A message about recovery.
by Jonny Elkes
Fighting back literally means fighting for yourself. You can have a lot of people in your corner of the ring. Doctors, nurses, support workers, care co-ordinators, friends, and family, but, at the end of the day, it is you, and only you, who can make the real difference.
Often you are so busy looking for help from other people that you forget to help yourself. In the end, that is what needs to happen. You need to help yourself. You need to take the necessary steps. All the good advice in the world is not going to change that. You can bring a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
The rewards are immense. Feeling better after a deep depression is one of the best feelings in the world. It feels like how a prisoner must feel when they get out of prison after serving a long sentence for a crime that they did not commit. It is not your fault that you have a mental illness. That is worth remembering.
One of the best things about recovery is how the people around you react. Family and friends say things like: “He’s back.” One friend asked me: “Is it good to be back?” It was good to be back.
Certain friendships had become just one way traffic. I was receiving but not giving. Those relationships became two-way traffic again. My friend Sally said that it felt like a treat to have her friend back again. My friend Eliza said: “Well done Jonny! I am proud of you.” My friend Bronte said: “Jonny’s back!” It felt good. I had done something meaningful.
Going from being ill to being well again is a lot like life itself. The journey is as important, if not more important, than the destination. Wherever you are on your road to recovery it is important to keep looking forward. Do not look back. You need to keep moving.
Before long, your first small steps become big strides. The further you get on the road to recovery the faster you can make progress. The end of your suffering is in sight.
You can be yourself again instead of being the tortured shadow of yourself that you have been for so long. You can be stronger and wiser than you have ever been. You can face challenges that previously seemed insurmountable. You can live instead of just existing.
You can begin to dream about a brighter future and finally you can do everything in your power to make those dreams come true.
“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”
-Carl Jung