I’m Cured! Oh... Wait, maybe not.

I’ve had this a number of times on my mental health journey but I’d like to share the first time this came up. I had just completed my counselling and had come off the medication that was prescribed to me. I felt great, and despite everyone having told me you’re not cured I still had the thought in the back of my head saying “yep, you’re all cured”.

I went on thinking this for a long time, but as things progressed friends, family and colleagues started mentioning things that made me second guess this. I was still pretty sure, but took a step back and looked at what was going on. Using what I had learned about mental health from the counselling I noticed that yes I had relapsed. Oh no… How can this be.

Luckily having the toolkit and having a bit of knowledge about mental health, I was able to recognise my behaviour and start to implement ways of dealing with it. But as I’m sure you are aware this wasn’t going to be the last.

The main lesson I have learned from this however is no matter how mindful you are of yourself, the people closest to you can and will notice things that you may miss, so make this part of your toolkit. It may not always be the case but if it’s mentioned by others take a step back and have a closer look, it makes the relapses easier to pick up and easier to manage your mood.