Bedlam PBS Documentary

PBS online is airing the documentary Bedlam on the mental health crisis in America.

At the end of this blog entry I’ll give the link to the website so that you can watch this graphic yet ultimately hopeful account.

Decide for yourself what to think after viewing the video.

More power to the Black Lives Matter founder Patrice whose story is told in this documentary.

In fact the Black Lives Matter were instrumental in fighting for mental health justice.

They protested in the street and caused the LA government to halt building a jail to house people with mental illnesses.

The mental health justice activists had the funds diverted to treatment not criminalization.

Seeing this empowering film I’ve decided to donate money to Black Lives Matter.

Bedlam documentary on PBS.

Getting Confidence

Years ago I was told not to rah-rah peers with the “If you believe it you can achieve it” cheer.

It might not be possible for most people to have the mental motivation to get into action to achieve a goal.

In light of this reality I want to resurrect something I wrote over 7 years ago.

As the Health Guide for the HealthCentral schizophrenia website from 2007 to September 2015 I wrote hundreds of news articles about recovery that were in the vanguard.

In all the time I advanced these ideas no one else copied what I had to say or has picked up on these things since.

One article I wrote talked about getting confidence as a person living in recovery.

Right here I’ll resurrect this theme.

To get confidence you need to remember that the outcome doesn’t matter. It’s the process of taking action that counts.

In this regard I’ve always remembered what a champion athlete had to say about this:

Venus Williams the star tennis player wrote an article in the New York Times in which she talked about goal-setting.

Her ultimate criteria for success was to ask yourself if you feel good. In my take the outcome is irrelevant as well.

It is the striving to achieve something that counts more.

The prize belongs to those of us with the courage to try, to risk, to fail, and to try again.

Years ago I bought from a local trophy shop two medals that hang from red-white-and-blue ribbons. One spells out GOLD. It was my reward for lifting weights at the gym.

The other is a baker’s cap and three spoons that signified my budding hobby cooking from recipes.

As the Health Guide I championed that to feel good about yourself you should have a hobby you like to do.

You don’t need to excel at the hobby to feel good. That’s the point.

My premise was this: working out at the gym or at home entitles you to claim you are an athlete.

You are a bona fide cook or chef when you create mouthwatering meals.

Gaining expertise then I countered was a way to get confidence.

What do you think?

Taking a Detour

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic I want to talk about taking a detour.

My life didn’t get better until I turned 35 and started my library job.

Shunted into the mental health system early in my recovery I was forced to take a detour.

Let me tell you a detour is not a dead-end. It’s a pit stop along the way to a different path.

Maybe you’re not supposed to get what you want quickly and painlessly.

That is the goal as I see it–to embrace the struggle for what it is– a learning of something you need to know in order to get what you want.

I care a lot that in this pandemic everything seems to have been put on hold. A sunny day can be harder to envision.

Sometimes where you start out isn’t where you should remain.

That is the ultimate purpose of a detour: to cement in your mind the one true path you must go down to be happy and fulfilled.

You don’t often figure out until you experience firsthand a setback the truth about who you are and where you should be going in life.

Again–I think of these things during the pandemic we’re living through. Of how it can seem like this is the end of everything–the end of your hopes and dreams for whatever you had hoped to achieve.

I say: use this time to engage in active reflection.  Get out a notebook and sketch out what your goals will be when the pandemic is over.

Shore up your good feelings while you shelter in place.

Remember that after things get better there’s so much life for all of us to live.

Stirring the Sauce

Experiencing a plateau can be likened to stirring the sauce for Sunday macaroni supper. It will take time to heat up.

Sometimes engaging in a repetitive act is necessary. It can seem like you are not getting anywhere. What is the purpose of doing the same thing over and over?

It is to get in the groove of a healthy habit. The secret sauce you are simmering is your recovery. It could take years to get to where you want to be.

The Changeology book goal-setting method is a 90-day action plan comprised of 5 Steps:

Psych

Prep

Perspire

Persevere

Persist

Committing to executing the plan for 90 days can set in motion a healthy habit that lasts.

In coming blog entries I will talk about a couple goals I set that have stuck.

In fact living through the pandemic has made it easier for me to achieve these goals.

Soon it will be coming up on one year since I first started making these changes.

