YOU ARE NOT YOUR DIAGNOSIS - remember that first and foremost

It’s not YOU! GOD DIDN’T SLAP A LABEL ON YOUR FOREHEAD! I PROMISE!

"You can either hold yourself up to the unrealistic standards of others, or ignore them and concentrate on being happy with yourself as you are."-Jeph Jacques

I think one of the hardest things to realize is that you cannot change the way people, even your own loved ones, think of you. The stigma attached to any mood disorder or mental illness is so ignorant. There are so many misconceptions, the most major being that you are crazy, don’t know what you’re talking about, unpredictable all the time, or that you are weak. What most don’t realize is that you are STRONG, you are doing and living with something that is so difficult most can’t handle it. And people fear what they don’t know anything about.
You may never be able to convince those you know to research your disorder and try to understand in whatever little way they can how you feel and why you do what you do. There are those that will be so critical of you and don’t aide in your recovery that you have to make the difficult decision to remove yourself from unhealthy thinking. Sometimes they have willingness to learn, but can’t HEAR what you or even a professional tells them they can do to help.

What you need to realize is that this is not a reflection of you. YOU are not their problem because you have something you cannot control. Our emotions when we have a disorder of ANY type be it a physical deformity or a mental condition are not their diagnosis, and we should never be labeled as our diagnosis. The world is just beginning to realize that mental disorders are a disability that we have no control over having or not having it. We cannot just snap out of it, get over it, etc. You can hide your symptoms but the illness is still there, you are the one that takes it home, not the ones that probably don’t even realize the hurt they have caused you. They mean well, most times. But you have to understand that you cannot change others, only yourself and how you react to them.

Remember the old saying- “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.
Wow I found out that that’s really not true. Words can do as much damage as those sticks and stones. They stay with you longer than any physical wound. But if you obsess with what someone has hurt you with, you’ll waste your precious time healing. You have to learn to say “it doesn’t matter what they say”, or how they act. You must remain calm, assertive and find your inner peace, and go to that place in your mind when you feel you are alone with your illness, and find ways to relax your mind and clear yourself of your stresses. Find a hobby, take a walk, bird watching, get a cat or a dog (my farm animals help me relieve my tension, just smelling the hay now calms me!), read inspirational quotes, make a “feel good scrapbook” with quotes, pictures, anything that your eye likes and speaks to your heart, exercise, call a friend who will listen and not judge, write a blog, join a support group, heck – go to the tanning bed for a few minutes the light therapy does wonders! DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF.

YOU are not depression, you HAVE depression, YOU are NOT bipolar, you HAVE bipolar disorder, etc. YOU ARE NOT A LABEL. You are a unique individual who has something difficult to deal with day in and day out, but you are a strong individual whose illness has made you special in so many ways. You feel deeper, you appreciate your struggles and the wisdom you have learned from them, you appreciate moments of peace and beauty around you, and you appreciate the little things in life more so than someone who has never been to a dark abyss.
You may never be understood, and you cannot expect others to understand you fully. But you can’t begin until you understand that you are not the disorder you live with. You may be a mother, father, son, daughter, aunt, grandma, grandpa and be darn good at it!!!! You can be successful in your business and your relationships. Yep, it takes work; lots of it, BUT YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY live your life in happiness and harmony. Who cares what others say, they don’t know you like you do, and you need to take time out each day with every success you master and pat yourself on your back! And don’t stop patting yourself on your back….YOU DESERVE IT!

Happy and Healthy living…
"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Little by little, one travels far."-J.R.R. Tolkien