Turning Point

Whilst looking over the events of my week in my journal it occurred to me that this past week has been a bit of a pinnacle in my recovery, and in my life. Firstly I had 3 pretty big catastrophes land in my lap, one after the other, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The ‘old me’ would almost definitely have fallen apart at this point, unable to cope with the stress and pressure. But I carried on, calmly and defiantly and found solutions to the problems as best I could.

Then, I went on a long weekend away to visit a good friend in North Wales, one that I’d had to cancel on twice in the last year due to ill health. This may not sound like a big deal but believe me, it was. A few months ago there would have been no way I could manage the 4 hour train journey with 2 changes, the busy days full of fun and activity and a couple of later nights than usual - I would have needed a week in bed to recover! But I did manage all of that. And not only did I ‘manage’ but I felt fine, enjoyed myself thoroughly and needed no time to ‘recover’.

It’s also quite miraculous that all this happened in the first week of me being totally drug free – so I was challenged and I won! I expect some people would say ‘why has this happened to me; but I try and say ‘what am I meant to learn from this’.

Goes to show, if you correct your mind, the rest will fall into place.

Amidst all this at work one day I was starting to feel the pressure and one of my colleagues read out my star sign to me – ‘Although life as you know it is slow but steady, try to think ahead and plan for the future. Today, various problems will disappear as quickly as they arrived.’ Looking back on to last week this is so poignant and has proved so true! My problems have now been resolved and I’ve had lots of positive points arise from them. I firmly believe this is because of my state of mind and ‘mindful clarity’ – I will use again the famous Oscar Wilde quote ‘My life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it’; there could not be a truer saying in my opinion! It also goes back to my belief that everything happens for a reason and we are always exactly where we should be in life - 2 points that have been proved so true to me in this last week.

All sorts of things have helped me achieve this clarity and I will refer back to the long list I wrote a few weeks ago. The main points from that list that continuously help me stay on track are -

Mindfulness

Meditation

Yoga

Singing

Good nutrition (which I will expand on in a new article) + no alcohol or caffeine

Talking to people (care-worker/family/friends) - good friend are sooo important!!!

Structured & beneficial sleep pattern

I have found if I stick to these 6 main points, everything else will fall into step, as my potentially challenging week has proved. I have quickly learnt that the fastest way to improve my self-esteem and self-worth and to make stress disappear is to take better care of myself. It all sounds so logical when you think about it, but so few people in the fast paced environment we live in seem to do it.

I really cannot stress how much all the points mentioned have helped me to take good care of myself. It’s like I’ve recovered from my Bipolar for now and sort of carried on going, like I’m going to be a better version of who I was before. More stable, controlled, aware and able to use my mind and brain more wisely. It’s a fantastic feeling and I feel so passionate about sharing my story in the hope of helping other people.

It’s a sad state of affairs, I think, that all we are offered by our doctors if we have mental health problems are drugs and sometimes talking therapies, when there are so many options out there without nasty side effects. My personal thought on that is the government is in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies to make money, but I don’t want to talk politics so will put that thought to one side!

It might sound like too much effort to change your life like this, to start new things and change the way you eat and live your life - but surely your life is worth that effort? It certainly has been to me and I promise it will be to you, too. Why not try? You’ve got nothing to lose and it will probably be one of the best decisions you ever make.