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!