“Srish, will you ever stop talking about mental health?”
No, I will not. Because not nearly enough people are joining the conversation, meaning it is up to you and me to fill the awkward silence around mental illness and recovery.
I’ve been in recovery for over a year and a half now, after years of suffering from chronic anxiety and depression.
Quite frankly, recovery from illnesses such as depression isn’t so much a “complete healing” but rather like recovery from addiction – you’re always living under the shadow of a possible relapse, though it is the fear of relapse that often causes it in the first place.
Of course, it is so much better to be in recovery, but it is by no means easy. And if you’ve followed closely on social media, you’ll know that July has been especially not-easy for me.
Last week, we flipped through my first Bullet Journal, which was right at the beginning of my recovery, and it was incredibly cathartic and useful to see just how far life has taken me. But somehow, it didn’t seem enough.
So today, I’m talking about all of the lessons I learned through my recovery.
You see, everyone’s mental health journey is different. Yeah that’s an overused trope, but it’s true. No two people have the same experiences or the same reactions. Life is complicated with layers and folds, and some of us simply deal with this a lot better than others.
No matter what, though, I still think that every experience is a learning opportunity, so we’re going to learn the crap out of this one, together!