My own experience with setting these goals might empower you to go after your own goals with gusto.

Woodshedding in Recovery

Easily over 15 years ago when I first started out as a Mental Health Activist I read about using the woodshedding technique in recovery.

Originally the concept of woodshedding referred to jazz musicians who go into a shed or room to practice their instrument.

The goal was to great improve or to perfect a part of what they were playing.

In recovery going into a woodshed happens any time you need to rest and recharge your batteries.

In the reference to woodshedding that I first read the writer talked about how individuals living in recovery seem to be in a plateau.

Even though we are in a plateau at this point we can go on to achieve things.

The woman interviewed in the article talked about needing to be alone to heal and to process what was going on.

Woodshedding can take place at any point in a person’s recovery.

Living through the COVID-19 pandemic is a natural plateau that everyone is experiencing.

It makes sense that it’s the perfect time to engage in woodshedding while we’re sheltering in place in our rooms.

In the next blog entry I will talk about my own metaphor for healing habits in recovery.

Setting Goals

It can be hard to envision a sunny day coming when you’ve experienced a setback like living through this pandemic.

This is where setting goals can help you.

After things get better there is so much life for you to live. It pays to be future-minded.

I am an optimist. That is why I recovered. I believed that my future would be better.

I have always seen possibility where others see pain.

My recommendation is to get out a notebook and write down a goal you would like to achieve once things return to normal.

Fixing that goal in your conscious mind can empower you in your recovery.

With this purpose for what you want to do visible in print it can motivate you to do what it takes to make healthy choices today.

On the cable TV news the announcer reported that addiction and alcoholism have gone up during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ask yourself: what can you do to bring yourself closer to achieving the goal?

Over and over wherever I’m writing anything I write about goal-setting I champion reading the book:

Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions.

This book I installed on my iPad. It has been instrumental in helping me achieve numerous goals.

In the coming blog entry I want to talk about woodshedding.

It’s a concept whose time has come for a review in light of the setback everyone’s experiencing living through the pandemic.

Asking What If? and Why Not?

I turn 55 this spring. As I roll towards 60 and in light of the ongoing pandemic I’ve been thinking about my life and my goals. I’m not a person who expects most outsiders and even some family members to understand how hard it can be living in recovery.

Disability rights advocates frown on using the word “courageous” to describe how a person negotiates living with an illness.

I think courageous is the right word to use. It’s brave to demand equity in society when you have a mental health condition. The alternative is giving up hope and believing the lies we’re told about recovery not being possible.

I understand the need to fight to be taken seriously when you have an emotional illness.

I understand what it’s like to be given crumbs from the table passed off as nutritious food.

I understand that making your voice heard can be scary.

It’s only scary if you seek other people’s approval. It’s frightening to live in a world where you’re not given compassion.

Thus my claim years ago that people living in recovery deserve a Nobel Prize for the efforts we make to live life whole and well.

As an Author and Advocate I frame any premise for what I write in terms of asking these two questions:

“What if?” and “Why Not?”

Each of us should be asking ourselves “What if?” and “Why not?” as we start to set goals and embark on achieving them.

In the next blog entry I’ll begin talking about goal setting.

Awarding a Nobel Prize for Recovery

In September 2015 I ended my job as the Health Guide for a mental health website.

While I had been there easily over 9 years ago I wrote in a news article that there should be some kind of Nobel Prize given out for people living in recovery.

At that time the editorial team of the website posted this gem of advice:

“The only real failure is the failure to try.”

I think they might have stolen that from something I wrote.

How audacious it was to tell people diagnosed with schizophrenia this.

I riffed on this premise in a news article there.

I wrote that trying can be as simple as getting out of bed.

Or cooking yourself a meal. Or taking a shower.

That’s when I lauded the courage it takes readers living in recovery to set goals and to try to reach them.

In a world where outsiders and haters to this day persist in claiming that no one can recover.

I would like to start a carnival of blog entries here on the topic of recovery.

It’s more imperative than ever in the time of living through this pandemic to support those of us who are in recovery.

For some of us every day is a struggle. For others the war has been won.

In the spirit of spreading joy, love, peace, and understanding I will talk in coming blog entries about the beauty and benefit of choosing recovery as a life goal to shoot for.

And remember: you do not have to be in remission to recover.