Coping with Job Loss
Opportunities are around you; choose the ones that pick you up and carry you forward.
Opportunities are around you; choose the ones that pick you up and carry you forward.
There are a number of steps you can take to ensure you’re ready to return to work without putting your mental health at risk.
Coming out as a person who had been living with mental illness helped me not only find my voice but realize I always had one.
As I began to accept that recovering from depression did not mean outgrowing my support system, it became easier to fight.
Say no to fear. Embrace your imperfections, they make you who you are.
It’s important to be patient with yourself and remember even the smallest steps forward add up.
I love you, bipolar, you make me brave, you make me powerful, and, god, have you made me resilient.
I am free because even though I still can hear the lies, I am finally able to see them for what they are and I am actively choosing not to accept them.
Living with Asperger’s is not an easy feat. But I have a message for you all: never let your circumstances define who you are. You can be anything!
Freedom from Anorexia is knowing I have and will always have a mental illness but recognising I have the power to never allow it to dominate my brain again.
What I learned later from what he told me was loving myself unconditionally has set me free.
I refuse to criticize myself anymore for not being an idealized, “perfect” version of myself. I treat myself the way I would any of my other friends because I know now it is what I deserve.
Flaws do not make me a failure; flaws make me human. I’m not perfect, but I’m all kinds of awesome, because I’ve learned to live a life free from labels and free from lies.
The scars that were left on my heart may have formed patterns in my mind of insufficiency, but it is time to break free from those patterns and re-learn new ones.
Two years ago, the best word to describe me was afraid. Now, the best word to describe me is a warrior. A warrior who is beating the disorder that threatened her life.
Most importantly, I no longer feel bad about having anxiety. I understand it and it’s helped to shape who I am. I am free from fear, and I am free from negativity.
Instead of hopelessness, I’m filled with positivity and energy and a burning passion to help others achieve the same thing. I no longer have to put on a mask of confidence and false hope, because true joy shines from within me. I’m finally living, and it’s beautiful.
As I started my second year at medical school, I hit my rock bottom. Within a week, my eating disorder caused me to lose my house, multiple friends, and nearly my degree and career.
I finally came to the realization that my eating habits had developed into Orthorexia, something that I had never heard of before. Soon after, I found social media and quickly became a part of a community of other fighters out there.
I no longer let my depression or anxiety influence my behavior. I no longer self harm or use other negative coping mechanisms. I no longer let my fear of food, my weight, or my appearance be reasons not to eat.
There is hope that you will find control again, you can be forgiven, you will have a good day, you will eat and not hate yourself, you will conquer your fears, you will feel joy around others instead of isolation.
Although I may not be able to wake up tomorrow and be completely free from my eating disorder, I am proud to say I choose to be free from stigma and shame about it today.
Just as I do not want perfect recovery, I want real, sustained recovery. Both are messy and both take time, but that is why I say I am free from perfectionism.
Treatment was the beginning of allowing myself to be vulnerable and tear down the walls that kept people out.
If we don’t forgive ourselves, if we continue to lie about how we really feel, we’ll never get over these stumbling blocks life puts out for us.
Today, I still struggle with my anxiety, but I embrace myself for who I am. Some days I wake up and my afro hair is sticking out in all directions and I have an oily face, but I love it. I love my funny mornings and enjoy listening to my opinions.
I know that panic attacks are a thing of the past for me. And minor anxiety occasionally is a part of life. I am now living a life of mental peace and it all began with loving my brain, as this is where the problem began. I am now mentally peaceful, panic free, and loving life.
Today, I’m no longer ashamed of who I was, because I am confident in who I am now. This is my story, and I’m adding to it daily. I’m adding to it from now and for always, free of shame.
Somehow, I rose up out of the ditch I dug myself and found the person I love to be. I found the girl who will never wear a fake smile again.
Being small and invisible is no way to live and is by no means an accomplishment. It is our birthright, our purpose, to take up space in this world.
I am free from the boundaries of the past. I am free to be the beautiful, compassionate, trusting, wise human being I’ve always had hiding inside.
Feeling free from the desire to be deemed ‘good enough’ by someone else, whether it’s a parent, a friend, or a significant other, has allowed me to open myself up to all life’s possibilities.
The truth as I see it? Life does not get better, we do. Things become easier because we become stronger.
If you’re in this now know that it gets easier, and the thoughts you have will get less, and you have the power not to let them dictate your actions.
Don’t let depression define you, but instead conquer the apathy that depression causes and you will begin to love yourself, you will experience freedom.