Accepting Mental Illness: 7 Ways to Accept your Mental Illness.

1. Know that you are not ALONE

TRUST ME WHEN I SAY...YOU ARE NOT ALONE! There are many people out there including myself that suffer from mental illness. The way I learned how to accept anxiety and depression was by talking with others about it. I was open about it and discussed with friends and family about the daily struggles (when the time presented itself). Some people accepted me for the “crazy” I am and others were out of my life in an instant because they struggled to connect to the person who embraced their mental health. Not everyone is going to understand what you are going through and that’s ok. You learn to surround yourself with people who understand the REAL you and people who dont judge you when you “ don’t feel like going out and want to stay in.” There are many other ways to find others with your same mental illness

• Facebook :There are tons of facebook pages dedicated specifically to different types of mental illness. There are some for anxiety, depression, bipolar and mental health. One of my favorite groups is https://themighty.com/mental-health/ .

• Search engines: Use the internet. Its there its available just google a question. I have literally googled “How do I come to accept and embrace my anxiety?”

• Bloggers: bloggers who talk about their mental illness and different ways to deal with it. I haven’t done this myself but I did start my own blog to try to help others with their mental health. So… last but not least

• Create your own Mental health blog: It’s fun and creative and helpful when looking back on your journey and how far you’ve come.

2. Find the best therapist

I cannot express how important this step is! Finding a therapist is like finding your best friend. Sometimes, you have to go through some crappy friends before you find your best of friends.

Knowing that you have the best therapist for YOU is key to successfully accepting your disease. Therapist are not there just to listen although they do this very well. They are there to coach you and help you through these hard times you are going through. So, if your therapist seems like they are just listening and not helping, they seem too opinionated for your liking or they talk more than you do, it’s time for a change.

It is also important that you feel comfortable enough with this person to be able to tell them things that maybe you don’t tell everyone else. It is ok to be vulnerable with your therapist. Once you have accepted that you have a mental illness you will be able to express yourself and feel comfortable with him/her and then they can treat your mental health illness correctly.

Going to see your doctor should not feel like a task. You should feel like you want to go to your Dr. appointments and not dred them or forget about them. I look forward to my meetings with my therapist every two weeks (It wasnt always like that). I am excited and I hardly miss my appointments unless there is an emergency or something important comes up. She’s one of my best friends and I always get excited to talk to her and tell her what is new in my life and how I am handling everyday stressors.

3. Journaling

I remember my doctor recommended that I write things down or keep a journal. I looked at her like ahhh-huh?? Ain’t NOBODY got time for THAT doc! But with a recent personal experience involving custody with my son I started to note every anxious feeling I had because honestly it felt like no matter what I told people nobody understood. No matter what I did nothing could take the stress, anxiety, or sadness away. But when I wrote it down it was my inner most deepest feelings, and thoughts written on a piece of paper. All for me to see. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I either couldn’t think of anything to write about or until all my feelings of anger, sadness, despair, worry, and betrayal were on a page.

How did journaling help?

RELIEF: The best feeling is that it is out in the open and I can write whatever about whoever, whenever and dispose of those bottled up feelings.

ORGANIZATION: It also allowed me to organize and sit with my thoughts and prayers and to see how keeping those feelings bottled up affected not only myself but also the people around me.

REMINISCE: Journalling allowed me to see where I started when I was first diagnosed to now 3 years later learning about my disease, living with it and loving the person I am with my illness

4. Learn about your disease/mental illness

GOOGLE IT: So easy and yet so many forget that the internet is just under our little noses and has so much information we can use to better our lives.

Go to classes on your mental illness: Kaiser permanente has classes to help an individual to better mental health.

Read self-help books: This is so cliche! But self-help books are great! I have read books by athlete Tim Tebow you can purchase on amazon or any book store. (https://www.amazon.com/Shaken-Discovering-Identity-Midst-Storms/dp/0735289867) . I also really enjoy Joyce Meyer’s books (anything from her is amazing. She steals the words from your mind and says them in such a moving heartfelt way)(https://www.amazon.com/God-Not-Mad-You-Experience/dp/145551747X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549568516&sr=1-1&keywords=god+is+not+mad+at+you+joyce+meyer) I actually purchased her book at Barnes and Nobles for 5 bucks! It was a steal! I am currently starting a new book called “GIrl Wash Your Face” by Rachel Hollis. I have not started it yet but I will let you know how it is. (https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Wash-Your-Face-Believing/dp/1400201659/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549568616&sr=1-1&keywords=girl+wash+your+face+rachel+hollis) . Feel free to Recommend!

5. Take Your MEDS

FIrst: Don’t ever tell anyone who has a mental illness to “take your meds!” when they’re acting a bit crazy. It is like hearing nails scratch the chalkboard. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten into arguments with family or friends over those words.

However, as someone who has a mental illness and takes medication, I can tell you that meds make your daily life so much easier. I fought my doctors tooth and nail about taking meds. It took some trial and error to figure out which drugs helped and which did not. Some of them I just did not like and others just didn’t work. But now that my body has adjusted to the medications they really do assists in my day-to-day activities I can tell when I don’t take them. Sometimes (well...most of the time) I genuinely forget to take my meds and those days I find myself to be more high strung, anxious, sad, or just in a bad mood. Needless to say “TAKE YOUR MEDS!” and be consistent.

6. Exercise

Whether you’re an athlete or not try to be active. Exercising releases endorphins that help make us happy. Working hard can also makes us tired and sleepy. If you’re anything like me then you have INSOMNIA. It is one of the worst side effects from mental illness because your mind is constantly racing, thinking, going, and in order to live a healthy full life your brain needs a break. Your brain gets a break when you sleep so sleeping is important along with exercise. Last, Exercise is rewarding and helps with anyone’s self image. Working out can lead to losing weight and fitting into your cute white jeans again giving you that pep that maybe you lost when you went through a rough patch in life. We’ve all been there don’t worry.

7. Live, Learn and Love your Mental health!

Life is hard! And sometimes we dont always want to accept who we are because we’re not like all of our friends or we’re embarassed to say that there is something wrong. But when you live your life to the fullest with an illness it changes you for the better. Like Kelly Clarkson said “What Doesn't Kill you Makes you Stronger!” So live with Anxiety, Live with Bipolar, Live with schizophrenia, Live with depression but live the BEST YOU! Learn how to live happily with your disease. Learn how to be a better person with your illness. Learn about your disease and most importantly LOVE YOURSELF! Love who you are and the wonderful person you are and want to be. Embrace your mental health and Rock it!

#perspective #outlook #newlife