Resilience~The Power to Press on, and to Rise Above~

   “The Oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived” By: Robert Jordan~ imagine the great oak tree, so many years old could not withstand the mighty winds of the storm. The oak tree thought iam the strongest and the biggest tree in the forest; I can withstand any storm that comes my way, for my roots are deep and iam the mighty OAK. now imagine the weeping willow, delicate and beautiful she is, she blows in the wind.

  She gives shelter to those who sit in her shade, she weeps many tears, for all those who have lost years struggling in pain, and yet many thought she will not be able to withstand, the storm is coming. she will surely break, but  that she did not, she swayed in the wind, her branches bent, yet she did not break, no matter how hard that wind blew. She stood her ground.

  Resilient people do not let adversity define who they are. We may say or we may feel or think im not resilient I could never be……, but every time  you don’t let depression win, every time you press on and fight the good fight, you demonstrate perseverance and resilience. We all can show this resilience does not always mean you feel strong or never feel pain, it means you don’t let that pain overtake you and bring you down to its level, your ise above. You keep fighting the good fight, even when our minds say give up and the world says give in, we say NO, and we show the world what were made of Strength beyond all compare.

“When darkness falls, beauty is lit from within” by Jonathan Jena

  Some of the most strongest individuals are the ones who have gone through the most pain,  who have cried the bitterest tears and have overcome the most heart wrenching adversity, that’s strength from within. Resilient people do not walk between the raindrops, they do not say ive never felt that way, they have battle wounds to show where they been and what they have been through.

  There have been many times ive wanted to give up. Ive dealt with depression for so long, on the other side of the coin I deal with chronic pain for I have multiple diseases that are very painful and that brings circumstantial depression into the picture too. Only by Gods grace do I have the strength to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other, not let my past at my worst come to the surface again. It’s a battle, but let me tell ya I have those battle wounds inside and out. God has given me the strength to press and to share my story this openly and freely. Each time I fall, I get back in the saddle again.

  One small step is huge each small victory is worth celebrating. We need to think of it in this way. We are not being resilient; we are resilient. It’s like that quote what doesn’t kill you, just makes you stronger. Shift your focus of your thinking it’s a process one were all on. When life starts to wear you down again think of how far you’ve come YOU my friend are courageous, resilient and its about time, you start seeing yourself through these eyes!

Part 3 in the Series~" Making the Transition from Hospital to The outside World"~

Good evening readers, how are you tonight?  I’m tired, but  it’s a good tired had a nice afternoon with my mom visiting  at our new place, we were able to encourage one another and build each other up and laugh and just make memories together! Therefore, we’ve been doing a 3 part series and this is part 3 in our series. “Making the transition; from inpatient to the outside world.”

    I remember what it was like, most of my stays were between 7 to 10 days, some were longer a few were shorter. I’m taking you back to that time in my life, when inpatient stays were the norm for me, I know that’s a terrible thought, but its reality for many people with bipolar, it seemed like every few months I was being hospitalized for suicidal tendencies or medication adjustments. I always tried to get the most out of my stays on the psych ward, as we talked about in the last entry. However, what happens then?

   How do you transition back to your everyday life? Ill tell you its no easy task, a lot of times id get comfortable inside the hospital walls, i felt safe there, i felt like we didn’t have to deal with life, but being hospitalized is not a place to run to or away from, it’s a tool to help you become stable again. Sometimes id fight, my discharge it’s kind of funny ironic thing, a lot of times when I was first admitted id fight being there, then when it was time for me to be discharged id fight it again, because I dint want to go back to everyday life.  Everyday life is hard, we were in a safe place, a place where we got 24/7 support from doctors and patients alike, but we cannot live our life hiding away!

   One thing they focus on, before your discharged is a plan on what to do if you start feeling overwhelmed again. They also make sure you have a good support system in place. sometimes I  did a outpatient program  5 days a week for a week or two to help me adjust to being him outside the hospital inpatient setting, that always seemed to help because I’d get the same groups and the support, only difference was I wasn’t staying there. It would be from 8-4 every day; it kept me busy too, giving me that outlet that I needed! They also make sure you   would have some kind of healthy routine after your inpatient stay and day program was over.

   Having these plans put in place before you go home is important to your treatment plan and learning to live on the outside again. I did not want to be looking in all the time, looking in the sense of not enjoying life as much as I could. I wanted help. I wanted the tools to help me cope, thrive, deal, and help me understand my illness and myself. I found no shame; I learned seeking help when one needs it is s sign of true inner strength. It helped me understand my bipolar and live with it a better! I never regretted any of my hospitalizations; they helped me become who I ‘am today!