Hiding My Mental Illness
I spent a lot of years hiding my mental illness from others, and in a lot of ways I hid it from myself. I felt so ashamed of it.
I went years without taking medication or seeing a therapist or physiatrist, assuming I could handle it on my.
But what that really translated to was, me I ignoring it.
What I learned was that mental illness is like living with a young child, and the more you ignore it, the more is screams. The more it asks questions, the more is grabs you by the leg, and demands attention.
It got worse, and my life got worse, and my relationship with my wife and my children got worse, and ultimately I had to realize that denying my mental illness was no way to manage it.
I’ve spent so many nights, in the middle of a panic attack, wishing God or a surgeon or someone, anyone, would reach inside and rip out whatever part of my brain causes my anxiety.
But it won’t happen.
Sadly.
And it wasn’t until I stopped wishing for it to go away so I could live my life, and began asking “how can I live my best life with anxiety and depression?” That I began to manage it in productive way, and live a better, healthier, life.
You should totally buy my hilarious new book “Silence is a Scary Sound.” No pressure. But please realize that if you do go for it, there will be a 37-year-old man doing a “YES” dance in his living room, probably wearing pants he bought at Costco. And frankly, that is priceless https://amzn.to/34viyhq
