Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Dear Psychosis, What Direction am I going?

 Dear Psychosis, 

    What direction am I going? Sometimes it feels like I am at a standstill, not moving at all to the point where I can't take care of myself. You know, those "let's stay in bed" days when it's too hard to deal with symptoms of my mental illness. Hiding from the world is just easier sometimes. Does this mean I'm not making progress at all? I don't think that's the case. I have bad days and those are completely normal. The stress of psychosis can be hard at times. So why not care enough about myself enough to take a break? As long as I'm doing it in a healthy way, of course.
    What kind of progress have I made since I started this unfortunate psychosis journey? I've come pretty far. When this first started it was a huge, full-blown episode. I could not really tell what was real or wasn't. I was seeing and hearing things that were terrifying. I couldn't trust anyone. I felt completely lost. I just wanted it all to stop and eventually had suicidal ideations. 
    What got me going in the right direction? A caring family who loves me no matter what, friends who are there at the drop of a hat, and medical professionals who understand what I'm going through. Medical professionals provided medications that helped my brain to act right. Trust in all of these things took a while for me to come around to though. It's hard taking meds and letting people in on the state of your mind. I didn't want to be taken off and locked away forever. I had to learn that was not going to happen. 
    Talking about and coming to terms with my illness was a big part of heading in the right direction. I've had to mourn the fact that I'm not the same person I was before psychosis. Parts of me have died. There is a lot of grief that comes with that. I'm not the same women that married my husband, I'm not the same mother who had my daughter, and I'm not the same daughter that my parents raised. It's a process that just keeps going and going. This doesn't mean I've changed for the worst - it just means I'm different. I forget things, I overthink everything, but I also have (with a lot of help from therapy) had to learn who I really am. I truly believe I'm headed in the right direction.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
-The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

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