Well we were back to the Group meeting on Monday. Thanks to all who came! It was good to see you there. Meetings will be held most Monday's from now on as Ian will be facilitating meetings too, plus we plan to start the Art Therapy Classes, at the Independence Trust Art Room, on 1st February, we will be issuing more information about this exciting new project soon.
During Monday's meeting I mentioned how I have put a label around my neck saying "I'm mentally ill". Of course this isn't an actual label, but all the same it may as well be as I am constantly looking at and referring to it! This vision came to me the other day whilst I was taking a swim at the Rec Centre. I was feeling slightly low about stuff that day and found myself thinking "well it's because you're mentally ill, you need to snap yourself out of it, pull yourself together." I suddenly realised that this was a particularly harsh thought to tell myself and it was then that I saw "the label", hanging there, constantly bullying me into believing I can never succeed because of this. So I decided that one of my new years resolutions is to rip up that label. That doesn't mean I will no longer have my mental health problems, as these are part of who I am and I know that part of my character has developed around these issues. No, I am going to stop giving myself negative messages and be more proactive in thinking more positively about the way I feel and think about myself. With this in mind it was very useful at Monday's meeting to be able to talk to the Group about the stigma I have experienced around my own mental health problems. How in the past people would tell we to pull myself together and snap out of it. In those days the ignorance and the negative attitude shown towards people suffering from even the mildest forms of depression or anxiety, must have rendered them helpless in the face of such advise. Unfortunately for me those sort of comments became part of my illness as I strived to achieve those unreachable goals and here I am, so many years later, still telling myself them! What!! So this is why I will endeavour to try and capture those self destructive thoughts and rip up that old label!
Hope the coming week is good to you all!
Ruth