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Don't look back
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I have always been a loner – perhaps partially due to being target of bullying as a young boy. Withdrawing socially equated to self-preservation. As an adult, I remained that way with few friends of my own, and certainly none that I could talk to about how I was feeling, let alone meeting for a coffee and sharing a joke. While people around me saw me as the ‘strong and silent type’, it was far from the truth. Appearing strong, calm and collected was (I think now) a self-defence mechanism. I did not want anyone to get too close to me – always on my guard, never trusting people, always looking for anonymity. In more recent years I also started to self-medicate with alcohol.
These days, every day is pretty much the same as the previous - lack of motivation and fatigue. Often I still need to be alone with my thoughts and going for long walks on the beach – sitting on a rock and contemplating what the future holds. Recovery is one step forward and two steps back. I had a couple of reasonably good weeks, but then ‘it’ started creeping in again. All the symptoms of a relapse were there. My medication has now been progressively increased to a point where, it is at its max.
On the whole, I am OK for now. I stopped drinking alcohol (6 months cold turkey) so that will help the meds to work better. My plan is to not look back, but to instead focus on the future. I am resigned to my fate of living with this illness probably for the rest of my life. Having resigned myself to that fate, makes life somewhat easier, but not necessarily any happier. Happiness will come with time and patience.
Later this week I will be off on a holiday for two weeks - an opportunity to chill out and learn a little bit more about my illness, the practice of Mindfulness, and reading the book Silence of the Mind.
Take care everyone,
K
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Thank you Tony, Dougall and Mary. I do appreciate the comments.
If I look at all the things I now know and accept, then I guess I have made progress. It becomes more evident when someone else points these out. So thank you Tony and Dougall.
Tony I will provide feedback to you once I have ploughed through the book. So far it is quite revealing.
Mary, I hope you are well. I would be very pleased (if not a little surprised) if someone was able to take something away from posts. So I am grateful for the other respondents who have contributed. Yes, the news about the medication took me aback also. But he appeared very adamant. Sometimes I get the feeling he must know something he is not entirely sharing (He has suggested that I know too much already!!) Thanks for the book tips - I will look out for them (we should start a book exchange on here, lol). I am an avid reader of anything, and as you say, it is difficult to concentrate but little by little I get there. Feeling like a child is a real feeling and a little scary. When I am out and about I sometimes get a strange feeling of being confused or disorientated. Not so bad that it is not manageable, but still glad that there is usually someone that tags along with me, notices it and is ready to point me in the right direction. As for the pressure, you know it is interesting. I tend to leave all important tasks to the last minute, then lock myself away and work for a couple of days with little distraction, and will get it done. But getting to that point takes a massive effort and usually only happens when I absolutely know that I cannot put it off anymore.
Take care
Ken
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