I’ve learned not to view my recovery in terms of success or failure. I now look on every challenge I face as an opportunity to learn and grow. It’s become a cliche to say that recovery is a journey, but I don’t care! Recovery IS a journey, not a destination. There are clear roads an […]
This year, I’ve spent a lot of time resting, catching up on lost sleep and generally taking things easy. I think I became so ill last year, partly because I was was doing too much and living too fast. I was designed for the slow life, so from now on, that’s what I’m going to […]
This year, I have rediscovered my creativity. It started when I was in hospital. I sat with the other patients and coloured in lots of pages in those adult colouring books. This led me to try zentangling again and that in turn led me to start playing with my watercolours again. And now, I’m splashing […]
The biggest challenge I’ve faced has been learning to trust again; to trust those supporting me, to trust their perception of reality, to trust in my recovery, and to trust myself – my thoughts, my feelings, my instincts. Mental illness stripped trust from me, but I’ve been slowly and gently putting it back on. Another […]
My biggest accomplishment of 2017 has to be recovering from mental illness. I have a lot of people to thank for helping me along the way: my family and friends, my doctor, the hospital staff, the community team, the recovery college staff, my church and, of course, my God. It really has been a team […]
Every October half-term, we go to Swanage for a few days’ holiday. It’s such a beautiful place, even when the weather’s bad. In 2016 we had a wonderful time there, taking long walks, eating out, playing on the tuppenny shoves in the arcades. I was on top of the world! It was when we returned […]
Despite 2017 getting off to an awful start, I’m choosing hope, agency and opportunity as my three words to sum up the year as a whole. These are the three strands that run through the Recovery College courses I’ve been attending since April. I can’t tell you how much these courses have changed my life. […]
This month, I’m doing the #BohoBerryChallenge, organised by Kara Benz. It’s a daily journaling challenge in which participants carry out a year-end review. The prompts are in the pic. This challenge is perfect for me as 2017 has been a rather dramatic year. As you might know (You should do … I talk about it […]
This time last year I was very ill with depression and anxiety and Christmas was awful. This year, I am much better mentally, however until recently I was dreading Christmas because of all the bad memories it was starting to bring back, but since doing @mindy_lacefield’s Goodie Gumdrops course, all that has changed. Creating fun […]