About a year ago, I resigned from my day job to address mental health issues and their increasing impact on my life. For as long as I can recall, I've struggled with self-worth, image and the desire to be liked by all others. Later in life, I would be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Cluster B Personality Disorder.
As an outcome of my disabilities, I created a character of who I wanted to be, convincing myself the persona would conceal my insecurities and encourage my confidence. Instead, it spiraled out of control as reality and fiction blurred, convening in a complete mental breakdown a week before news outlets began to report on me.
I was condemned as a fraud and portrayed as a con. To add insult to injury, nobody was interested in hearing my side of the story.
Through trial and error, I've adopted six habits to fortify resilience:
1. Embrace the Moment: In our daily trials, we get so wrapped up in the past and future that being present is almost like a luxury. But it's not a luxury; it's a responsibility.
If you can't be accountable for your current situation, you will find resistance moving forward. Regardless of good or bad, little or large, the choices you made have all brought you to the present. You cannot go backward and have little control over what tomorrow holds. What you can control are your immediate actions.
Radical acceptance is a concept formed around the idea of one's suffering being directly associated with the subject's attachment to pain. The healing process begins when you stop dwelling on the past and projecting fears toward the future. If you can't take care of yourself in real-time, you're good to nobody, least of all yourself.
...continue here.
-- Christopher Massimine
