As I am writing this, it can be hard to imagine where I was six months ago and where I am today. Six months ago, I was not at all myself, while recovering from months of making very destructive decisions that led me into that manic episode where I had to recover from. Along with that, there have been several changes in the past six months, and I have excelled at them quite well and am doing exceptionally well compared to where I was six months ago.

While I was getting back on track, there were many pieces of my routine that were changing and some that even changed after that to where they were today. For starters, as I knew when I had a meltdown in my old office in the building where my workplace was located was being cleared out in preparation for the new location, which was abruptly different from the previous one that I was in. The move also had many parts to it as the new building was being converted into use for my employer and while a different situation was happening, thankfully I live in public housing where my rent was adjusted while this was going on, however  I wasn’t financially conscious in the process and continued to make manic, impulsive decisions that eventually allowed me to see the importance of my financial health and make sounder decisions towards being more financially conscious.

One of the other momentous changes was the transition from the day services providing transportation to it being completed by the county paratransit services. When I was initially told about this, I was repulsed by the idea and my anxiety kicked into turbo drive where my next move was to live off the streets dumpster diving at nearby establishments. However, through grounded and sincere discussions with day services staff along with realizing that some of the people that I rode vans with many years ago have been doing this for over a decade. It gave me the hope that I could excel at being competent at undergoing this major change in my life for the first time in my life.

While Christmas and New Year’s were good holidays, after the first of the year I learned that I would be using county paratransit services to go to and from work and home instead of the day services taking me from their site to my workplace and returning to the day services facility to retrieve paratransit home. This was a well-awaited transition that I even started ahead of the required deadline and even met most of those peers from years ago of which this has been their mode of transportation to and from their jobs for over decade now.

Looking ahead, 2024 will have some major changes and will require me to always be at my best, therefore now more than ever, I realize that it is important to be keen in the sense that things like medication and sleep as they were years ago when I was living at my parents’ home still needs to be a priority along with understanding what is healthy for me and what is not healthy for me, primarily because I need to look at all dimensions of wellness regardless of the date on the calendar or what I feel I can pass as. It has been an amazing six months since I was at one of the lowest points in my mental health recovery journey, but I fiercely bounced back and continued to overcome many challenges in the process of being my best while learning what is acceptable in my life versus what is not acceptable along with understanding never to make the decision that I made last year to get me to that point that I was. I understand that I need to do my best going forward to be able to do the things that are expected of me to be the best person that everyone loves.