course of the year, I have come face-to-face with my mental illness known as PTSD 
if you are suffering from PTSD or another mental illness, please reach out. I thank you for your service and you are still worthy and mean something. I believe in you!
If you are struggling please go here: Crisis Services Canada
Want help fund my book? donate: GOFundMe – The Road To Mental Wellness – The book
Contact me on my Facebook page: facebook.com/TRTMW
Hi Jonathon! Nice to meet you! You described dealing with a mental illness perfectly. It really is an everyday struggle, and reaching out for help is definitely part of the battle. The amount of stigma surrounding mental illnesses is just sad. I think we’ve come a long way, but there’s still so much work that still needs to be done. It’s so good that you were able to recognize what was happening to you and you felt comfortable enough to reach out for help. It took my a very long time to get to that point, way too long. I hope you were able to get the help you needed. Thankyou for sharing your story.
Thank you. Like you, it took years. Still a work in progress. Finding purpose is essential for my survival.