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About Me
- PeerSupporter
- United States
- I am a mental health consumer who has been living with what has been labeled as Bipolar 2, among other diagnoses. However, I believe that whatever it is has made me take The Road Less Traveled By. I once measured myself against my "normal" friends who seemed to be living perfect lives. But my life truly began when I started running my OWN race! When I met my husband, who is a Peer Support Specialist, he introduced me to the term RECOVERY. I had never before heard the word RECOVERY used in the same sentence with MENTAL ILLNESS. My husband had worked very hard on his personal recovery to get to where he was when I met him. He inspired me-and still does today! I started to learn that I could recover too. I learned about my strengths, and what got me jazzed enough to get me out of bed in the morning. It happens that helping my peers, and supporting them through their ups and downs is what I love to do, and what motivates me daily. So, this website is a natural consequence of my passion for wanting to support my peers. And, if this site inspires others to find their passions in helping their peers, then my job here is done.
Keep up the good work! Peer Supporter! I used to have a great amount of difficulty getting up in the A.M. I never used the snooze button. But I was on
ReplyDeleteheavy meds day and night, which made life difficult.I was and am fortunate to have animals.
My cat, with his built-in alarm, wakes me on schedule at 7 A.M. sharp! to be fed. The other
animals are not far behind. This is my #1 purpose or incentive for getting up. A person in my opinion,
needs a purpose for getting out of bed. I am
now on good medication, and feel normal whatever
that is defined as. I love swimming, so my
2nd purpose is to get to the swimming pool, followed by a refreshing shower. I don't go every day, after all I am a retired senior citizen. So
other purposes that I have is going to the store,
the mall, cleaning my place (it sure needs it),
volunteer work, and oh, yes, walking my doggie.
I feel a person has to have a reason to get up.
It may be a teeny tiny reason, but something that
says there is more to life than lying in this bed. That is how I feel today, but I have gone
through hell and back. So believe me, I know how
tough it is.
I applaud you, fellow peer, for posting today, and motivating others to do what they love to do and are passionate about. Indeed, it is important to even have the teeny-tiniest of reasons for getting out of bed. If you're having trouble out there thinking of a reason for getting out of bed, think about your strengths. What are you good at, or what were you once good at? What do you like? What are you passionate about? Figure this out, and then take a step in the direction of doing this thing. You don't have to jump right in and do it the next day, but perhaps when you wake up tomorrow, you can get motivated to make a phone call to find out about how to go about doing your task. For example, our peer here loves to swim....so if she was new at this, she could make a call to her county's recreation department and find out where a local pool is. Then the following day, she could find out about transportation to the pool. Perhaps she needs a new bathing suit...well, that's another thing to look forward to working on....and so on...each step feeds on itself as you work towards your goal and motivating yourself to do what you enjoy. You can reap the benefits of getting excited about doing something that you truly love and can really motivate yourself to get out of bed each day and make it count! Thank you to our peer for posting what she is passionate about and what motivates her every day. It's nice to hear about people's perspectives and experiences, because each bond we share makes us stronger as people ourselves. Thank you so much for posting.
ReplyDeleteSince we peer supporters are all anonymous, I have
ReplyDeletesomething to ask which may be difficult to answer
if we gave our names.
Is there anyone who would share with me and others,
your experiences in a Mental Hospital, Institute,
or Looney Bin? Whatever you want to call it.
I am old now, much past my prime. But from the ages of 19 to 28 I was in and out of hospital countless times, across Canada and the U.S.A.
I still wake up to this day, screaming from a
bad dream of being given shock treatment, or
thrown in seclusion, or put in a straight jacket
(which much to the staff's surprise I got out of).
But in all fairness, there are people who felt
positive about their experiences in that setting.
And also found shock treatment beneficial for them. I want to hear from everyone. This has not
been easy for me to write, but I do so want to
hear from you. I have also worked in a Mental
Hospital, as well as having been a patient. So I
have seen both sides. There are still people
in these institutions, although we like to feel
they don't count for one reason or another. Mental Illness is geared towards the Community, and this is of the utmost importance. But let's
not forget the poor human beings who are still
incarcerated for God knows how long.
Hey Peer Supporter, I posted your link on the SSDIC blog when you first emailed it to me. It's under 'helpful links'
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's a free site that has a proper message base.
I am still at work and am having trouble relaxing away from it all.
Thank you so much for posting a link to the website! I want to post a link to YOUR website, and I'm not sure how to post links. Can you help me with that? I'm not sure how to do that on Blogspot. Let me know.
ReplyDeleteHope work gets better! If you want to address any of that on here, feel free....
dude, you can add stuff under layout - actually, i forget how, but it's definitely do-able (a term my boyfriend hates!) you can add videos, images, layout items like polls, links, whatever. just no real message base. i am needing to let go of the OCD so i can relax. but if i relax too much i get depressed. so i tend to prefer stress and ocd to depression. although ghood grief there must be a neutral ground, not an either/or. when r u coming back?
ReplyDeletehey peer supporter and others - we still have spots for WRAP class (FREE) at Threshold Services in Wheaton. Call me if you are interested - it is for 8 weeks, starting Tuesday April 21 from 11 am to 1 pm. (no, i'm not a morning person and i will be co-facilitating.. i guess it's time to put on the 'big girl pants'!) 301.589.2303 X 108 to RSVP for WRAP (wellness recovery action planning). learn to work your WRAP! visit also www.mentalhealthrecovery.com and www.silverspringdropincenter.blogspot.com AND www.thresholdservices.org OK, now it's time to drop 'work mode'
ReplyDelete