Note: As part of my Day Program, I contribure to the program’s newsletter. In June 2021, that Newsletter transitoned to a monthly basis as much of the elements of the program are back to a in-person status.
A Special Meaning
Being thankful in the month of November has a special meaning for me. Just around this time last year I was called in to the local Housing Authority for a interview for an opening for where I live today. After the interview and tour of what is now my new home, I count my blessings every day to have the opportunity to get back on my feet after experiencing a bad situation and relapse in my mental health just nine months prior. COVID did not help, and while we are still in a looming pandemic, I am learning how to better manage my mental health symptoms and accept the fact that some things that I strayed away from that caused my relapse are a necessary item to my well-being. I am also thankful to the community I live in for having a Community Thanksgiving Dinner that I really appreciate attending.
Be Proud of Your Home!
Being independent, when I get in the spurts of cleaning and making my home presentable to
others, I am truly in my happy place because it is a task I can be proud of.
It took me a long time to get to this place. Living in Public Housing, I know I could be subject to
housing inspections at any given moment, announced or unannounced. I know I need to be
routine with being on-point in the cleanliness of my home. It can also boost my mental health
because I am not so bogged down with a gloomy outlook on my environment.
I have been at the worst point someone could have been in being independent. Part of that
was to blame on not following a routine medication regimen. I have accepted this week that
the medicine is a part of my life and is the foundation to my mental health recovery. I am
grateful that there are tools that make the administration of all my medications easy. The
critical point of the administration is to be on point with taking them within the allowable
leeway and not missing any doses.
With that segue, I notice when I take my medicine I want to take care of myself overall. My
home, my body, etc. I truly care about my body and I am aware that things need to be addressed. I cannot live in a filthy home and the need to keep up on things is crucial to living on
my own. Another piece of this is accepting the fact that my home is my home, not anyone
else’s. Certain parties are going to be critical of certain things. They are going to offer help at
intervals and I have also accepted that I need to graciously accept the help when it is offered.
Having the help offered can cause anxiety from the party offering it because I feel they are
targeting the parts of my home that can use improvement. While their feedback can be helpful, the way it is given can be challenging to accept because of the history between both parties. I know I need to do things, however, I do have challenges in some areas, but hopefully
with the help I am given, it will improve.
I feel the help offered provides good insight, because in past experiences, I did not accept the
offer until it was too late. This often resulted in the other party becoming frustrated and walking away and leaving me worried that I would be left helpless. With events that happened in
early 2020, and having to accept the issues that I experienced I knew I had to improve. I can’t
say it has been easy, but I know I am better than I was in the prior living situation.
What also works is that my present home is designed in a manner that is more suitable for my
needs and can be better managed by myself. While there are some deficits that were in the
other home, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Additionally, living in the environment that I previously lived in was not good for my mental health and carried extra issues that
I didn’t need. Early on in my new home, when I didn’t have the total knowledge of how to do
things to suit my needs or understanding the environment so it helped me, I refused to see
from outside the box and not see other ways of doing or understanding things that were beneficial to my health both mentally and physically. Now, having all skills tailored to my personal
environment, I can adapt what I need to do to my ability. Now being of a sounder mind, and
accepting more things in my life for what they are has made me see that my life is a good life
for what it is a this moment and I need to be grateful for the opportunities I do have.
When one becomes independent, things have to be tailored to their environment and their
needs. I looked at two other totally different living situations before moving out on my own
for the first time. When things didn’t become resolved and issues were mounting both within
and beyond my control in that environment, I worked on getting back on my feet again and
was very grateful to get my second and better home that I plan to have for an extended period
of time.
No matter what anyone says, it is my home and I am proud to call it my home.
Dustin's Dynasty 