Setbacks & fresh starts

This past week has been a rollercoaster. From recognising how much I’ve been relying on reassurance to get me through each day to losing someone in my extended family at a very young age & very suddenly it’s been hard.

I will not let this become me. I’ve decided that I started the week really well and those no reason that these realisations about my mental health should not continue. I don’t need to let this become a big setback. This week is a new week and I am determined for it to be a good one, I was making really good progress before and with the help of online communities I have begun to understand these thoughts & feelings I have. I’ve also begun to realise just how many people are affected by this type of mental health condition.

1 in 4 people suffer from ill mental health and that astonishes me. Everyone knows someone who has struggled with their mental health, although they might not know it, yet it’s still so misunderstood by some people and treated as a myth by others. It saddens me that in this day and age you can be treated differently by ill informed people and the extra hoops you have to jump through to to be able to do some things. I am so lucky to have supportive people around me, family, friends & colleagues who are always there for a chat or a moan or just to talk things through when I’m struggling.

Unfortunately in my area (as I’m sure is the same for many others) the wait for access to mental health services is very long. I’ve so far been waiting 2 or 3 months for my CBT sessions and am not expecting to hear anything about them until next year. I feel like I desperately need them right now and would really benefit from them right now. But to bridge that gap I’ve been using online resources which are fairly easy to find. The mindfulness workbook for OCD has been recommended to me a few times & I plan on buying it in the next few weeks and working slowly through it. Just from reading others blogs online I’ve learnt about how much I rely on the reassurance of my husband & other friends and family around me and I realise this needs to change as it’s not only exhausting for me but it’s so exhausting for them especially J.

I’m going to do a separate blog post about reassurance next week so keep an eye out for that. For now I’m going to try and enjoy my Sunday and look forward to a new week.