We know our mission is to heal. I have been asked, “Do we ever fully heal from a mental health condition, addiction, and trauma?”
My response is, “It depends.”
People who are in a car accident and receive injuries such as whiplash often recover. They may require physical therapy and massages in an attempt to return to the physical baseline they had before the accident. Physical therapy and massage may not be necessary any longer.
I have been healing and in Recovery for 30 years. During this time I have been in and out of therapy, attending support groups, taking psychiatric medication, practicing clean nutrition, and exercising (although since my bought of pneumonia, I have not returned to my exercise routine). When I stopped using these tools to monitor my mental health I experienced a relapse into darkness and despair. A return to this cold hard reality reminds me I need to get back on a Recovery path.
I believe I will be in Recovery for the remainder of my life. One indication is I tried to decrease or eliminate taking medicine. Within 4-6 weeks my anxiety, sadness, and depression return with a vengeance. The therapy work allows me to experience healing, joy, and peace. Occasionally I am triggered in the present due to an unresolved past event. The intensity of these memories no longer takes me into a dark place. Therefore, I believe I can heal from such events and move on.
Recovery is the ability to manage my symptoms due to the chemical makeup of my brain. I experience severe constipation which disrupts my body from making serotonin to feed my brain. I have reached the conclusion Recovery is unique for each person. To what degree does recovery look different for another person walking the same path? We define this for ourselves keeping in mind we seek hope, healing, and health. There is no right or wrong path, there is just a path.
This statement sums it up well, “Soooo……..we begin with the end in mind. We complete painting our house. Is it perfect? No!! I don’t care. It’s a hell of a lot better than it was when I started. Occasionally we need to push the Recovery Reset Button in our lives (house will need repainting in 3-5 years). Want to. Need to. Have to.”
Superhuman Being
Peace
Larry
email: ljw@superhumanbeing.net
website: htps://superhumanbeing.net/