Mental Illness Recovery Series: Short Story # 54

This is short story # 54 of the Mental Illness Recovery Series. Anonymous took a big step by accepting that she needed help. This is her story:

Anonymous is from Italy and she enjoys rowing and cooking. She is still figuring out what her goals are. Anonymous is thinking about possibly being a consultant or editor. She has depression, but thankfully it is not as bad as before. She went to her university’s counselling services for a few months. She never took medications, all she needed was to talk about what happened and how she felt.

Anonymous had to deal with tiring symptoms. She said, “I was feeling incredibly blue all the time. I was afraid of people, even walking down the street was difficult. I couldn’t bear the eyes of people.” This affected her daily life because she couldn’t go out of her room unless it was strictly necessary. She avoided confrontation and hid away from life. Anonymous did consider suicide, but fortunately she never attempted it. Her relationship with others also became affected. Anonymous said, “I felt like no-one was understanding me. It was quite hard to listen to everyone else’s problems while nobody noticed that I was so sad.”  This made her feel sad and lonely, she said, “At some point I was very angry at my family because I thought they were the cause of it.”

The turning point for anonymous to get help was after a long night where she couldn’t stop crying for hours. The strategies she used to help was to go to her university’s therapist. She said, “I’m so grateful to the university for making this service free and easily accessible.” Her therapist helped out by not judging her and asking anonymous insightful questions. She said, “It was such a relief to finally let all that sadness out!” The lesson she learned from this ordeal is that she is enough. Anonymous outlook in life also changed. She learned to love herself and allowed to be loved. Not only that, but she now has academic success. She said, “Now I know I’m worth something and that I’m strong, I know things are not going to be perfect all the time – life is complicated – but I know how to face the problems and when to seek help.” She has stopped any behaviors that make her sad and tries to stay positive. When she feels hopeless she watches the TED talk by Brene Brown on vulnerability to remind herself that she is worth something.

Anonymous suggest to watch Brene Brown talk for people struggling with mental disorders:

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en”

It makes me happy anonymous has learned to love herself and allows others to love her back. Help me make a difference by sharing your story.