For this month’s Let’s Talk About topic, I think it would be interesting to discuss how mental health has influenced the roads we’ve traveled in life.
As an example, I’ll narrate a brief version of my life journey, a journey I’ve discussed in much more detail on my personal blog.
For most of my life, I ignored my mental health issues and got along fine, doing well up through college. Then I went to graduate school, where I planned to get a Ph.D in English. Since books and literature have always been dear to me, I believed there was nothing else that I’d ever want to do. Lo and behold, my mental health issues finally reached a crescendo, exploding to the forefront of my mind. I held it together sufficiently enough to get my Master’s, but then I knew I had to take a break from academia.
I’m not the same person I was before that breakdown, and my previous goals are not ones that would match who I am now. So, for the past two years, I’ve been struggling to find the right goals, to see what I can handle now. I’ve returned to creative writing, a pursuit I’d given up while in college. I’m working on the first edit of a novel; in it, I incorporate material drawn from my own experiences.
Thus, I’d say that my mental health issues have changed my life’s direction. Since my mental health considerations have greatly altered my life, I think it would be illuminating for us to discuss how we’ve adapted our life goals in order to take care of our mental health. After all, at some point, every person has to make decisions that relate to his or her mental health.
Where has life taken you, then? Have you had to make a major decision in order to safeguard your mental well-being? If so, how did you make that decision, and what considerations did you keep in mind as you made that decision? How has mental health and mental illness impacted your life path? How have they factored in to forming your life ambitions and pursuing your goals?
As usual with our ‘Let’s Talk About’, comments on this post will be closed. To join in the discussion, please go to our page February 2013: Mental Health and Life Paths.
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