How I came to terms with my mental illness

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Taken inside my flat on Veterans Day.  (pictured above)

Because mark my words — the uphill battle having mental illnesses has been anything but easy.    It has been painfully emotional;  problematic, and even cumbersome at times.  It’s even more painful when you’re in a position like myself, who for several years had no idea how to tackle it but still had to put on a brave face for the world to see by way of this newspaper.  My associates and I have poured our hearts and soul into this news agency to grow it to what it is today.

But for me, I’ve quietly been battling mental illness behind the scenes.  Mental illness that was inadvertently brought on after the Uber car crash that left me with a traumatic brain injury. I was diagnosed with mental illness (of which I don’t intend on publicly identifying) about 1.5 years ago.   My doctors told me that as a result of the severe trauma, I would never be the same again and I have issues that I cannot rid myself of because of it.

There was a deep period of time that I resented myself because I regretted and beat myself up over ever getting in that Uber car in Mississippi. It changed me. It changed the fabric of my confidence because people called me crazy. People saw me differently but still held me to this pedestal because I had refused to give up.

Some things that really helped me learn to overcome the identity struggle that comes with MI:

• Reading books
• Taking ample me time
• Exploring my sexuality
• Investing in a television show
• Yoga (Amazon has great yoga mats for about $15)
• An Alexa device (I like mine because I can have my book read to me while I work on this blog.)
• Exercising to new extents. I love testing myself and exploring my inner strengths and flexibilities.

I think over the past year and being beautifully medicated, I have learned to accept my mental illnesses and thrive alongside them.  I now live happily once again in my own flat; independently, and am focusing on things that make me happy.

This comes a long time after the crash and the several years of emotional abuse I endured at the hands of my mother(s) Julie & Amy.