Having any type of mental illness is initially daunting. The journey begins with either astonishment or relief. The steep learning curve is a challenge, some expectations of others for support is needed but there never seems to be enough explanation nor contentment to keep us happy.
I found that realisation came a year or two after diagnosis. From then on my mental illness became an obsession, after all, this was a major life event, something I couldn't visualise and loved ones quickly lost interest. I needed a reality check, some self assessment of sorts.
Apart from all of these steps one challenge was over and above all others- to get my life back by not allowing my illnesses to dominate my thinking.
Being a talker doesn't help. I'm torn between wanting to limit myself from human contact, clubs etc but needing human company. Nevertheless, I had to accept that many things I'd previously focussed on like hobbies and sports... had drifted away, essentially they had been replaced with an obsession.
Major changes were made. We purchased a motortrike, a camper trailer. We ventured to beautiful places where in tranquility I'd write poetry, began following my footy team and channelled a lot of my thoughts on mental illness towards Beyondblue rather than sharing them with loved ones.
In my experience all obsessions are destructive in some form. Getting an obsession into perspective allows you to focus more on living life. It might not be possible at this time for some people that suffer greatly with their condition disabling them. For those souls be patient and wait for your mind to mend, an opportunity might well come along, then grab it and re-enter the beautiful world we occupy...there's a lot of living to do.
TonyWK
