Topic Tuesday: The positive side of mental health difficulties *NOW OPEN*

[NikNik]

Such good advice deckofdreams! So true - it takes time between the experience and the positive feeling.

Alessandra - they are huge changes! How did those changes come about.. did you just decide those changes... did they just appear one day.... or did you find you were just naturally making these changes? Or were they very conscious choices?

[JT]

Yes, a shift in thinking and perspective.  Life is no longer quite as expected but that doesn't mean it's wrong or over. 

[deckofdreams]

Thanks NikNik for solving the disappearing post issue. 

This was my post from earlier 

Just finished preparing my meals for tomorrow  

My experience has taught me a lot. It allowed me to really explore things and see things in a way I would have never considered before. For example, I used to think that when I died I would literally rot in the ground and be mulched up by worms and then that was it. Now I believe there is so much more to life than just our physical bodies. I guess you could say that my experience gave me an opening into spirituality.

Mania was a like a fast tracked way of getting to know myself, having it all laid out there.

I truly feel blessed.

[JT]

We had pizza tonight so everyone in this house is now happy.  Except the dogs who got no pizza.

[deckofdreams]

JT I'm glad your family don't feed dogs pizza (unfortunately I can't say the same for some of the members of my family) 

[JT]

One of my dogs thinks she's a goat.  I'll have to be sure to put the box in the bin otherwise she'll settle for that.  My dogs are spoilt rotten on a species appropriate diet - they eat so much better than us!  I have that gee you should've cooked a real meal instead of caving into requests for junk lol

[BatGuano]

karma,

in an acute presentation where the person is in crisis I would use first-aid measures

once the basics are met, then and only then does the person become capable of objectivity

a smart fellow called Maslow made a 'heirarchy of needs'

with the idea that the more doo doo is hitting the ventilation the less clear-headed we are

[Debbi]

When all seemed hopeless and could find no positives I would cling onto one thought: 'you are not alone'. Many others feel the same. I wasn't so weird or strange for having such a long struggle with MI. This gave me great comfort and helped me to keep going keep trying, not to give up.

[NikNik]

10 mins to go!

So far we have touched on

1) positives/ gifts / superpowers you have gained from your experiences (ps: WOW!)

2) How those have impacted the people around you in a positive way

3) Advice for people who may not necessarily feel that there are any positives to their experience

Any last thoughts on any of these areas?

[Alessandra1992]

Those huge changes are based around my 3 vital needs, to be someone, to be at home and to be going somewhere.

These changes came from my support group listening to my problem, giving me a practical task and some program to learn to help support the changes I was working on.

I regular thank the universe and all deities small and large and cross cultural, that I found Grow when I was unwell.

It was through mutual support and self activation that my group supported me in learning new ways of behaving, how to check my thinking "to go by what I know and not by how I feel" and change of relationships through improved communication skills.

I learned from Grow "that if a thing is worth doing! it's worth doing badly for a start, and while you're improving."

That is quite a freeing wisdom to live by because we are not expected to be perfect, we are expected to need a lot of practice in changing our ways and removes the trap of perfectionism.

Perfectionism being the curse that can completely cripple you from doing anything if you know it won't be perfect.

What else did my MI teach me? Well patience is one. Perserverance is another. And I am grateful that my life would not be this good if I hadn't been unwell..