Healing Waters

I'm finally feeling better. My husband, daughter, and I ventured out to a local lake yesterday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and my husband thought this was just what the doctor ordered. He was right.

As you know, I've been anxious all week. A half hour in to our trip out on the lake, however, and I began to calm down. The quiet sound of water rippling as we gently glided along was pacifying. The only other sounds were the screeching of a heron in flight, an occasional boat passing by, and the sound of water lapping up on the shore.

My anxiety melted into the water below me as a gentle breeze caressed my hair and the sun warmed my skin.

All was well with the world.

This morning I woke feeling fantastic - for the first time in weeks! I finally feel that things are manageable. I was so worried this past week about school starting and my club getting off the ground this semester. (In case I didn't mention it before, I'm the president of my college's student chapter of the professional association for addiction professionals.) We're sponsoring an event each week in the month of September in celebration of SAMHSA's National Recovery Month. (SAMHSA is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.) I'll be doing a lot of public speaking and there are a lot of loose ends still to be tied for each event. As a leader, all eyes will be looking to me and last week, it unnerved me. I was feeling overwhelmed and doubted my abilities. 

Somehow, the feeling has passed. Maybe it was the lake and getting out into nature that calmed and strengthened me. I don't know. But I do know this; I'm feeling great today - confident and excited about the month ahead.

From Darkness to Light

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The stigmatization of mental illness (I include addiction here) has persisted in spite of its high prevalence in the general human population. Consider the following data taken from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH):

In 2011, almost 50 million American adults (20% of the U.S. population) experienced mental illness; and in 2000, SAMSHA estimated that "...4.6% of the population were dependent on or abused alcohol", and "1.0% of the population were found to be dependent on or abused both alcohol and drugs."

For far too long, mental health and addiction disorders have remained in the shadows of society - leaving those who suffer feeling even more isolated, alone, defective, and helpless than they already feel from their disease.

This blog, as I'd mentioned in previous posts, is part of my continuous pursuit of therapy and personal growth. But the main reason I choose to be so open and candid about my illness is to join others in the recently begun effort to shine light on the darkness - to help remove the stigma and extend light to those suffering alone.

I remain inspired by the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy…

Let us all together be a light and shine hope and love onto sadness, fear, and despair.

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References:

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Social/Module1Epidemiology/Module1.html

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1ANYANX_ADULT.shtml

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1DD_ADULT.shtml

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1MDD_ADULT.shtml

...and graph of this data for my addiction class paper: