World Mental Health Day 2020

 What does mental health look like to a person who has #bipolar? For myself, it means my everyday is as neurotypical as possible, and that's only a reality when I stick with my medication. 

But what does mental health look like for anyone - with or without a mental illness challenge - during a prolonged pandemic?

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I couldn't adequately answer the question, but Google's home page had a link to a gorgeous montage, and I'll share it here ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPLaajIJq8M&feature=youtu.be. The whole human population needs to function with coronavirus in the backdrop. It's a beautiful and concise clip. It made me tear up because we all so desperately need each other but we're torn apart along illogical racial and political fault lines.

For specific care, especially coping with profound grief, YouTube suggested Amy Morin, LCSW and her TED-x Talk from Ocala, Florida. Imagine being 23 years old, graduating from graduate school, getting a dream job, getting married, and buying a house with a bright, shiny future ahead of you, only to lose your mother. Morin describes mental resilience by replacing unhealthy mental habits with healthier habits. Worth a listen. ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFbv757kup4

As for myself, my world has been closing in on me in certain ways, and my outlets have been writing, weekly family Zooms, and the occasional visit in the park with a friend. I've attached a significant portion of my identity with my work, and being furloughed going on seven months has taken a toll. Who am I without gainful employment?

Who am I indeed.

I'm still a friend and a cat mommy, a sister, a writer with a story. I'm still here. I'm still facing a plethora of enormous uncertainty, which doesn't make me special. It makes me connected, because we're all in this together despite the six feet between us.

And later today, I'll be video chatting with my dear friends, and I look forward to seeing them, hearing their voices, seeing their faces, laughing until our guts burst, and leaning on each other.

READERS, follow my Facebook author page ==> https://www.facebook.com/MackenzieLittledaleWriter

WRITERS, follow me on Twitter ==> @mackenzielitt13

Is there an act of #SelfCare you can fit into your day today? In addition to the video chat with my friends, I'm going to give myself a hydration facial, avoid soda, and spend time with my brother and mom.

Be well, stay safe and have a magical day!

Mackenzie

RANDOM THOUGHT - Time to talk about the Bipolar thing

The purpose of this blog was to discover what I even enjoy discussing, and to find an audience for my upcoming novel.  Going vegan at least one day a week, and where I eat, what I eat, when I have an epic fail - all fun.  Good times, good stories.

But I'm finding more than an audience.  I'm finding dialog with a tribe on Twitter (of all places). I'm finding people who deal with mental illness around the world.  You have no idea how badly I want this blog to reach Haiti and other countries where the symptoms of mental illness are thought of as demonic possession.  We're not in the grip of bad spirits.  Prayers certainly reach the ears of God, but we as humans are the hands and hearts of God on Earth.  Medicine and mental health providers are available and crucial.  Please stop tying people to trees.  Get them to a psychiatric practitioner of medicine!  If the first medicine doesn't work, try another.

I've seen it again and again that a person who needs treatment for cancer faces no stigma, but once something is wrong with the mind, the person is shrouded in stigma, as if she asked for it.

I didn't ask for mine. 

Stigma held it under wraps for many years, so I'm profoundly grateful to the less-than-a-handful of people I could talk to.  Without them, I might have gone deeper into the abyss. 

So many factors go into mental WELLNESS.  Healthy communication skills are vitally important.  I can't stress this enough.  Just as important is a support network that either understands my symptoms or is willing to journey with me as I educate myself on what my symptoms mean, what medications are available, whether I need a combination of meds and getting my dosage right.  My support network is quite small, but pretty effective and reliable.

The key is I have to be involved in my wellness.  That means asking my practitioner questions - grilling them if necessary.  It also means doing some research on my own.  Some professionals have ego issues and don't like being questioned.  I can walk right out their door until I find a professional who respects my input and involvement.  Right now, my psychologist would be totally useless to me if she didn't get me on Abilify.  She's condescending and I don't particularly like her.  But I have others outside her office who help me where she can't.

Meds are no joke.  Sometimes the side effects of psychotropic drugs are actually a worsening of psychotic symptoms.  That happened to me when I was prescribed too much Risperdal and Cogentin.  Just shifting the dosage downward made all the difference.  I stayed at low dose for years, until I was switched to the more modern Abilify (and happily my sex drive is back ON).

I want to say my bipolar is mild, but what does that mean?  My bipolar is wild, but the dosage I need to function is very low.  If my creativity is housed alongside the bipolar, then so be it.  If they are intrinsically bound, then I won't sacrifice one to get rid of the other.

My story is one of good fortune.  My bipolar was triggered long after my 20s, meaning my prefrontal cortex was already fully developed.  When it strikes youths, it can have very unpredictable effects on the developing brain.  Meds often don't work on the young because the effects are so widespread.  I'm LUCKY!

Admittedly, I need to take my own advice and get physically active, get the blood moving, get the arms and legs pumping.  I can be a couch potato, but it's social media that holds my attention, not television.  That sounds like an excuse, but I do need to get physically active.  Writing doesn't really lend itself to physical activity. I'll have to force myself to find a way.

Find me on twitter @MackenzieLitt13 and see who I follow.  You'll find lots of advocates, people with tips, and people who fight the good fight every day.  We're real.  We have each other and we have life with purpose.

Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie

#MentalHealthMatters
#KeepTalkingMH
#Bipolar
#DepressionIsReal
#EndtheStigma