You are welcome. Thanks so much for sharing. It really holds true in my mind. Everyone in this world has struggles, but those with mental experiences truly get it from all sides. There is of course a mental component, but the emotional effects are extreme. The physical changes our bodies endure are also extreme in many cases and so many of us have had deep spiritual experiences that sometimes include torment. Everyone in life has to fight to stay alive and to thrive. However, it is my opinion that the people I have met through my mental illness journey are doing this on another level all together.

We are truly using all of our faculties to take another breath at moments. We are coming up with whatever we can possibly say to pull each other off the ledge sometimes. We feel things most people do not and we have to unravel the twisted and intricate lies our minds tell us. Many have sacrificed or lost their happiness, their jobs, their friends, their family, their way of life, their pride, their bodies and their confidence. It takes all of our strength to not let it consume us. I'd say that takes the heart of a fierce warrior. It constantly blows my mind that so many here not only survive, but they truly rise and at times find ways to thrive. Truly amazing!

For me, it helped to find humility and surrender to this battle. I kept trying to understand why this happened to me. I finally decided to stop looking at it as something that happened to me and more like my next opportunity for service. An opportunity to serve myself and grow. An opportunity to serve others through support. An opportunity to serve my family by becoming a healthier me. I stopped pushing back against my reality and started to work with it to see what I needed to see. I started to look for ways to use the given variables to create a strategy to attack this from all angles.

It was my belief as a project manager that the work that was laid before us was nowhere near as important as the mindset we used to approach it. I believed that we were meant to laugh while we work. I believed we were meant to support each others like kind humans would. I believed we could blend the best of everyone together to make the work easier so that we had more time to innovate and relax. I believed we could do this so well it wouldn't feel so much like work anymore and more like the game we were playing together. I am doing a different kind of work now, but my beliefs have not changed.

Stand tall Jennifer. You earned it!