Keepin' on Keepin' on

I've recently been asked "What, aside from your faith, has been most helpful in getting you through the years of illness to the point you are at now?" That was an interesting question, and it made me think. Honestly, I had several answers that popped into my mind and it's almost a toss-up between them. I will list them for you:

• The support of my church "family"- Loving me and praying for me regardless of the condition in which I showed up for services...or didn't!
• The support and continued love of my family--years of patience and, I'm sure, great worry and concern
• My husband finally taking the reins and GIVING me my medications twice a day...Previously I kept either forgetting them or deciding I "didn't need them anymore" and there was no consistency in my taking them.
• Writing--journals, poetry, blogs... This has been a great theraputic release for me and there were many times when, if I wasn't able to have vented into the written word, I would have done serious injury to myself. (It is true that there were still times that I injured myself, but the occurrences were greatly diminished by this outlet.

If I had to choose the "most important" I don't know if I could. But I can say that the one most frequently utilized-- and for the longest period of time -- was my writing. It is there when family and church cannot be...and my husband has only started dispensing the meds this year.

If you have a loved one or a friend who is struggling with mental illness or even mild depression, a great gift to them would be a nice journal, or pen....For myself, when I was no longer able to hold a pen (due to severe arthritis), my father gave me a small word processor called a NEO by a company called Alphasmart (http://www.neo-direct.com/intro.aspx). This is less expensive and smaller and lighter than a laptop and info from it can be downloaded onto a PC. And last year, for Christmas, my husband got me this laptop because I could no longer sit at the PC due to pain. So now, I happily type away in my recliner!

((I also just want to add a note. I am not "cured"...I have schizoaffective disorder and it is a chronic condition...There are times when things get weird. And I've been admitted to a psych hospital several times in the past year. I just have been blessed with the ability to put into words my thoughts fairly coherently (true: there are exceptions to that rule!!) If a few "strange" posts show up here and then followed by a silence...don't give up and abandon the blog...it just means that I'm in the hospital and will return.))

I hope this blog has answered some of your questions and been of help. I just listed this blog with the blog "toplist"...If you enjoy it, please click the "vote for me button" in the right column near the top. Thanks.