Apologies, it’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. Actually, why am I feeling the need to apologise? After all, I did say to myself when I started on this writing adventure that I wasn’t going to put myself under any pressure by having to publish anything by a set date.
Truth be told, there is a reason for it. I’m not going to lie, I’ve had a bad couple of weeks with my mental health and it just feels like everything has got on top of me lately! It is bizarre how even outside elements can affect you, but affect you they do. And by outside elements I mean the world in general; the news, the farce that is the malarkey that is the ongoing diatribe that is Brexit, the seemingly increasing crime rate in knife attacks, car jackings etc. And before you all comment, I know that these elements are outside of my control and I should just accept it and move on, but anxiety has this nasty habit of not allowing you to do that.
In fact, it got so bad that I got to a point of critical mass and couldn’t take it any more, so I made a decision to mute and even remove news feeds from my social media accounts so that these issues were not preying on my mind all of the time! Worrying about what a post Brexit UK will look like, worrying about leaving the house in case something happened that had me fearing for my safety?! Who is going to sit on the Iron Throne in the final ever season of Game of Thrones? Okay, okay that last one might be a stretch, but you catch my drift right?
“My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence. The “I” in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.”
– Kahlil Gibran
Moving on…..
On a visit to the GP last December, my Doctor suggested that I would benefit from medication for my generalised anxiety. She could see that I was none too happy about the idea, but then she started to tell me about the chemical imbalance hypothesis. I had read about this before, and I’d also read that, in the wider medical community, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding this theory. The term tends to be used more as a figure of speech, and by that I mean that it doesn’t really capture the true complexity of mental illness as a whole. In other words, mental health disorders are not simply caused by a chemical imbalance in one’s brain. There is a lot more to it than that. Either way, I made the decision to give it a go.
If I’m honest, I thought I was being strong by not taking any medication, but the truth was I was just prolonging the pain. Admittedly, I was able to survive without medication, but with it I really believe that I am living a much more productive, satisfying and emotionally rich life.
That last sentence may seem an odd statement to make when compared to my state of mind over the last couple of weeks, but it is true nonetheless. However, just because the medication is making a difference in my life, it doesn’t mean that I’m cured. But what it does mean, and what I did notice after a couple of months on the medication, is that I’m now having shorter bad periods with my mental health rather than the protracted bad periods that I was experiencing previously. Episodic I guess you could call it, meaning that the symptoms now come and go in waves.
And for my final Muse…..
It’s Monday morning and people are arriving at work. I make my first brew of the day and start to catch up with colleagues when invariably the conversation turns to; “How was your weekend?” But why, for the most part, do we always seem to answer with the same generic response “Yeah it was great thanks and you?” I’ve often just thought about telling the truth…”Actually it was pretty shit if I’m honest. I had a really bad couple of days with my anxiety which meant I got nothing done! How about you, how was your weekend?” I like to imagine the other person thinking “Oh crap, how do I respond to that?” as you watch them try to wriggle out of the conversation because they are now in uncharted waters and you can clearly see the awkwardness written all over their face!
I can’t be alone in these thoughts…….can I?
Have a great week everyone!
Mental Health Musings | A Brummies Perspective 
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