Does it ever end?

The thought of forever having a mental health illness used to make me feel trapped but after 5 years I have found that just because you have this hidden illness you don't have to feel like it rules over you.

Accepting there is something wrong is the best place to start. It took me at least a year and a half to accept that I had something wrong with me. After having gone through the most awful year of my life I decided to sit down and talk to someone about it. Accepting it was the best thing I have ever done about my mental health because accepting you have a problem but refusing to let it defeat you shows strength. No matter how long it takes. 

The good and bad days are the tricky bits. The good days are fantastic because you are so used to having bad days everyday to the point where a good day is a luxury. I 100% appreciate the good days now but the bad days show me how far I have come. When you have a bad day just try to remember that a good day will appear sometime. If you give up you will never know when that good day will come.

1, 2, 10 years down the line you won't know what your life will be like. I never expected 4 years ago that I will be writing a blog that I cherish so much advising people on how to cope, giving advice or sharing my mental health stories. There are so many people with mental health issues in the UK but the Government have made cut backs to the services that help us. With that service taken away I think its important to find a coping mechanism that suits you whether you have Anxiety, Depression, Schizophrenia or an Eating disorder. 

Mental Health is definitely underestimated and pushed aside. 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in any given year. You will probably work with someone facing a MH problem. With this 9 in 10 people with a mental illness will experience stigma and discrimination where nearly 3 in 4 young people fear the reactions of friends when they talk about their mental health problems 

(TimetoChange.org.uk, 2016)

Anyone who wants to overcome an mental health problem are so STRONG because waking up, getting out of bed and living through everyday feels like hell and trust me I know how hard it is. By waking up and deciding that today you will fight back against your own mental state makes you BRAVE. They hold on to life even when it feels like its slipping away. That makes you AMAZING. 

So no it never ends but accepting its a part of you makes it easier to live with. You are not crazy, out of your mind or nuts. You are unique, one of a kind and YOU. Nobody can beat that. 

Good Luck. I love you all. 

 Emily xx